Sunday, May 16, 2010

From there we sail through the Corinth Canal.

South America has the Panama Canal. Greece has the Corinth Canal. Cut from limestone up to 250 feet deep, this waterway shortcut was first started by Nero using 6,000 Jewish slaves but he didn’t even get to the rock before insurrection in Gaul diverted his attention. Before that, the Romans would sometimes drag their ships across the dry land by putting logs under them and rolling the ships the 3.2 miles. It wasn’t to be completed until 1893. At each end of the canal, the roadways sink to the bottom rather than raising like a bridge. Really a cleaver way to deal with the heights required by cruise ships and big freighters, though I wonder how they can squeeze some of those monster liners through. It is only about 81 feet across.

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