Friday, January 30, 2009

Old Corinth and the Corinth Canal


The ancient city of Corinth (NE in the Peloponessus on the Gulf of Corinth) was a rich , influential city. Ancient ruins at Old Corinth include: the temple of Apollo, a roman amphitheater, the marketplace, fountains.

Temple of Apollo at Old Corinth

Between pillars of the Temple of Apollo

Most of ancient Corinth
Has either dissappeared
Or by earthquaqes destroyed
And over the years rebuilt

And in spite of it all, there are still
Temple of Apollo ,5th century built
And remnants of an once rich town
With shops that made her renown


Shop at ancient Corinth

*
The Corinth Canal built in the late 19th century at the very end of the Gulf of Corinth was considered a great technical achievement , a great engineering masterpiece at the time intended to short sea voyage of ships.. It connects mainland Greece (North} with the Peloponnese peninsula (South), the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf. Two large bridges one for railway, one for national Road are the land connection while below ships sail slowly from one sea to another, from the Adriatic to the Aegaen.

The canal appears as a blue strip and measures are: length - 6.3 km, width- 21 m, depth- 8m, height of the cliffs flanking it - 63m.
The attractions : one can take an organized cruise on a ship along the canal, or while on the bridge watch the bungy jump or look down and watch the passing ships. All three possibilities are exciting.


People looking down in wonder at the canal

The Corinth narrow ship Canal
Is something far from banal
Cut through solid rock and designed
By greatest of minds at the time
It links two seas and two pieces of land
While sailing, one can touch the cliffs by hand

Corinth Canal and the bridges


On the bridge

Corinth Canal - video


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