Corinth and Athens

Hello everyone

The archaeological site of Ancient Corinth is amazing with the Temple of Apollo being the star attraction. The large site was added to by the Romans prior to being hit by an earthquake –part of the marble Roman road to the ancient port is still intact. At the fortress of Acrocorinth, only part of the curtain wall and gates remain, but the views across the Gulf of Corinth and beyond were beautiful. It was very windy here, but still warm.

We drove the short way to the Corinth Canal. It took 11 years to dig the 4 mile-long channel and at 23m wide, is now only used by smaller ships. There is a car/foot submersible bridge which descends 8m to allow the boats to pass – fascinating! 

 

 

Our next stop was the Temple of Poseidon at Soύnio, high on the summit of the cape. Built in 444BC, only 15 columns of the original 34 remain, and although the marble has yellowed, it was an impressive sight.

 

 

 

 

Athens was excellent with so many sights to see. The highlights were the Acropolis – in particular the huge Parthenon and the Porch of the Caryatids on the Erechtheion. The modern museum displays the marble statues, including sections of the pediments from the Parthenon. We heard a lot of discussion about the Elgin Marbles and their absence from here.

 

The Temple of Olympian Zeus was the largest temple to be built in Greece, although damaged by earthquakes. The Panathenaic Stadium was a favourite – the site hosted ancient games in 330 BC, but was rebuilt with Pentelic marble to stage the modern Olympics in 1896. A tunnel leads from the track to the old changing rooms and now houses a small museum displaying the Olympic cauldron.

 

In the Athens Archaeological museum, we saw the finds from the Mycanean graves visited earlier, including all the intricate and beautiful gold jewellery and funeral pottery. There was also the impressive bronze statue of Poseidon on display.

 

 

We headed west via Delphi towards the western coastline – beautiful scenery with many coves for sunbathing. Its now 26 weeks since we set off on our adventure and have travelled over 14,000 miles. In a couple of days, we plan to sail from Igoumenista to Brindisi – and Italy - our 19th country.

 

Will post again next week - love to all