Napflion, Greece

Napflion 

Early this morning we sailed into a beautiful harbor with a quaint little town called Napflion surrounding it. 

It was a new port for me and for quite a few others as well. This port was also added when the itinerary removing Istanbul was updated. 

Today I had a tour booked to visit the archeological site of Mycenae as well as the Palamidi Castle, which sits high on a mountain overlooking the town of Napflion. 

Mycenae was a military stronghold during the period of 1600 to 1100 BC. Geez, it continues to amaze me    how much of these civilizations and cities remain even after thousands of years. 

The setting was absolutely breathtaking and so very serene. The citadel of the city sat atop a hill which, from a practical view, afforded the Mycenaens an excellent vantage point from which to view any threats that might appear. You could see all the way to the sea, across rolling meadows and small hills. Sigh. 

We saw remains of the main entryway called the Lion's Gate, the throne rooms and a little bit further away, the very well preserved burial tomb. 

Back towards town, we drove up to see one of the three castles protecting the town, Palamidi Castle. If you want to walk up, it's almost 900 steps. And when you get to the top you have to pay an admission to get in. Seems to me that if you walk up all those steps you ought to get a free pass. 

The most interesting parts of the castle to me were the outside walls. They are well preserved and give you the feeling that you really are in a castle environment. 

Our tour over, we decided to visit the old town and were completely charmed by what we found. Lovely little cafes and shops and a number of ice cream shops as well. 

We picked a restaurant on the Square and sat down for a nice Greek lunch. Yum. 

It was a really lovely day, I think one of my favorites so far. To make things even sweeter, after dinner we looked out the windows to find a group of dolphins following alongside us!!