Corinth Canal
Corinth Canal or Isthmus passage (Ισθμος Κορίνθου in Greek) is located in Peloponnesus, Greece and it actually connects Athens with Corinth by land. Today it saves about 700 km’s of journey around the island. More than 10.000 annually cross the Canal.
It’s length is 6.4 kilometres (4 miles) but narrow, only 24.6 metres (80.7 feet) wide at sea level, making it impassable for many large vessels.
The view is quite astonishing, since there are actually three bridges. The modern one for cars used today as the national highway, the old that is not used of the train line.
The one you can walk is that of the old national road, where you can make a stop and enjoy the view.
Corinth Canal history
The initial idea was of Periander, a tyrant of Corinth, back in the 7th century. A very wealthy person, that marked the history of Ancient Corinth. His main work was Diolkos, a land trackway for transporting ships, since Corinth had two ports, one at modern Lechaion and the other at Loutra Oreas Elenis area, as it is named today. Many ancient city-states had more than one ports. Especially for Corinth, one was the exit to Saronikos gulf, the other at Corinthiakos gulf.
For Thucydides, Diolkos was already something ancient.
During Roman Emperor’s Nero, there were transferred 6.000 Judeans slaves, in 67 AD.
Even the Venetians, many centuries later, had ideas for a canal construction project, but due to its size, nobody attempted anything serious.
The modern construction project
After Greece’s liberation from the Ottomans, there was a budgeting of the project, but the cost was massive. In 1881 and 1893 some realization took place, with huge costs and a lot of failure. A company Société Internationale du Canal Maritime de Corinthe was founded to do the job, started in 1882 and completed in 1893.
Today you can visit the submersible bridges located at the entrance of the Canal, apart from the bridge of the old national road, where you can stop.
For more requests you can contact our travel partner, LUMEN TRAVEL.
