Palamidi Fortress

The Venetians built Palamidi between 1711 and 1714 on a rock 216 metres above Nafplio, and it is a textbook of early eighteenth-century military engineering: eight self-contained bastions, each with its own walls, water supply and firing positions, linked but able to fight independently if one fell. The largest, Agios Andreas, holds a chapel; another contains a deep cell cut into the rock. The famous approach is the stairway climbing directly from the town, counted variously at 857, 913 or a round thousand steps depending on where you start, a hard twenty to thirty minutes in the heat with the whole bay opening below. A road reaches the upper gate for those who prefer. From the ramparts the view takes in Nafplio, the Bourtzi islet, the Argolic Gulf and the plain.

What you actually see

• The eight bastions - independent forts linked along the ridge.
• The great stairway - the direct climb of hundreds of steps from town.
• Agios Andreas - the main bastion with its chapel.
• The gulf panorama - Nafplio, Bourtzi and the Argolic Gulf below.

When to go

Early morning or late afternoon in spring and autumn; the climb in midsummer sun is punishing and the fortress has almost no shade. Winter is clear and quiet.

Honest expectations

The stairway is steep, uneven and exhausting, and many visitors take a taxi up and walk down. Inside there are drops without railings in places. Signage is limited for such an extensive site.

Nearby

Nafplio's old town lies below; the Bourtzi islet is in the harbour and Tiryns ten minutes away.