Don't make a habit of it

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I have been postponing this for months. In the spring I had too many things to do and I wasn't sure that my feet are up to the task, in the summer it was too hot and in the autumn I was preoccupied with our imminent trip to Crete. But now I have run out of excuses. The winter is here, a winter with glorious sunny days and pleasant temperatures, I am in great physical condition and I have the time to keep exploring this beautiful place that I have found myself in!

The widest panorama of the town under the evening winter sun has a price though. A price that is counted in stairs, hundreds of them!

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The legend says that there are 999 stairs on the stairway, leading from the town of Nafplio to the fortress of Palamidi. Other sources say that they are only 857. On the other hand I counted 902 of them but don't take my word for it. Stopping every now and then to take pictures and enjoy the view is not the best way to keep counting in a reliable way :)

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Around the middle of the ascent there is a stone bench under an arch within the wall. A very cosy spot to sit and rest for a while, enjoying a mesmerising view. Judging from the glossiness of the rocks, on the suffuse of the bench, I would say that many thousands, if not millions of butts have sit there as I did too :)

The lowest part of the fortification was around the corner and I didn't want to reach it out of breath.

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Looking down the stairway looks more intimidating than it actually is. I made the round trip (up to the castle and back to the town) in one hour and a half without feeling any particular difficulty. But I have to admit that when I returned home and sat down, a sweet fatigue overwhelmed me. Just for a while though as I went to the gym a couple of hours later :)

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You should know that there is a road around the hill and you can visit the castle by car, if you would like. The first time though that I climbed those stairs, many years ago, I didn't know that. As I didn't know the visiting hours.

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So I went all the way up just to see the closed door and a few days later I went again to see the castle itself. It was during that second visit that I found out that I could have driven my way there! But it didn't really matter. I was so much younger and the walk from the stairway really deserves the trouble.

Although my knees are telling me, as I write those lines:

OK, we did you the favour for this once but don't make a habit of it :)

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This is my contribution to the #wednesdaywalk challenge, hosted by @tattoodjay!

The camera that I used is a Canon EOS 850D with an EF-S 18-135mm lens attached. I edited the photographs in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic .


All the pictures and the words are mine.

Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.

Commenting, upvoting and rebloging are highly appreciated!



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31 comments
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It's worth taking hundreds of stairs if the view above is as stunning as this ☺️

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My knees would not just talk to me after so many stairs. 😂 They would kind of die, but I would take the risk and convince them to stay healthy, as these breathtaking views...

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I wouldn't have dared to do it myself, if it wasn't for the last months that I have been working out on the gym regularly!

Last spring I wouldn't have reached not either halfway :)

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Amazing views! I would take the risk of my knees scolding me for putting them under so much stress! That place is a dream! 😍

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It is a special castle
The stones used in the construction of the wall are internal.
Is it large enough to get lost inside?
Beautiful photos
Regards

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Thanks a lot!

It is big but not so big to get lost inside. It would take though a few hours to explore all of it :)

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That's a lotta lotta stairs, my friend!

Is this Crete again? Gosh it's beautiful!

It reminded me of this... (my son and I watched it again recently when the internet was down - yet again - because my hard drive with all of our movies crashed and burned :| )


https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BNW0dYPyEgA


Such a great movie! So well done! <3 really beautiful to watch

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A lot of stairs indeed :)

This is not in Crete, it is at Nafplio, on the mainland. Since last March we live mainly in Nafplio and only a couple of months in Crete. I am not complaining though, they are both beautiful places!

The stairs on the film do look a bit like the ones I climbed but I have to work out a little more to do the buckets thing :)

I haven't seen it but it looks like a fun movie!

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:D

I imagine that scene when I'm carrying my bag of shopping from the village and I've been able to fill up the shelves a bit!

It works! Mind over matter. It's quite astounding 😄

Copy that on the location. Thank you. It does look incredibly beautiful

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Oh... It's just too good. I have to watch parts of it again now

Whew!


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Fell into the rabbit-hole, eh?

Enjoy it :)

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I'd so make a habit of it! Seems like a much better way to exercise than the gym.

This post has been manually curated by the VYB curation project

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Wow! That's quite a few stairs, I hope those feet were able to rest well. 😅 The views are spectacular, as always, I think I have become repetitive about the beauty of Nafplio. 🥺 I hope you can see the castle next time 🤞🏻

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Quite a few stairs indeed :)

The feet are just fine, thanks!

This time I went intentionally for the stairs and the view from them. I was in the castle itself a few weeks ago, so I got it all covered now :)

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This kind of stairs leadings to the top of a mountain, hill or whatever, don't say a lot at first. But God damn! The view up there? Absolutely stunning! I envy Greece for having such amazing scenery :)

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It is amazing indeed!

But don't worry, I very often envy Romania with all the amazing places you have shown to us :)

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Loved the pics as usual. Your town looks so beautiful and textured that it would be a great place of artists to sit down and draw. I had read earlier in my day on my phone but could not post a comment there. I was laughing on reading what your knees told you. My cramping leg does something similar to me all the time :D :D :D

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It's true, it is a very picturesque town and it has a lot of visitors just for that!

I guess that as we getting older, our body parts will get more and more talkative :)

Thank you!

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Such a beautiful view from that vantage! I can imagine I'd be really excited to climb those stairs until I got about halfway up, then my knees would just give up on me, lol.

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It is beautiful indeed but the knees have to pay the price :)

Thank you for stopping by!

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