Palamidi Fortress

What it is

Palamidi is the best-preserved Venetian fortress in Greece. It occupies a 216 m hill east of Akronafplia and looks down over Nafplio. Venice built it in a few years and finished it in 1714, during its second period in the city; it was the last great work of its overseas empire. It takes its name from Palamedes, the Homeric hero born in Nafplio who went to Troy and was betrayed and killed through the scheming of Odysseus.

Three betrayals

The castle's story is told in betrayals. Only a year after it was finished, in 1715, 100,000 Ottoman soldiers assaulted it and it fell thanks to Lasalle, one of the two engineers who had designed it and who knew its weak points. Palamidi's system relied on bastions that protected one another, so that if one fell the rest kept defending; without that help, the Turks would not have got in.

In November 1822, during the War of Independence, the men of Staikopoulos and Kolokotronis took it. And the third betrayal came with freedom: the fortress became a prison. It is said that in 1834 Theodoros Kolokotronis, hero of the revolution, was held in a cell cut into the rock, accused of high treason by the Bavarian regency of King Otto. Recent studies suggest he was actually imprisoned in the Miltiades bastion.

What you see

The complex has eight bastions, each with its own name, linked by walls and stairways. You can visit them one by one. From the top you see the old town and Bourtzi at your feet, the Argolic Gulf and, on the other side, Karathona beach.

How to get up: stairs or car

On foot. The classic way up is the stone stairway leaving the town on the Arvanitia side. Tradition gives it 999 steps: legend says Kolokotronis's horse broke the one that would have made a thousand. From Syntagma Square, reckon an hour's climb. There is no shade: in summer, climb when it opens.

By car. A road climbs to the east-side entrance in about ten minutes from the centre. There is parking at the top. If you are a group, have one person drive up and collect the rest at the top, or drive up and come down on foot by the stairway, which is far less tiring.

Opening hours

• 1 April to 1 May: 8:00 to 19:00.
• 2 May to 31 August: 8:00 to 20:00.
• September: until 19:30 in the first half and until 19:00 in the second.
• October: until 18:30 in the first half and until 18:00 in the second.
• 1 November to 31 March: 8:30 to 15:30.

Open every day, with last entry 20 minutes before closing. Closed on 1 January, 25 March, 1 May, Orthodox Easter Sunday and 25 and 26 December.

Tickets

General admission costs €20 and reduced €10. Under-25s from the EU enter free with ID or passport. It is free for everyone on 6 March, 18 April, 18 May, the last weekend of September, 28 October and the first and third Sunday of each month from November to March. Buy at the ticket office or online on the Hellenic Heritage ticketing website.

Facilities, time and children

At the top there is a café, toilets and parking. Allow two hours for the visit, plus the hour on the stairs if you climb on foot. The stairway is hard with small children and in the heat; for them, better to drive up. Inside there are steps, changes of level and uneven floors, and the official listing does not mark it as wheelchair accessible. With teenagers, walking round the bastions and looking for Kolokotronis's cell is what works best.

Afterwards

Coming down the stairway you arrive near the Arvanitia promenade and its beach, good for a swim. For dinner, the old town is a few minutes' walk away: there are tavernas such as Aiolos or Vyzantio.