Nafplio, etc.

Nafplio (Ναύπλιο) is a small seaside town in the northeastern Peloponnese, about 2 hours from Athens by bus. It was Modern Greece’s first capital, and remained so until 1834 when King Otto moved the capital to Athens. As with many Greek names, I’m pretty  unclear on the correct name of this place, as it also goes by Nafplion, Nafplia, and the list goes on.

I had been planning to visit Nafplio in September, but was stopped by rain and bus strikes, and had abandoned the idea when it got too cold to swim. But my interest was piqued again recently while I was reading “The Magus,” by John Fowles, in which the protagonist, Nick, mentions Nafplio several times. A bit more on the book – it’s a total mindfuck, and fun to read while in Greece. While teaching English on the fictional island “Phraxos” (based off of Spetses), 30-year-old Nicholas Urfe becomes tangled in the twisted mindgames of the old Mr. Conchis, the “Magus” - Greek for Magician or Sorcerer.

 

             Between 1388 and 1715, Nafplio changed hands from the Venetians to the Ottomans too many times to count, ending up finally in Ottoman hands. In 1821, Greek revolutionaries began to wage war against their Ottoman rulers, thus beginning the Greek War of Independence. Nafplio remained an Ottoman stronghold for over a year, but finally surrendered because of starvation. Once captured, it became the seat of modern Greece’s provisional governments, due to its strong fortress. It was officially made capital in 1829, when Count Ioannis Kapodistrias, the newly liberated Greece’s first head of state, set foot on the mainland in Nafplio.

View from Palamidi, straight down

The Venetian influence is very evident in the town’s architecture. It reminded me a lot of Corfu town – very pretty and quaint, although Corfu town is slightly more glitzy. There isn’t a whole lot to do in Nafplio, aside from hauling yourself up the 216 m high hill to Palamidi castle (constructed under the Venetians), which affords a lovely view of the turquoise sea, and the mountains of the Peloponnese across the bay.

From Palamidi

 Other than that, the town is a relaxing place to eat, drink, and stroll around.

In Town

Back Alley

We (Whitney, Robyn and I) left at 12 pm on Saturday, and arrived at 2 pm. Not having booked a hotel, we went in search of something affordable and not too far from the center of town. In the third hotel we tried, we walked in and kindly asked the manager how much a triple room would be. Rather than answer, he looked us up and down and began firing questions at us. “Where are you from? How long are you here for? Which part of America? What do you do here?” – the usual stuff. I’ve begun to grow quite impatient with Greek men and their persistence at small talk. Though it’s intended as friendly, I can’t help but find it annoying and often creepy. When I asked him again how much the room would be, I was rebuked. “Perimenete,” he told me – wait. He said it as though I were a child asking for dessert before dinner had been served. “I’m thinking.” Apparently, there was no fixed cost for the room, he would just decide what was appropriate based on the clientele. Thankfully, he gave us a reasonable price.

Aside from the cafes/tavernas/gelaterias, we spent most of the trip on the beach. Unfortunately, the beach is pebbles rather than sand, and the pavement alternative area was covered in broken beer bottles, so we were pretty uncomfortable, lying in the sun. We watched  a fat little Greek boy step gingerly, barefoot, over the rocks and glass. 

“Oh shit Oh shit Oh shit,” he kept uttering, in a heavy Greek accent. Luckily, the water was finally warm enough to swim in (still pretty cold, but warm enough to stay in for more than just a dip).

"Oh shit"

Now, 2 weeks later, it’s hot as Hades out, and the water is completely comfortable to swim in (and provides some nice respite from the heat). These past two weekends I went to the beach at Porto Rafti (Port of the Tailor), on the East side of Attica, out by the airport. The water on this side of Attica is much much cleaner and clearer than the water on the West side, where there’s much more ferry traffic, and I suppose many more pollutants as well.

The colour of the water in Greece is very different than the blacker, greener water of the Atlantic. IT IS SO BLUE. Why is this, I’ve been wondering? Apparently, there are a combination of reasons. Mainly, the blueness results from the Mediterranean’s being oligotrophic – from Greek ολίγον (oligon) meaning "little/few", and τροφή (trophi) meaning "food/nutrition" – (not enough food). Basically, there aren’t enough nutrients in the water to support the growth of phytoplankton, which, when present in high numbers, appear green or reddish brown and discolour the water. The Atlantic is very rich with phytoplankton, and thus appears more green or black. Also, because the Mediterranean water is so salty, and because salt tends to scatter blue light.

There’s a tradeoff, though, with the blueness. The water here is lovely, but there’s NOTHING in it. Zero wildlife. You’ll see a tiny fish now and then, but never anything colorful or interesting.

            Life right now is pretty relaxing. Because school has finished, (it’s exam time) work has slowed down to a snail’s pace for me. All of the other teachers are in over their heads with proctoring and correcting, but since I’m not an official teacher I’m not allowed to touch the exams. So I’ve been editing the “Student Notebooks,” which takes about three hours a day (on a busy day). I’m not complaining, not at all. I usually get up around 9 am, roll into work around 11, leave around 2:30. It’s a good life. Two weeks from now, summer camp will begin, and I know I’ll be absolutely exhausted. It’ll be 3 weeks of 8:30-5 pm in the blistering heat, trying to communicate with hundreds of Greek children who hardly speak a word of English. But I’m actually pretty excited about it. After working with teenagers all year, it’ll be a nice change to play with the little ones.

Speaking of little kids, on Sunday we went to our Greek teacher’s house for a sort of “last hurrah” party. She has a three year old, Myrsini, who she spoils absolutely rotten. She lets Myrsini eat spoonfuls of raw sugar and draw all over herself with markers. Myrsini has her own playroom full of toys. Myrsini dictates what music we listen to in the car, so on the way from the metro to the house I heard the song “Je Veux” (by Zaz) about 15 times, ditto on the way back. When we tried to change the music, Myrsini threw a fit. Spoiled as she is, I had a great time playing with her, pretending to be a dancing fairy and letting her pretend to kill me over and over again.

Greek lessons are now finished, which is nice, but also sad. I feel as though I’m just on the brink of being able to speak without having to painstakingly think through what I want to say first. And now it’s time to head home. I tell myself I’d like to get a tutor next year, and thankfully Toronto has a massive Greek population, but I have the feeling that if I’m too lazy to study it while I’m actually in Greece, Toronto’s gonna be even harder.

In other news, Robyn has moved into the Halandri apartment! I’d forgotten what it was like to have a roommate- it’s actually really great! So. 6 weeks left. Finally, here is the Greece I've been looking forward to all year, the Greece where you can lay in the sun and swimin the sea. And it's almost time to go.

Same old same old