Greece part 4: Nafplio

Terrace of the Angelina Pension

Our last destination in Greece was the city of Nafplio. It's a small city of about 15 000 inhabitans some two hours drive from Athens. The city is very pictoresque with two castles, mini sea castle, see and the mountains. From the landscape and the views it's got to be one of the nicest cities we have visited so far....of course nothing can beat Cape Town ;D

In Nafplio we had booked a room at the Angelina Pension for three nights. A super choice!!! The pension has only two rooms and a huge terrace with a fantastic view over Nafplio. The owner Despina was very friendly and talkative and told us everything about her home town. She doesn't live at the Pension so as a guest one hass all the peace and a feeling of having an own holiday flat at the Mediterranean. The only thing that some people might find difficult is that you have to call here a day prior to your arrival to give an estimated arrival time and then again about half an hour before arriving to Napflio. The meeting place is not the Pension because it might be difficult to find but a car rental office of her family. This pension is not sutable for those who can't walk any stairs because a quite steep stairs lead from the pansion to the central plaza and you also can't park right next to the building.

Nafplio waterfront

Tavernas and restaurants showing the fish of the day

The first evening we ate at the Restaurant Alaloum. It was recommended for us and it also has high ratings in Trip Advisor. We were disappointed. The place itself is nice and the food was good...good but not excellent. Our main complaint is the service. The guy was laughing at strange things and making stupid jokes. We wanted to order a bottle of wine but they didn't want to bring us the bottle and brought house wine instead because "it's cheaper and very good". Well, we didn't want the house wine and when we want to order a bottle we don't care that it is more expensive! I mean yeah sure he wants to sell house wine from tetra pack for better profit. I also asked for a possibilty of having an mixed starter plate and the answer was an impolite no and that's it. As I said, the food was not bad but we felt mistreated and wouldn't eat there again.

Restaurant Alaloum

Aubergine and Feta

Chicken and pasta baked in oven

Pork shank with mustard sauce

There are plenty of places to see and visit in and around Nafplio. The most famous are probably the theater of Epidauros and the Ancient Mycenae. If you are into history these places a definitive worth a visit. Once again (like in olympia) we were disappointed of not being able to participate on a guided tour. I'm sure there are tours organised to these places from Nafplio but we drove there on our own and it would have been nice to pay and take part in a tour at the gate.

A wonderful morning with a wonderful view

The ancient Mycenae

This mask is familiar to me from history lessons back in school

The ancient Mycenae

Theater of Epidaurus

Street in Nafplio

The centre plaza in Nafplio

Our second "dinner" in Nafplio we had in the San Rocco wine bar at the waterfront. They have a really good selection of Greek wines if you are into trying some and to go with your wine you can have just something small or dinner as well. I wanted to try wine from Assyrtiko grape because I had read that it's a bit similar to Sauvignon blanc which is one of our favourite wine sorts. I know it's not from the Peloponnese but at least it's a Greek wine. It was very good, that good that couple of days later in the airport I had to buy us two more wine bottles to carry back home. In the San Rocco they seemed to be professional and specially one of the women in service was able to tell us about the wines. No shitty house wine here :D The food was okay but for Swiss/people living in Switzerland the cheese and cold cuts platter is a bit disappointing. The cheese was really young. Well at least it went good together with our wine which might not have been the case with some stronger cheese. Would definitive visit this place again when not for the food for the nice atmosphere and the wine.

Slighly toasted bread with tomato and goat cheese

Cheese and meat plate

Es Aei, Enoteca and Tapas bar had the best music and the best cocktails in Nafplio

I think that I already mentioned once earlier that the bars in Greece were a bit too generous with alcohol what comes to cocktails. I think I also said that in Nafplio we visited a jazz bar with perfect drinks. The place is called Es Aei, Enoteca and Tapas bar. This bar had the most our kind of music we heard in Greece. We eneded up there after the wine bar because we noticed them playing live music. For the food I can't say much because we didn't order anything but they definitive had good drinks.

The old town of Nafplio

We would love to have that broken hotel in the right corner and make something nice out of it

The "new town" of Nafplio

Nafplio seen from the castle of Palamidi

Our last dinner in Greece was the closest we got to better dining. We would have love to try some modern, Greek fine dining but unfortunately we didn't find any restauranty fitting the picture. For that you aparently have to go to Athens. The last place was called 3sixty restaurant. They had probably the most professional (on Swiss standard) service we had in Greece but still a far cry from what you expect from a better restaurant. For example, we had to open the water bottle and pour the water our selves, they didn't clear away the starter plates before brining the main course etc. This place is still a good restaurant to visit. The food was very good, the service better than in many other places and the wine list was wide.

Fake couscous (cauliflower)

Octopus salad

Mini turkey pita and potato wedges

Filled pork tenderloin with rice and carrots

I just love those plants...photo of one of them might end up in our christmas card

Might be nice to sail on a boat like that

On the way to the airport

All in all our holiday in Greece was very nice. It was good that we rented a car and didn't stay in the same place for all the time. The food was good but definitive didn't beat Spain, which is our favourite food destination so far. I will still tell you about our visit to the olive trees and the olive oil press later but otherwise our Greek holiday story has now finally come to the end...I know, you are giving a sigh of relief ;D Next week might slowly be time for some Christmas things. I'm kind of thinking about to have a Guetzliwoche/cookie week. Let's see if I'm up to it.

Back home. Cats seem to like the rug we brought with us :D