Nafplio Self-Guided Tour: First Greek Capital, Audio and Quiz

Nafplio was engineered as a machine of war, a fortress high on the crags, gun bastions at the waterline and a small castle on an island in the bay, and then it became the first capital of modern Greece. This self-guided walking tour traces that layered history across ten stops in the old town, from the bullet mark left by an assassination to a mosque that ended up as a cinema. Everything runs from your own smartphone, and no app is needed. You get a map of the full route, directions between stops, and a short audio story at each location followed by an interactive quiz. Start whenever you like, pause for a coffee, and pick the walk back up where you left off. The route climbs from the great staircase up to Palamidi, passes the Venetian Land Gate, the old-town churches and marble Syntagma Square, and ends on the harbour looking out at the island fortress of Bourtzi. No physical guide, no group, no fixed schedule. Audio and text in 7 languages.

1. 1

   Palamidi Castle

   Pass by

   Stand at the foot of the monumental stone staircase that climbs the cliff to Palamidi Fortress, and hear how it was cut into the limestone by convicts held in the fortress prison above.

2. 2

   Land Gate

   Pass by

   Pass through the Venetian Land Gate, once the only way in and out of the fortified lower town, where a drawbridge was raised at sundown and latecomers were shut out for the night.

3. 3

   Church of Ayios Georgios

   Pass by

   See the old town's cathedral, a 16th-century Venetian basilica with a neoclassical bell tower added for King Otto, and Italianate wall paintings including a copy of The Last Supper.

4. 4

   Church of Agios Spyridonas

   Pass by

   Look for the small glass frame on the wall of this 1702 Venetian basilica, protecting the bullet mark left by the 1831 assassination of Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greece's first governor.

5. 5

   Trianon - The Old Mosque

   Pass by

   See Nafplio's oldest surviving Ottoman building, a late 16th-century mosque that has served as a church, a school and a conservatory, and took its French name from the cinema that opened inside it in 1915.

6. 6

   Syntagma Square

   Pass by

   Step into the marble-paved heart of the old town, ringed by Ottoman mosques, a 1713 Venetian warehouse that now holds the Archaeological Museum, and a 1930s bank built to look like a Bronze Age palace.

7. 7

   Vouleftiko (Old State House)

   Pass by

   View the domed Ottoman mosque that was converted in 1825 into the first parliament of independent Greece, and later served as the courtroom for the treason trial of Theodoros Kolokotronis.

8. 8

   Stop 8

   Pass by

   Climb toward the Acronafplia ramparts for the clocktower that looks out over the old town's rooftops, rebuilt after the war on fortifications laid down across two thousand years.

9. 9

   Stop 9

   Pass by

   Reach the sea-level Venetian gun bastion named for the five cannons on its platform, the only intact surviving bastion of the lower town's fortification ring.

10. 10

    Filellinon Square

    Pass by

    Finish on the harbourfront square, where a marble obelisk honours the philhellenes and the island fortress of Bourtzi sits a few hundred metres offshore.

• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
• Not recommended for pregnant travelers
• Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.