On our left, before entering the city, there rises Palamidi (220 m. height) praised in many songs. It bears the name of Palamedes the sage. Nowadays there is a drive on the east side. Romantics can climb up all 999 steps, that were rebuilt in Otho's period. Previously one could climb up through the venetian galleries, that are still preserved οn the right of the steps.

Palamidi was fortified by the Venetians ίη the 12th century. The works were started by Morosini the conqueror of the city and were carried on till the last years of the Venetian occupation (1686 - 1715). Besides St. Andrew's bastion which is the tallest, there are six more : Phocio's, Themistocles', Miltiades', Epaminondas', Leonidas', and Achilles'. Five of the bastions are joined by a wall. Achilles and Miltiades are separate forts. In the fort there is the historical church of St. Andrew, built in the Venetian period.

In this group of forts and bastions, that really made Palamidi impregnable, we often see the Venetian coat of arms «St. Mark's lion». The cells of the forts, that during the Regency served as Kolokotronis' prison, were used as both prison and execution rooms. It was here that the brave men of Greece and the Orient, the murderers and the smugglers, were buried, as Venezis says.

Palamidi was besieged the very first year of the Revolution. The leaders made the right speculation that its possesion would offer the Revolution a bulwark and a proper seat for the Government. After many efforts and failures, on the night of Novem­ber 29th 1822, Staikos Staikopoulos with Moschonissiotis and 350 select soldiers ma­naged to set foot οη Achilles's bastion and subsequently occupy Palamidi. After a while Kolokotronis arrived and made Nauplion's guard surrender and sign a treaty. Every year οη the 30th of November the anniversary of the liberation of the city is celebrated at Nauplion.

At first it was called by the seamen Saint Theodore's island. During the first Venetian rule (1389 1540), ίη 1473 to be particular, the Venetians built a tower with guns on it. It was called the Castelli or Bourdji and later Passage. New fortifications were added during the second venetian rule (a tower with a yard and a bastion). Morosini occupied it again in 1686 and massacred the turkish garrison.

From Bourdji to the waterfront across the sea at nights there used to hang a chain that blocked the harbour. That's the reason that Nauplion used to be called Porto Catena, the Chain port, during the venetian Empire. In the years of the Revolution, it was called Kastelli or Thalassopyrgos (Sea­castle). The first attempt to occupy Bourdji, planned by the French Philhellene Boutier, fai1ed. Bourdji was handed over to the Greeks on June 18, 1822 during the siege of the city. From that time it played an important part in the siege, as its guns shot at the castles of Itch- Kale and Palamidi. The Goνernment found refuge in Bourdji for a whi1e in 1826 during the ciνi1 war. Bourdji was used as a fort until 1865.

Later it serνed at the residence of the people that operated the guillotine, that had been set up at A1onaki on Palamidi. The first executioner came from Marseil1es where the guillotine had been made, but he was soon forced to leave on account of the strong dislike of the people. Andreas Karkaνitsas, in a beautiful short story of his written in 1892, describes Bourdji as the «Charming caνe» that hid three dragons: the three executioners, Sophras, Amyradakis and Be­kiaris. Karνaνitsas who served at Nauplion as a military doctor, gives us an account of the executioners' habits. Bekiaris from Argos was paid a monthly salary of 300 drchs plus 100 drchs for every decapitation. One of the last executioners mentioned was Athanassios Aleνizopoulos, who was forced by the public to stop wearing his national costume (the phoustanel1a-skirt uniform) and he dressed in the western fashion. He had artistic interests and was less hated by the Nauplians.

This is the ancient name with which, along with the Turkish one Itch-Kale, the acropolis of Nauplion is known. Under­neath the venetian wal1s there are traces of cyclopean or pelasgic walls, a sign of the existence of a prehistoric settlement at Nau­ρΙiοn. The way the stones have been cut shows that these walls are later than the cor­responding ones of Tiryns and Mycenae.

Until the time of the occupation of the city by the venetians the Acronauplia had two castles. The one on the East or French one, from Villehardouin's time and the one on the West, the Greek one. On the east side of the Acronauplia there lived the offi­cials and on the west side the Greek chief­citizens. When Nauplion came into Vene­tian hands (1389), the Venetians added a bastion to the eastern castle, right across Palamidi, opening thus a way to today's Arvanitia. Besides, they built on the north­ west side of the city, below the Acronau­plia, Toro's castle. On this bastion they pla­ced five guns of the same size, called the Five Brothers. The name of this area has been preserved until today.

Due to the dall1ages done to the walls during the siege of the city by Morosini (1686) he ordered the complete innovation of the eastern wall. It was then that the fort, which is still preserved, the one with the round towers, was bui1t, later called by 10cal people Morosini's bastion. The Main­land gate, at the front of both the city and the walls, was constructed at that time (1687).

