By: Marcia Abramson
The Greek island of Nafplion, an island of mythological origins actually named after the Argonaut hero son of Poseidon, the Sea God, was a new destination for me. My transportation from the Silversea's luxurious Silver Whisper was an equally upscale tender. In less than five minutes I was at the charming waterfront of Nafplion, a past capital of Independent Free Greece until 1836. This island's history also dates back to battles of Troy, the Byzantine period, Venetian, Roman and Russian influence.
The waterfront area is filled with a myriad of open-air restaurants and gift shops. I chose to go off on one of the narrow cobblestoned alleys, and was awed by the elegant medieval architecture credited to the Venetians of the 15th century.. In the city's main square I saw the meeting place of the Greek Parliament, which was a former mosque, an Archeological Museum with an extraordinary array of Mycenaean relics, St. Spyridon Church where the first president, Kapodistrias, was assassinated in 1831, and a Folk Museum with wonderful displays of exquisite costumes and household goods.
I was also impressed by the Akronafplia Citadel, now a luxury hotel. As part of the fortifications of the town, the Citadel has a gate constructed of Roman bricks, a Byzantine gatehouse with unique frescoes from the year 1291 and Venetian bastions.
All in all, it was nice to find a Greek island very much unspoiled by hordes of tourists and true to its old world roots. It was also good to get back to the dock to find the Silversea refreshment kiosk and the tender to take me back to the ship in time for lunch.
My interest in Croatia was enhanced by a recent travel article in the New York Times. The author, Josip Novakovich, describes the Dalmatian coast of Croatia as resembling a Dalmatian dog's back, the dots representing islands-nearly a thousand of them. He writes: The islands have an intoxicating and mysterious end-of-the-world quality. Therefore, sailing to the largest of these islands Korcula and Split with its ferries to the other Croatian islands, and the countries of Israel, Italy, Greece and Turkey was another very appealing reason for my taking this cruise.
According to Novakovich, Korcula and another island, Krk, was where Odysseus was lost for many years because he and his men were enticed by Circe, the enchantress who turned men into swine, according to Greek mythology. He points out the similarity of the consonants in the names gave authorities food for thought and credence to the story. But I found the beauty of Korcula could not be denied. The waterfront was indeed isolated and windswept. In fact one of the gift shop operators told me that this place is deserted in the winter, and that they go off to Dubrovnik. Nevertheless, I was there on two of the 3,000 annual hours of delightful sunshine in Korcula described as Eden because of the rich species of Mediterranean plants, dense woods and a rich ecology and medieval history.
This island was discovered in ancient times by Greek colonists, then by Illyrians, Romans and eventually the Croats. After climbing a good number of steps I found myself in one of the best preserved feudal towns in the Mediterranean. The stone architecture is mainly Gothic and Renaissance in addition to residual Romanesque style. In fact, I was happy to discover the purported birthplace of that famous world traveler Marco Polo. To commemorate my discovery I bought one of the numerous water colors of the tower where the birth is rumored to have taken place in the 13th century. I also visited a few art galleries, the City Museum, the Bishop's Treasury, saw a marvelous collection of icons and hand-made jewelry, but did not get to see the yacht of tennis great and last year's Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanisevic, which is usually docked in the town's marina.Split's old city was another revisit to medieval Europe with entries low enough to keep invading cavalries out of the walled city. In addition to a dungeon with all the requisite manacles and irons, there were art galleries and silver handicrafts.
