Greece: Day 14

From the moment he first laid eyes on the castle looming over the town of Nafplio, Niko had been begging and pleading to go to Palamidi. And when he learned that you could either drive up or walk up (a steep staircase with 999 stairs), he HAD to walk. Nobody wanted to do it with him, haha! Gus and I walked DOWN the steps back in 2006, and I could barely move my legs for days. It was so painful! I figured going up wouldn't be quite so hard on my joints, though, and volunteered to climb up with him. We all got up super early to beat the heat. We were actually up early enough for Niko to cross another thing off of his "must do" list: watch the sun rise over the ocean!

We ate a light breakfast (we weren't particularly hungry that early), then headed around the bay to Nafplio. We took a quick picture at the bottom of the stairs before our ascent. Maya wanted to be in the picture, too. :)

Then Maya, Gus, yiayia and papou piled into their cars, waved goodbye to us, and we headed on up. I had to tell Niko to slow down, because there was no way I could keep up with him! And, while you probably can't see it in the picture, the steps are so weather-worn that they have sort of a polish to them-- they are slippery! Same with a lot of the cobblestone walkways in Nafplio. Walking on them can be brutal in flip-flops with no tread! Niko was wearing tennis shoes, but it was still important that he stay with me. Especially since there were some parts where he could have just walked right off a cliff, if he wasn't paying attention!

Anyway... we soon settled into a nice rhythm. Walk up a couple flights, rest, walk up a few more, and so on. Here are some pictures from our climb (and some of the views of Nafplio and Bourtzi):

After about half an hour, we rounded a corner and I saw a metal door swing open up ahead in an archway. That's when I had an "uh oh!" moment! We were at the top, and the castle had JUST opened (it opened at 8am). We had made it way too quickly! Everyone was planning on meeting us at the top, but they had to come in through a different gate at the other end of the castle-- so there was no way they could possibly be there waiting yet. I tried to stall. I took a picture:

My diversions worked for a few minutes, but Niko KNEW we were almost there and was losing patience with me. So, we went up. I bought my ticket (4 euros for adults; kids are free). And no sooner had we walked in than we ran into our welcoming party, headed straight for us!

Then, it was time to play tourist. First stop was the cell where Greek war hero Theodoros Kolokotronis was imprisoned for 11 months during the fight for independence from the Ottomans. Gus and I had been in there before. It's an absolutely awful place to be imprisoned... you have to climb through narrow passageways to get there, and it's like a box carved into the solid rock. No windows, NOTHING. It would have been pitch black without a candle or something for light. And the kids thought it was great fun!

After that, we walked around some more. It was starting to get warm. Here are some pics from our explorations:

We were also there early enough that they hadn't even raised the flag yet. So we watched the guy do it. :)

Then, I looked over a wall, and giggled because this funny little tree was still there. Check out my picture from 2006, and then my one from this trip. Yup-- same tree!

Once the sun got high enough in the sky to really start baking us, it was time to go. We had a real breakfast down in Nafplio, then headed back to Kiveri. Gus and I spent most of the afternoon packing, since this was our last full day in Greece. Meanwhile, the kids spent most of their time swimming in the ocean with yiayia. Niko was never tired-- you would never have known that he climbed up a mountain that morning! Crazy kid!

Oh, and I forgot... on our way back from Palamidi, the kids rode with yiayia and papou so that Gus and I could stop at the market (Kritikos, which is attached to the toy store Jumbo, for whatever reason...) and get some snacks for our long trek back to the U.S. I finally took a picture of the craziness that is Greek parking. This parking lot has painted lines in it, like most parking lots do. They are faint, but they are there. Yet, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. we went here, cars were parked all over. Greek drivers are seriously scary (yes, that's a generalization. I'm sure they aren't all bad. But lots of them were!!). And it's like it's their goal to park as crazy as possible. You wouldn't believe how many examples of awful parking we saw, haha!