Greece 2: Nafplio at night and climbing to Palamidi

         That night I ended up eating at the same place I did the first night.  However, this time I tried stuffed mushroom and pepper.  It was quite good.

    Once it was dark out night, I went for a walk around town.  I walked to the castle ruins directly over town, but it was near pitch black there and as it had said online, there was not much to it.  That being said, I got a good look at the next day's hike on another mountain adjacent to town and it began to worry me.

    The town reminded me very much of Italy, with its long narrow streets, eventually opening up into a big plaza with many restaurants.  There were many, many cats in town.  I even walked into a small church that had its doors opening with people milling about.  Here is some of what I saw:

    I was unable to go to sleep until after midnight, which would continue for the rest of my time at this hotel, as the bar on the other side of the building would continue to play loud music until then.  Once I finally got out of bed, I walked to the beginning of the stairs to reach the Fortress of Palimida.  The town boasts of 999 steps on this hike, but in reality it is supposed to be closer to 850.  Clearly I misjudged how long this would take, as I reached the top when I had only approximated in my head that I was about 1/5 done.

    It was hot and I had brought two Gatorades with me, but partway through exploring the ruins I had run out.  It was a sprawling complex and fun to explore, but eventually I had to walk back down to town for water.

    After a break in my room, I left in search of a cafe for coffee.  I had tried the cafe that had the sign promoting tolerance, and although Google said that they should be open they were not.  I stopped in another one nearby and had my favorite meal of the trip so far, a couscous and chicken salad.

    For this night's walk, I decided to walk the path that bordered the sea.

A place called Bourtzi, you can only get a boat across if you have a big enough group.

    For some unexplained reason, the path was blocked off by gates and a lock.  A half step to the side got me around this barrier.  There were many people on this path, so I was not the only one to do so.  Unfortunately, like much of the city outside of the center, it was absolutely riddled with graffiti on every surface.