Winter is over! | Climbing & touristing in beautiful Nafplio

Over the last three weeks, we travelled through the wonderful Peloponnese (Post Tour #1, Tour #2, Tour #3, Tour #4 & Tour #5). Now it was time to stay in one place for a little longer, and there is no more perfect place to do so than Nafplio! We had been wanting to come here for quite some time now, but due to the corona measures in Greece, we didn’t really dare to. After touring the Peopponnese with absolutely no hassle at all, at this point, we weren’t so worried anymore. And in Nafplio the sun was shining, so it absolutely felt like winter is over!

Climbing around Nafplio | Winter is over!

Nafplio has some very nice and varied climbing to offer. According to our guidebook, there are four sectors in Ναύπλιο, with a total of 146 routes ranging from 3a to 7c+. We started our first climbing day here at Neraki (first 3 photo’s). A gorgeous sun trap sector with big huecos on an orange streak wall. Lucia onsighted a cool 6a called ★★ Anoixi (spring)

Tough but super nice! Birds where flying out of two caves in the route whilst I was climbing. The crux is to stay in the route while they startle you 😅. And the slippery footholds!
Lucia’s comments on the route on The Crag

The second climbing day here we spent in Arvanitia (last three photo’s). This sector is another suntrap looking out over the beautiful clear Mediterranean sea, although today was a cloudy day. The sector is actually quite a busy pedestrian street, with a lot of Nafplio-locals and tourists walking along the promenade. There were also quite a few nice and friendly Greek climbers who advised us which routes to climb. Lucia took on their advice and onsighted an excellent 6a and 6b+ (No Fear and For me and for you), amongst a few other routes.

Martijn also climbing again!

Martijn just had a four-week break from climbing. At Zobolo was his last attempt, but this again triggered some irritation. Not only was his previous lumbrical tear giving some pain; Martijn also bumped his toe going for a quick dip in the ice-cold sea in Kyparissi. Putting his climbing shoe on was now extra torture, making sure he wouldn’t attempt swimming any time soon again. Now he was ready to try climbing again after a short consult with our go-to physiotherapist, Mathieu Ceron. (We are so grateful that we can video call with him while we are on the road whenever our injuries are acting up again. Having a physiotherapist, who himself is a very strong and skilled climber, is such a win. He knows exactly what strain we climbers put our bodies and ligaments in.) These first couple of days Martijn climbed some nice easy stuff. He really enjoyed being on the wall again!

Touristing in Nafplio | Winter still seems over!

Besides climbing, we also did some sightseeing in the cute little city of Nafplio. We strolled through the beautifully tiled streets with many colourful old buildings, we walked up all the stairs or the Palamidi fortress on top of a 216-metre high hill, and we ate Martijns absolute favourite: Pork Gyros!