A Tube with a View

View from atop the Fortress of Palamidi

On Friday, we climbed 999 steps up the side of a large hill to the Fortress of Palamidi.  For anyone that knows me, this is quite the feat since I'm not the fondest of heights.  One of my goals for this trip is to work on that, so I'm going to take this opportunity to pat myself on the back and reward myself with gelato for making it both up and down those 999 steps.  (I like to reward myself with gelato on just about any occasion I can.)  Also, as I'm sure you can guess, I did not "cleap over."  Neither did Paul, although he may have wanted to at one point while I had his hand in a serious death grip.

The Fortress of Palamidi sits on a hill above Nafplio. Built in the 1710s, it's a sprawling fortress full of barracks, food storage areas, a church, and my favorite (because I like saying it), "murder holes."  Barring the occasional fear-inducing precipice, it's a fun place to wander around.

That's the church behind the tree.

At one point, I ducked through a tunnel and then noticed another tunnel right next to it.  Curious to see where that one lead, I peeked in and promptly announced to Paul that it was "just a tube with a view."  Since he couldn't stop laughing, I thought it might make a good post title.  

I'm standing next to the tube with a view.

Also neat about this fortress is that you can really explore quite a lot of it - not much is roped off. There's a small area that was called a prison at one point even though it was just a secondary gunpowder magazine.  I can see why one would call it a prison though - we had to duck through a tiny entrance to get into this small, cave-like space (I have no idea why we look so happy.  Seriously, it was like a scary dungeon in there!):

Just a few more cool photos:

Don't look now but I think there's a creeper (the Minecraft variety) in that building!