The Castle of Palamidi is on a hill of height of 216m on the east of Acronafplia in the city of Nafplio. It was built and fortified during the second period of Venetian rule (1686-1715) according to Venetian architecture. It was named after the local hero Palamidis, Nafplios’ son. It has eight bastions the most central of which was that of Saint Andreas that due to its position was used as garrison headquarters. The rest bastions are named after the ancient Greek warriors “Miltiades”, “Leonidas”, “Epameinondas”, “Achilles”, “Fokion” and the French “Robert” in honor of a French Philhellene.

In 1715 it was conquered by the Turks, but in November 29th 1822 the castle came under the Greek rule again, with Staikos Staikopoulos as a leader. After the Greek Revolution of 1821 and until approximately 1925, in the inner building there were prisons where Th. Kolokotronis was imprisoned in 1833 on charges of high treason. In the fortress, besides Kolokotronis’ cell, there is the temple of Agios Andreas, which was built during the Venetian era and was devoted to Saint Andrew due to the liberation of Nafplio on his feast day. The carved lion of Saint Markos, an emblem of Venice, makes its presence felt among the paved paths of the fortress. The access can be done by car but also on foot climbing up the famous 999 steps, northwest of the city of Nafplio, on the road towards Akronafplia.