Fodor's Expert Review Bourtzi

Nafplion's pocket-size fortress is a captivating presence on a speck of land in the middle of the harbor generously called St. Theodore's Island. The Venetians completed a single tower in 1473, and they enlarged it with a second tower and bastion when they recaptured Nafplion in 1686. Freedom fighters captured the Bourtzi during the War of Independence in 1822 and used the island to bombard the Turks defending the town. The new Greek government retreated to the island in the unsettled times following the revolution; after 1865, the fortress was the residence of the town executioners. Boats leave on no fixed schedule from the eastern end of Akti Miaouli for €5; at the time of writing, ongoing works on the castle meant that access to the fortress continues to be partly restricted.