“If it’s this hot NOW, how will the rest of the summer be?” was a frequently repeated concern during our late June/early July visit to Greece. With a horrendous series of wildfires between then and now, plus a newly-appointed Chief Heat Officer in Athens, they were right to be concerned.
The heat in Nafplio was different from any weather I’ve ever experienced. I’m used to the sluggish swampiness of the hot and humid Gulf Coast, where you can expect temperatures over 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity for 100 days in a row. But Nafplio’s heat was hot and windy—it was like standing in front of a giant’s hair dryer. Vrrrrrrrrr—it even made this noise as it whooshed by my ears. We’d cooled off at the beach and gone back to our pension to shower before dinner. Is it ok to leave my room with wet hair? I wondered. Is that, I don’t know, scandalous? The wind solved this dilemma for me. VVVVVRRRRRRR and POOF, within two minutes of exiting the room, my hair was totally dry. I hung our swimsuits on the balcony. POOF! Dry. My quick-drying Hawaii towel (which travels everywhere with me) couldn’t even get wet it dried so quickly.
We walked over to the town’s beautiful waterfront and watched the hair dryer winds push hot waves against hot sea wall and blow over hot menus and hot tables at hot little cafes. I’ve never seen anything like it.
The next day the front had moved on and it was a far more reasonable high of 97 degrees (down from 106 or something).
hot harbor 
hot Kruegers 
kittens!! 
Syntagma Square 
Church of Panagia 
I may have mentioned Chris made us go to 11 archeological sites and the kids and I got a little weary of being hot and looking at rocks and ruins. That’s not even counting old forts and stuff, like Nafplio’s clifftop Palamidi Fortress. This fortress is really interesting and exemplifies the exciting and interesting history of the area!
In the early 1700s, this part of the Peloponnesian Peninsula was ruled by the Venetians! Did you know that? I did not. They built this fortress on the cliffs that tower more than 200 meters over the sea in order to defend against the Ottomans. The Ottomans of course went ahead and captured it in 1715, one year after it was completed. Then two hundred years ago, in 1822, the Greeks captured it as they united and threw off Ottoman rule. From the fortress walls, you can see the entire town of Nafplio, local swimming spots (which we headed to next), the surrounding hills, other castles down in the sea, and all the ships in the harbor. It’s a great location, and stunningly beautiful. We fought some wasps off the water fountains to keep from perishing, then headed back down to get ice cream and coffee and go swimming at Arvanitias Beach!
This was our last day in Greece and we were finally ready to get home. Ice cream and swimming was the best way to end our time in beautiful Greece before heading back to cold and rainy Brussels!
Palamidi Fortress 
Akronafplia’s Caslte below dates to Roman times 
a reasonable 97 at Palamidi Fortress 
don’t bother bringing a hair dryer to Nafplio 
Bourtzi Castle 
Living on the edge 
The Amboise Conspiracy
Stuff
Land of the Rising Sun
The Biggest Japanese Garden in Europe