A cruise along the Corinth Canal
Today, I am thrilled to share about my day at Isthmia, cruising along the Corinth Canal!
First, we had coffee at the Isthmia Bridge Cafe, on the side of the Peloponnese, where we got to see the small bridge submerge in the sea and resurface a few times, allowing people and cars to pass from the Peloponnese to the mainland and back. We even got to see our booked pleasure boat, Anna II, pass by, before boarding it. We got so excited!
Here is a short video my husband took at the cafe, just as our boat appeared to cruise past us.
Just as we were about to board, a large number of jet skis floated and revved past en masse to get into the canal. I’d never seen so many together before – It was such a treat!
The cruise was amazing. The canal is so beautiful. See this short video for a small taste!
During the cruise, I recalled a story one of my Corfiot aunts told me the last time I saw her. It was a miraculous incident that took place in the canal. Here’s what happened:
Many decades ago, when my elderly aunt was a young married woman, she found a lump in her breast one day. As soon as they could make it, she and my uncle boarded a boat from Corfu town to visit a hospital in Athens.
As they were traveling through the Corinth Canal, she and my uncle were lying on their backs on the deck in the sunshine. Auntie had her eyes closed, listening to a man relay an anecdote from the days when the canal was being constructed.
The man was saying that the cook on site caught a snake one day. He prepared half of it fried and half of it boiled. The workers who ate the fried snake all died, but those who ate it boiled were not harmed. Just as the man was finishing the story, my aunt heard a man ask her, ‘Where are you going?’ She opened her eyes and saw a monk towering over her. She told him she was going to Athens to see a doctor.
To her surprise, the monk then lunged forward and grabbed her by the chest, real tight. She began to shout, protesting, as anyone might expect. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and realized the monk had simply vanished. Turning to her husband, she asked about the monk. He hadn’t seen him. And now, it all seemed like a terrible dream. Or was it? It had felt so real!
When they got to the hospital and the doctor examined her, she was astounded to hear the lump was no longer there!
Later, she realized the monk she’d seen on the boat had to have been Saint Spyridon, as he is portrayed as a monk in all the icons, and he has been seen in the same form in many recorded miracles where he appeared before people in visions. Being the patron saint of Corfu, she had always prayed to him and kept him close in her life.
When she was even younger, he had saved her from a serious injury, possibly a fatal one. For her, that was a miracle too. That one involved a fall, on a day like any other, when she was walking through an olive grove carrying a massive jug filled with something I don’t recall – but she stressed that it was very heavy. Somehow, the jug got entangled in a low branch of an olive tree, sending her falling hard to the ground. She said that the angle in which she fell meant that the jug had to have fallen on her head. Nor was it normal that she had fallen with her back to the ground.
Somehow, the heavy jug had fallen on the ground right behind her head instead of on top of it, and… wait for it…it landed on its base, remaining totally unharmed.
She did suffer an injury on her back, and she had to be hospitalised, but even now, at the age of 80+ she still praises St Spyridon, convinced that he has intervened to save her life, not once, but twice.
And she’s not the only member of my Corfiot family who have told me stories of St Spyridon’s miracles they witnessed firsthand either! My granny was another. Actually, I have put her own personal story in this post, along with a load of info on St Spyridon and his famous miracles.
Coming out on the other side of the canal, we were enthralled to see the beautiful views of the spa town of Loutraki and the Corinthian Gulf. After a short cruise around the gulf, while waiting for the go ahead to go back into the canal, we returned to our initial point of departure, on the Saronic Gulf side.
On our return journey along the canal, we noticed this part where new works were made in the recent years, when part of the canal wall began to crumble, causing it to close a couple times because it wasn’t safe. If I recall, it happened after a couple of earthquakes that affected this area. As the workers seem to have dug so low to the water surface, building this really wide road from the top to carry away the debris, the chance of rocks falling on the canal again at this part is no longer a possibility.
