A beautiful coastal drive to Nafplio, Greece

It's still a little cool out, but with the blue sky and sunshine, it really doesn't matter. We don't mind having to wear a sweater, and we're well equipped to deal with the cooler nights... it's the rain that really bothers us.

Hardly a cloud in the sky yesterday, so we had hot morning showers, emptied our holding tanks, filled our fresh water tank, paid for our four nights of holiday camping, and set off on a gorgeous coastline drive heading north to the small port city of Nafplio.

On the road at 10:30am.

Not a cloud in the sky!

Beautiful coastal drive.

A little harbor.

Little villages in the mountains.

Scenery along the way.

The town of Tyros.

At first we thought this ship was a wreck.

But I guess it's just low in the back end.

Another coastal town.

Fish farming.

Cactus farming.

Snow in the mountains.

Blue skies.

And blue waters.

We arrived in Nafplio and had no problem finding the free motorhome parking at the port itself. All kinds of "No Camping" signs about. However while you are not allowed to camp, you are allowed to park overnight and sleep in your rig while it's parked. In other words, no putting your chairs or your awning out... nothing that would give an indication you are doing anything except parking. Not even allowed to put your steps out!

And, there were all different kinds of motorhomes and vans parked up. At least 20 different camping vehicles. But, Nafplio is a touristy city with a nice old town area and a big fortress on top of a hill.

Unfortunately it also has that Greek graffiti problem that kind of takes away from things a bit, in my opinion.  The Mani peninsula that we just came from was really enjoyable in that regard, but it seems as soon as you get to anything larger than a small town, the graffiti problem reappears. And excessive graffiti says to me that the area has a crime problem that they obviously can't control.

For safety reasons, we parked amongst the other motorhomes, but had no ambition to spend the night with them. It would have been safe enough, but it was too noisy from the big trucks and the shipping port. Not a great overnight spot in our mind, but very convenient to leave Max by himself to go visit the city.

We left Max on his own and went for a walk.

We'll visit the castle today.

A few pricey leisure boats in port.

Another view of the fortress.

The Maltese Falcon.

We were lucky to see the Maltese Falcon in port. This one of a kind high tech sailing rig is completely electronically controlled, and even though it has a full time crew of 18 people (and 12 guests) it can be sailed by one person alone. The yacht's sophisticated computer detects parameters such as wind speed automatically and displays key data. An operator must always activate the controls, yet it is possible for a single person to operate the yacht. 

It is available for charter at a cost of around €460,000 per week. Just gather up 11 of your rich friends, and go have fun!

Another view of the Maltese Falcon.

Island castle.

Building covered in vines.

Another view of the island castle.

It's a nice area!

Wandering through old town.

There is nobody around late afternoon.

Empty central square.

We went back to Max, and moved him further south, off the paved parking area. A much nicer spot for the night, and eventually one other motorhome joined us.

View out our front windshield at dusk.

Today, we will go hike up to the castle this morning, and then drive further north to the ancient ruins at Corinth.

Yesterday's drive, 80 kms (50 miles).

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