Nafpaktos

A place we passed a hundred times before we finally stopped

I've been travelling to Greece since 2008. I even lived in Athens for six months, explored the mainland, spent weeks in Crete. And somehow, every single time, Nafpaktos remained a dot on the map I hadn't visited. A name I recognised but never followed up on.

It was pure serendipity that changed that. We had found accommodation in a nearby village and one early morning, searching for coffee, we ended up here. And just like that, without planning, we discovered one of the most beautiful towns in mainland Greece.

Maybe it was love at first sight. We kept coming back. Each time we stayed a little longer.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/e7ce10_51a2f106c8724e68acf4ae147c514cd6/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Nafpaktos - The Beauty of it All

The town itself

Nafpaktos is Venetian in its bones.

The harbour is perfectly preserved, old stone walls curving around the water, cafés spilling onto the pavement, fishing boats and sailboats sharing the same small space. Walk up through the winding streets and the fortress reveals itself gradually, until you reach the top and the entire Gulf of Corinth opens in front of you. The Peloponnese on one side. The mountains on the other. The Rio-Antirrio Bridge in the distance.

Still a secret

Unlike Parga or other more celebrated destinations, Nafpaktos hasn't been overrun yet. It still feels like something you found yourself. On New Year's Eve, every taverna was full, music filled the streets, the whole town was out, warm golden lights everywhere, not a single mismatched string.

We visited in summer, in winter, in between. Different each time and the same in all the ways that mattered.

A base for everything

Two and a half hours from Athens. Twenty minutes from Patras. Delphi is close. So is Monastiraki, Trizonia, Galaxidi, the long quiet stretches of the Delphi Riviera. And for those who think Greece is only sea, Parnassos mountain, over 2,000 metres, is an hour and a half away. Greece also has snow.

We'll be writing about all of it, slowly, one place at a time.

...

We visited three times before we admitted to ourselves that we were actually looking for a place to live, in Nafpaktos, or somewhere close. We just needed one more visit to be sure.

Venetian Harbour