Overnight we voyaged from Piraeus, the harbor town of Athens, to the opening of the Corinth canal, an 18th century man-made shortcut across the neck of the Peloponnesian peninsula.
If you look at this map, you’ll see Athens and Piraeus at the middle right, and Corinth in the middle, just the other side of the neck of the peninsula (in the Bay of Corinth). There’s a narrow canal right through this neck, and we’re going through it. Maybe. IF the ship fits!
Good morning!
Approaching the canal. It goes straight through – no locks. The designers didn’t anticipate the tidal differences between the opposite ends would cause a current, which restricts traffic in one direction at a time, and has caused a lot of cave-ins.
The canal only opened for traffic again after one such incident a few days ago. Whew.
Getting closer… locked and loaded…
And yes, amazingly, the ship fit, with about 5m on each side to spare. Careful piloting required for sure. (And who was the first person who thought “gee, I bet this ship would fit thought that canal, let’s try it!”)
You can see all the way through to the Bay of Corinth, 4 miles to the other side. The cliffs on the side are about 300’ high in the middle.
A tug guides us through. Slowly:
Now there’s a scene I didn’t expect when going on a cruise!
Note the bastions on the left, where there’s been a collapse. The scour in this canal is significant, and maintenance is a continual thing. Probably they just keep it going for tourists 🙂
After about two hours, we emerge at the North end into Corinth Bay. Yay. (Oh, and good sound quality on that horn!)
Yay, we made it! Onward…
How did I get here 