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Nafplio has 20,000 inhabitants and is divided into the old and the new town. The old town was built mainly in the days of the governor Ioannis Capodistrias, at the beginning of the 19th c, but buildings still exist from the Venetian era. The new town is an ordinary Greek town with no special assets, so stroll about the old, historical quarters with their neoclassical buildings, charming squares and majestic fonts. Nafplio has known tourism since the first decades of the century. It is a colorful town with culture and history and tallies entirely with the standards of the demanding modern visitor for accommodation, meals and entertainment.

According to the myths, the founder of ancient Nauplia was Nauplios, son of Poseidon, and the city took part in the Argonauts' expedition. Better known, however, was to be another Nauplios, a great expert in naval arts and father of Palamedes, who was an inventor, doctor, astronomer, poet, mathematician and philosopher. Palamedes' misfortune was that during the Trojan war he clashed with Odysseus, who slandered him as collaborating with Priam, resulting in Palamedes being put to death before the walls of Troy. To avenge his death, Nauplios seduced the wives of the Greek princes one by one, but failed in the case of Penelope, the wife of his great enemy.

The city developed until the 7th c. BC, when it was destroyed by the Argives. It was reestablished in the Hellenistic era. In Roman and Byzantine times, it suffered invasion by the Avars, Goths, Slavs and Albanians. It passed successively from the domination of the Franks (1212) into the hands of the Venetians (1389), who reinforced the walls of Acronafplia (1470) and fortified the little island in the entrance to the port, Bourdgi. The city was then adorned with grand buildings in the Renaissance style of the period, some still exist . In 1540, after e three-year siege, Nafplion fell to the Ottomans: in 1686 it returned to Venetian domination until, in 1715, the Ottoman Turks came back, to remain until 1822, when it was liberated by the Greeks. Some of its ancient treasures can be seen at the Archeological Museum. Housed in an 18th-century Venetian mansion on the west side of Platia Syntagmatos, the interesting collection includes a full suit of Mycenaean armor as well as series of reconstructed frescoes from Tyrins.

Islet of Bourdgi. It was first fortified in1471 by the Venetians to protect the harbor entrance and was reinforced early in the 18c, the chief defense is a strong polygonal tower topped by a gun platform.  A small rock island fort at the entrance to the port 450m from land, completed in 1473 by the Venetians, on plans by Campbell , and connected to the fort at Acronauplia by heavy chain which prevented enemy shipping from entering the port and so it was known as PORTO CADENZA, meaning Porto of chains. After Independence War was used as a dwelling for the executioners of the condemned prisoners in Palamidi, among others. Nowadays small boats ferry you across to the Bourtzi.

When the War of Independence began in 1821, the Greeks fleet, including the illustrious Bouboulina in command of a corvette, had been blockading the harbor since the previous year. On 30 November 1822 the Palamidi Fort and Nafplion was liberated from the Turks. On 7 January 1828 Ioannis Kapodistrias the first Governor of  Greece, installed his government in Nafplion and the city became the capital of the newly established Greek state and the centre of political developments. In September 1831, in the forecourt of the church of Agios Spyridon, the first governor of the nation, Ioannis Kapodistrias, was assassinated. In January 1833 Nafplion welcomed the first king of Greece, Otto of Bavaria, with the three-member committee who were his guardians until he came of age. During his stay Kolokotronis, one of the chiefs of the Resistance, was condemned to death for disobedience to the established authority but the fierce soldier, the "old man of Morea", was reprieved and imprisoned only briefly in the Palamidi Fort. The city continued to play an important role in political developments until 1834 when the capital was transferred to Athens. In 1862 begins the Rebellion against the monarchy.  A siege by the royal army follows.

This city has lived for many millenniums and its continuous march through life has produced an unbreakable total, which the better you get to know the more it reveals about those that lived there and all that took place there. The monument that dominates the city with its shape and location is the Palamidi fortress which you can visit either by climbing up the 999 steps of the old entrance that leads from the end of Polizidhou Street on the way to Arvanitia or taking the road. The original structures were Venetian, so the Lion of St. Mark guards the gateways.

You can view my portfolio of photos at http://www.panoramio.com/user/45649/tags/Nafplion or http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickolaos/tags/nafplion/ 

Discover Scuba Diving- www.nafpliodivingcenter.gr  Tel. – Fax.: 0030 27520 58188 - Mob.: 0030 6932341755

The Nafplio Diving Center has been operating since December 2006. We are the only diving center in Argolida to operate in these 3 locations:
1) Nafplio
2) Tolo
3) Ag. Nikolas (Kondyli Beach)

Our instructors are certified and approved from the Greek Government. We also have the international certificate if diving from ANDI. All our programs of training are supported by ANDI. We provide the most up to date training with the best quality equipment from the company SEAC-SUB. We have 25 full sets and extra 40 bottles, 2 PARA MINA compressors for filling bottles. We are the first in Greece to use the system KING BLENDER from PARA MINA, for the filling of the bottles with Nitrox-Trimix, 25 regulators, DIN with console, and reserve regulators, 2 speed boats for the daily diving excursions. We sell SEAC-SUB diving equipment and also equipment for free diving.

You can discover the joy and unique experience of the sea, without full training. This seminar is 1 hr. of theory and 1 dive in the sea with a qualified trainer. You will not dive more than 4 meters. This seminar is recommended for beginners, it does not provide a certificate, but will give you a very good experience, from which you can then continue the full program training OPEN WATER SPORT DIVING COURSE. Best regards, Kostas Tsolakos ANDI Instructor Dive Medic Instructor Nafplio – Greece