Rising above the old part of town, the Akronafplia fortress is the oldest of Nafplio’s three castles, although there’s much less to see here than at the other two forts. The lower sections of the walls date back to the Bronze Age. Until the arrival of the Venetians, the town was restricted to within its walls. The Turks called it İç Kale (meaning ‘inner castle’). It was used as a political prison from 1936 to 1956.
There’s a lift up to the fortress from Plateia Poliko Nosokomiou at the western edge of town (it accesses the Nafplia Palace hotel complex). The old gateway to the fortress, crowned with a fine Venetian lion emblem, is at the top of Potamianou above Hotel Marianna.
