Setting off for the Peloponnese

We arrived back in Athens yesterday.  Once again, I am resolved never to book online again.  We had booked at a hotel 6 kms from Athens airport, which we did not realise was as the crow flies.  By taxi, the distance to Thalasso is 14kms and costs Euro 30 and the Mare Nostrum is described as a refined 4 star beach resort.  Not what we needed for a night's accommodation before picking up our rental car.  But the view from the dining room was lovely and we had a very nice breakfast.

We picked up the car -  a much classier one than our Albanian rental - and set off for the Peloponnese.  The second part of our adventure begins.

The Corinth Canal was our first stop.  It is an engineering marvel spanning many centuries to link the Aegean and Ionian seas.  Several rulers of antiquity tried to build a cutting through this isthmus but it was actually begun by Emperor Nero, and completed by the French in the nineteenth century.  Cut through solid rock, the canal is more than 6 kms long and 23 m wide.  It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland.

Ancient Corinth.

We drove on to Epidavros on the east coast.

Dinner was at a pretty local taverna festooned with orange trees.

Greece is a museum.  It doesn't matter where you go, there are bound to be some  ruins of significance.  As well as archaeological riches there is unique natural beauty and a superb climate.  It is very easy to understand why there are so many tourists that flock here.  Even, now on the cusp of October when it is supposed ot be the off-season or shoulder-season they are here wherever you turn.

This motor home made us feel envious.  It was parked at the port of Epidavros. In spite of the no camping signs, there were at least five motor homes nearby.

Look at the winding road along the coast

and a frequent and lovely sight, olive trees with the mountains as the backdrop.