On the northwest end of the Acronau­plia, there was created a hospital, at today's Psaromachalas, from the bequest of the Ma­ster of Nauplion, Nerio Adjaioli from Flo­rence (1394). This hospital was in use during both periods of the Venetian rule, when the­re was also founded the little church of Peter and Paul the Apostles, preserved until today. In the years of the Revolution it was also used as a hospital for the waπίοrs, as we learn from the German Phi1hellene doctor Ern. Treiber who served in it. Ka­podistria renewed it and later, until the be­ginning of our century, it served as the municipal hospita1.

In 1713 the prefect of the Venetian Fleet Augustine Sagredo, who added many forti­fications to Palamidi and the city, constru­cted the stone stairs that connected Pala­midi and the city. They are still in use today.
Unti1 March 1970 on the west side of the Acronauplia there was Kapodistria's army camp, which was later used as a criminal prison. Touristic works are now taking place at the area.

Α perfect beach for swimming at the distance of 4 Kilometres from Nauplion. Endless sand and clear sea. At the innest recession of the shore there is St. Constantine's church and Saint Nickolas, bui1t of wine according to the tradition. Τοuristic projects have been scheduled for this area.

Walking from the western to the sou­thern shore and passing by the Bishop's cave (Nikandros Deloukas 1912) we reach the Arvanitia area, which extends below the steep west side of Palamidi.It was named after this event. During Orlof's unfortunate revolution (1769), the Su1tan sent some Albanians to bring peace to Morea.

Kapetan Pasha arrived at Nauplion in April 1779. He called then to Palamidi the Albanians of the city pretending that he was going to pay delayed salaries. As they were passing without suspicion from one bastion to another they were pushed down to the cliff gaping on the west side of Palamidi and were killed. The area underneath and the sea that turned red from the Albanian blood were called Arvanitia.

It is 4 kilometres from Nauplion with regular bus service ( every quarter of an hour). Today there still rise imposingly the walls of the prehistoric city. «Tyrins with great walls» as it is called by Homer. It was built by Proetus, brother of Acrisius, king of Argos, with the help, according to tradi­tion, of the Cyclops that came from Lycia. Direct descendants of Proetus were Perseus, Amphitryon, Eurystheus, and Hercules. In the Mycenaean period Tiryns belonged to the King of Mycenae. After the descent of the Dorians, Tiryns became an indepen­dent city and took part in the battle of Plataea (479 B.C.). Excavations brought to light the ruins of a palace and of prehisto­ric houses. Next to the Acropolis of Tiryns, in the old Agricu1tural School organized by Ka­podistria, there is the Agricultural and Cri­minal Prison and the Technical School of Argolis.

It is situated at a distance of 25 Km from Nauplion and one can go there on the special bus that starts from Argos (10.30. a.m., 2 p.m., 18.30. p.m., 19.30. p.m.). At Mycenae there are hotels and a touri­stic pavilion. It is the centre of the civilization bearing its name and has been praised by Homer and the ancient Greek tragic poets. The rise of the city starts with the Perseidae dynasty in the 17th century B.C. Sch1iemann, after having studied Homer, started excavating the area and brought to light such precious findings, that justify its title of «gold - abounding Mycenae». The Mycenaean tombs, the ones of «pit style», have been dug into soft rock. On the right on the Lion Gate there were found at first six intact ones. The dead had gold marks and precious armour. During the Atreideae dynasty the Acropolis walls and the Lion Gate were erected and it was then that the city reached the peak of its glory, having established contact with Egypt and Asia Minor. One can still see the remnants of the palace at the top of the Acropolis, as well as the famous Atreus' Treasure or Agamemnon's tomb (1250 B.C.) Clytem­nestra's tomb and some more. The lίntel stone of Atreus' Treasure consists of one block of stone 8,50 m. 10ng, 3 m. wide and 1.20 m. ta1. Its weight is 120 tons. Mycenae was destroyed by the Argeians (468 B.C.) and during the historical times was lust an unimportant village, that still kept some of its old splendor.

Homeric Asine is found at a distance of 11 Km from Nauplion and there is a bus to it every hour. According to the tra­dition it was colonized by the tribe of Dryopes that came down from Mount Par­nassus. It was destroyed by the king of Argos Democratidas during the second Messe­nian war (middle of 7th century B.C.) be­cause it had allied with Sparta, which was an enemy to both the Messenians and the Argeians. The excavations (1922 - 1930) we­re came out by the Swedish, in which the crown prince then and later king of Swedes Gustav Adolph worked together with professor Persohn. The findings are exhibited at the museums of Nauplion and Athens.

The poet George Seferis in his characte­ristic poem «The King of Asine» describes vividly the realm of the deficient homeric memory and the futi1e search for the rem­nants of the king of the city, who has been enwrapped by the darkness of oblivion. Α lyric answer to this melancholic poem was given by the Nauplian poet Nikos Karou­zos, to whom the symbolic presence of Virgin Mary's church on the ruins and the orange trees all around give faith in the beauty of life, when it is made worthy by the christian existence.