Greece and Turkey 2015: Submerging Bridge and Corinth

When we left this morning it was raining and foggy - not a good start. But, as we got closer to our destination, Korinthos (Corinth), about a 2 hour drive to the west, the rain stopped and it cleared just a little....so all was well! Our first stop was to see the Corinth Canal, a very narrow and deep canal across the isthmus connecting the Adriatic and the Aegean Seas. More on that later!

We then continue on to the archeological site of Corinth. During biblical times this was a very large city, full of debauchery among the sailors. Paul spent 18 months here trying to convert folks! Lots more broken columns, imaginary buildings and an interesting museum housing relics from all over the Mediterranean area. The museum had an interesting story to tell. In 1990 it was violated by bandits whole stole some 280 articles to be sold in the black market of antiquities. Most of the items were recovered in a 1999 raid in a warehouse in Florida!

For lunch, we returned to a location on the Corinth Canal that we had seen earlier. There is a bridge here that submerges the deck to allow small ships and pleasure boats to go through. Very clever idea!
While eating our lunch on the overlooking patio, we got to see it in action. First, the deck was submerged and a small sailboat passed through. Then, much to our surprise, a rather large ship came through!

The climate in Corinth is very different from Athens. Its almost tropical! There are pretty flowering shrubs, cactus and even some palm trees!

Buy the time we finished our lunch ( sitting in the sunshine on the patio) it was nearly 3:00 so we headed back to our hotel. City traffic was a mess - apparently the President of France was here on a official visit. Also, while we were gone, there were torrentiil downpours causing flash floods!

Athens is very drab and one- colored. Must be there is no Sherwin Williams store here.

At this point, Zina left us and we were introduced to our guide for the cruise, Janis (sp?) . He seems like a real character! Zina did a fine job for us. She was very knowledgeable and eager to please.

Tomorrow we leave the hotel for our three day cruise on the Celestyal Olympia. We will visit Ephesus, Patmos, Santorini, Mykonos. Janis has advised that internet service on the ship is available, "but forget it!" So, future posts here may be intermittent. We will return to this hotel on Monday afternoon.