Nafpaktos Visit
We were looking for another interesting day trip from Athens and through our research we decided to try Nafpaktos. Nafpaktos is a small city with a population of about 15,000. It is well known for its history and what makes it very picturesque is its architecture and its beautiful port. Nafpaktos was under Venetian rule in the 1400 and Venetians used it as a port for trade while most of the rest of Greece was part of the Ottoman empire. As a result of the Venetian occupation, its architecture is very interesting and different than other cities in Greece.
Nafpaktos is about two and a half hours from Athens. The road is pretty new and an interesting drive. For a significant portion of the drive you have a view of the sea. The drive also goes through a couple of interesting points: (1) The drive goes over the Corinth Canal which separates the mainland of Greece from the Peloponese. The canal provides a shortcut for ships trying to get to Athens so that they don’t have to go around the Peoponese. You can get a glimpse of it if you are careful while driving over it. The idea of the canal was discussed as early as 700 BC but it was only actually completed in 1893AD. (2) The drive also goes over one of the latest marvels of engineering, the bridge connecting the Peloponese with the mainland very close to Nafpaktos. This bridge (called Rio Anterrio bridge) was finished in 2004 to support the Olympics held in Greece that year. People used to cross by ferry at that location when I was growing up which made travel to that area much lengthier. The only drawback of the new bridge was that going over that bridge costs 15 Euros in each direction.
Nafpaktos was as expected from what I’ve seen in pictures. The port was really beautiful although a bit smaller than I expected. The castle looked interesting but not interesting enough for us to go up to it because of the high temperatures during our visit. We arrived at Nafpaktos by about 10:30am to beat the heat and got the chance to try a café in the main square with a view of the port. We were protected from the sun by a big platanos. Platanos is a kind of tree that provides a very good shade (called plane tree in English) and protects the squares of most Greek cities from the sun. Being at the café was so enjoyable that we didn’t want to leave. At some point we got the courage to leave and walk around town Unfortunately by that time the temperature had risen to low nineties so our walk was relatively limited. However, we discovered two beaches one on each side of the port. I was aware of them but was unsure about how attractive they would be being so close to the port. The port was very small with few boats and it didn’t seem to be an issue to swim at the beaches. Actually, the beaches were quite crowded. That gave us the courage to try them and it was quite lovely. They were not up to par with the beaches on the islands but they were pretty decent. That’s a very attractive part of Nafpaktos. You are able to walk around a pretty town and then get to the beach without having to get into the car.
After swimming at the beach, we got back into our favorite café under the platanos for some more refreshments and then decided to head back to Athens. I’d say this day trip was definitely a worthwhile experience.