A little further down, we were astounded to see a massive ‘ZAXARIAS’ (i.e. Zachariah) carved on the rock. It was HUGE! We all wondered about it! Soon, we found out it was one of the workers of the canal who had done this, back in the days of its construction. He wanted to carve his own name for posterity, but he wasn’t anywhere near as humble as all the others who had done the same. We saw many names carved in the canal rockface as we went through it, including some sounding very Italian.
But this Zachariah dude certainly overdid it, and as we heard, he got a huge fine for his huge audacity haha! If you do this cruise and want to check it out, it’s on the Peloponnese side, i.e. the right side when you return to Isthmia.
Another thing to look out for as you travel through the canal is this:
On the outward journey, if you sit at the right side, near the beginning of the cruise, you may notice high up on the rockface a figure protected behind a wooden frame. It is a Nero relief that is part of an ancient temple dedicated to him. Where this is situated, you will see two square cemented bases on both banks that used to support an old bridge that is no longer there. The Nero relief is high above the base on the right side.
And now, some trivia for you:
The Corinth Canal is 8 meters deep, 21 meters wide, 80 meters high, and 6.4 kms long. It took about 1.5 hour to cruise through it and back on the boat.
Work on the canal began in 1882 and it opened in 1893. It unites the Corinthian to the Saronic Gulf, and it separates the Peloponnese from mainland Greece – essentially making the former an island!
The ancient Greeks were the first to conceive the idea of a canal there and were keen on constructing it, but Pythia forbid it when they asked the gods for advice on it.
Zeus told them through Pythia that he wasn’t in agreement – he said plain and simple that if he’d meant for the Peloponnese to be an island he would have made it one himself!
Well, I wonder what he’s thinking right now if he’s still around, LOL!
Guess how much it costs for a big ship to go through the canal? We were told the entrance fee is 5,000 euro! And guess what? The canal company employs its own captains, who are pefectly trained to navigate ships through the canal. Every shipping company has a choice to make! If they want to be covered by insurance as they go through the strait, they have to allow one of the canal’s captains to take the wheel.
If the shipping company opts out of this, whatever damage occurs will not be compensated. I hope they all say yes! I’d hate for any damage to a ship or this beautiful canal!
In case you’re wondering, the company that does the cruise is Corinth Canal Cruises. They also go to the islands of Aegina and Agkistri!
The boats board at Isthmia. The ticket for a cruise through the canal and back is 28 euro per person. For further details and to confirm the price, please visit the website of Corinth Canal Cruises.
I loved Isthmia so much I am bound to return next summer. It’s not just the idyllic setting at Isthmia Bridge Cafe, but the beach that is situated a short distance away looked just as amazing as I viewed it from the boat. I may even be tempted to do the cruise again. I highly recommend Isthmia for a visit!
In a later post, I will share about the other places my husband and I visited that day. We made our first stop at the Isthmia museum and archeological site. I fell in love with the marvelous fresco at the Roman Baths that is full of intricate designs of marine creatures, and I can’t wait to show it to you!
We also visited Loutraki for lunch and coffee. It was a 4-hour stay where we walked a lot, sat in the shade, and enjoyed generous sea views. All the while, we really kicked ourselves for not having brought our swimsuits. It was a marvellous sunny day, scorching hot, and people were swimming, even though it was mid-October!
Visit Facebook to check out my pictures from the Corinth Canal cruise and Isthmia Bridge Cafe.
Corfiot pastitsada – my easy, and just as yummy version!
Today, I am pleased to share my recipe for Corfu’s iconic dish of Pastitsada, i.e. beef and pasta in a rich tomato sauce.
My Corfiot granny, Antigoni, always made this meal with tomato paste from a tin, but passata (tomato puree) is a personal preference of mine. Both options work and the food tastes the same.
Sometimes, Granny also used number 2 pasta (thick, with a hole), but I find it very messy on the table. Let’s just say it’s a surefire way to get sauce on your clothes 😛 Spaghetti is way easier to eat lathered in tomato sauce!
GO HERE TO GET THE RECIPE
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