Not much is left of the old biblical town of Corinth. Most of the ancient ruins have long come down over countless earthquakes. In its place is a bustling city. The harbor is rather small but close to the downtown area. Young boys are diving off the piers with big grins and lanky frames. Shops are filled with the latest designer clothes and restaurants offer gyros and Greek salads, which we are quickly getting addicted to. We spent the night and the next morning sailed through the Corinth Cannel.
The cannel is about a 3.2-mile stretch that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea. Nero first started digging the cannel back in Roman times using 6000 Jewish slaves, but never finished it. It seems a little uprising in Gaul distracted him from the project. Octavia tried to bridge the gap by building a road and dragging his boats across this narrow stretch of lands. The remains of that road can still be seen. It wasn’t until 1893 that the cannel was finally cut through the limestone. We had to wait outside the cannel for almost 3 hours before we were allowed to cross in so the boats from the other direction could clear the channel. The interesting thing is there is a low bridge just as you enter the channel. Instead of raising the bridge, it is submerged into the water and the boats pass over it. When we came out the other end, we had strong winds and were able to sail for 5 more hours all the way to Athens.
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