The ship was tendered in the harbor & we took the lifeboats into the port. Our tour today was to see the Corinth Canal & Ancient Corinth. On the way we passed by Ancient Mycenea.
The Corinth Canal was built in the late 1800's. Today it is too narrow & shallow for big ships. It is only 8 meters deep, 8 meters wide & 4 miles long. We did see 2 sailboats using it to transit the isthmus from Ionian Sea to the Aegean Sea.
Ancient Corinth was amazing. It was occupied by Romans, Goths, a Crusaders, Ottoman Turks & Venetians. The columns were made from a solid piece of granite & probably 20' tall. It was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1850's. The flowers were beautiful....poppies & chamomile & achacia trees (Noah's ark made from this type of tree). It was special to walk where Paul walked...it makes it more real. One thing we learned that most of the ancient towns had a fortress on top of a mountain & a seaport, with the town with its agora/marketplace, athletic arena, forum, & temple in the area in between.
Our guide gave us a Greek lesson on the bus....or really what the Greek "root" word is for so many English words.
We got back in time to walk around around Navplion & have a late lunch...gelato! We saw the Palamidi Castle & the 999 steps from the town to get there. It played a large role in the Greek independence of 1822. On the way back to the ship we also saw the Bourtzi Fortress (built in 1471 on an island to protect the Venetians against pirates.
Navplion was named the first capital of modern Greece although the capital has since been moved to Athens. It has been under French & Italian rule in its past & finally Greek rule in 19th century.
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