DAY 96 - Corinth

19th of August - Whitey's Birthday and a trip to Corinth
The day began with a camera, some singing and present opening. I wish all morning started with opening presents :) Luckily for Nicole and viewers, she didn't go to bed with wet hair otherwise the video evidence of the reaction to the awakening choir would have been scarier.
Greek yoghurt, fresh fruit and tea loaf provided a very scrumptious breakfast before meeting the bus on the sea front and travelled north to Corinth. First we stopped at Marathon which was the sight of the Battle of Marathon. This was the first invasion of Greece by the Persians in 490B.C. The Greeks won the battle and sent a messenger back to Athens, a journey of 40km, with news of the victory. After running whole way, and telling the good news the messenger dropped dead due to heat exhaustion. Moral of the story. . . don't run 40kms in the blistering heat, take a bus. While everyone else on the tour was taking pictures of the grassed mound of dirt that was put there was a memorial we, the pack decided to take other pictures to remind us of the location.
We arrived at the present day Corinth and stopped at the canal lookout to "look out". The canal connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and seperates the Peloponnesian peninsula from the Greek mainland. The canal is 6.3km in length and was built between 1881 and 1893. It is 21 metres wide which is too narrow for modern oceans freighters. Therefore the canal is now mostly used by tourist ships. The water in the canal is 8m deep and at a maximum, the walls are 52m high.
We travelled on to Acrocorinth (575m.a.s.l.). Luckily the bus could take us up to a point near the lowest gate on the west side of the hill. This hill was fortified in ancient times and its defences were maintained and developed during the Byzantine, Frankish, Turkish and Venetan periods. The fortifications include three layers of walls in which we passed through three gates while still climbing up the hill and trying to avoid slipping on the well worn marble. Within the fortress is a mosque build in 16th century and ruins of the temple of Aphrodite. There was also fanastic view of the Isthmus and the hills of the Peloponnese.
We wound our way back down the hill and got dropped of in Ancient Corinth during the middle of the day. While some people on the tour set their sights on exploring the museum and surrounding ruins which date back to the 11th Century B.C. and have statues of Augustus and his grandson Lucius Caesar and of other Roman Emperors. Others including us, took refuge in a taverna (Greek restaurant) which over looked the ancient Roman site. The owner took a shining to Jess, and was very insistant that he would take her acceptance in marriage as payment for the meal. He was saddened when we wouldn't let Jess go but was secretly stoked when Jess gave him a hug. (Sooo romantic. . .not!)
It was later heard that Jess should have told the owner that back home she had a boy friend who was 6 ft 6, and 120kgs of pure New Zealand muscle and could press him into olive oil.
We made our way back to the hotel and cooled down with a compulsory dip in the pool. The night was ended by being taken to a cafe which had amazingly comfy couches and great music. Happy birthday was sung for the forth time that day and a couple of drinks made a great day complete.