What was the first capital of Greece?

If you answered Nafplion, you are correct! According to mythology, the town was founded by Nafplio, one of Poseidon’s sons, and became the first capital of the modern Greece from 1823 to 1834. After our adventure in Mycenae, we were lucky enough to check into the lovely Hotel Amalia overnight, just outside of Nafplion, where we were struck by the economic disparity in the area. On the left, you can see farms and shacks leading up to the hotel. On the right is the view from the pool.

After a swim and a shower to cool off from our morning hike, we ventured into Nafplion, which looked like any other beautiful port town with luxury hotels and yachts in the harbor. There is also a small fortress which was once connected to the mainland with a chain to secure the port from enemy attacks, and used to collect taxes before ships were allowed to dock.

On the hilltop we could see the Palamidi Castle, and considered going up to it, until we discovered the high admission price and the prospect of climbing 999 steps. Three blocks farther into the center of town, the story was quite different. We stepped into a grocery store to get a bottle of water to beat the heat. Throughout the store the shelves were barely stocked, and not because everyone had bought up all the merchandise.

We found a derelict train station, and then a rusty playground with a broken teeter-totter, an unsafe slide, and a missing merry-go-round. Dani didn’t seem to mind and I’m sure the kids in the area didn’t either.

We saw many children begging, and other images too disheartening to photograph, let alone to post here. We didn’t spend a long time in Nafplion before we headed back to the Amalia, and had dinner among the handful of other guests. Tourism accounts for a large chunk of Greece’s economy as you can imagine, and the smaller towns are suffering the most. Tipping isn’t the norm here, and VAT is at an all time high of 24%. We are giving gratuities, and the gratitude is reflected back to us on people’s faces.