Tuesday 2nd November

We decided to go to Corinth and see the canal. After we had breakfasted at a local café on coffee and croissants, we returned to the hotel and asked for a taxi to take us where we wanted to go. The hotel arranged with a taxi driver called Dimitri who came quite soon to pick us up. WE left Athens and proceeded west towards Corinth and finally arrived at the canal which is an incredible sight. It is a huge deep cut into the earth with 11 meter deep water at the bottom. I will attach photos but they do not do it justice. The canal is 5 km long and can handle ships of small to medium size due to the width restrictions. The canal was constructed in the late 19^th century and the engineers were Hungarian. In the past there had been many tries to bridge the isthmus by the Romans and others. One unusual feature is the facility to bungee jump from a position underneath the road bridge. During our stop at the bridge over the canal, we talked to Dimitri and he planned out an extension to our trip for the day. We would go to Ancient Corinth to see where St Paul preached to the Corinthians, then on to Mycenae which was the home of Agamemnon and a very important city. We arrived there and toured the ancient ruins which are very impressive. The Lions’ Gate which is the entrance to the city is well preserved. Although time was short as the site was closing we also got a short look at the interesting museum with many very well preserved relics.

From Mycenae we drove onward to Nauplia a small and charming port on the coast. We drove up above the city to a fortress where there was a remarkable view of the city and the small island of Bugli which was a fortress prison. This is accessible by a small boat  but as the water was choppy we decided not to venture out. We drove back into the small town and walked around. We then had a late fish lunch at a small restaurant in one of the narrow streets near the port. The lunch was well attended by some noisy cats who demanded to be fed and squabbled amongst themselves for first ‘dibs’ at any food which was dropped.

By the end of lunch it was starting to get dark and we walked through the small streets visiting some of the small shops, mostly selling handicrafts. MAC bought some souvenirs for her staff at the U.N. Soon it was time to rejoin Dimitri who drove us back to Athens and our hotel after a great day out.