![\"K\u00fcste](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/loutraki-kueste-1024x768.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe idea of a man-made waterway<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The idea of the Corinth Canal has a history of over 2600 years. Allegedly, the tyrant Periander of Corinth already wanted to create a water connection at the isthmus, but never started work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In ancient times, sailors took advantage of this isthmus to save themselves several 100 kilometres of distance when bypassing the Peloponnese. Ships were towed from one side to the other on ship carts pulled in fixed ruts. We discovered remains of these ruts at an archaeological site along the canal. There, the ships had to be moved uphill from the coast over the inland elevation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Caeser’s, Caligula’s, Nero’s and Hadrian’s time, the Romans again thought about what it would be like to build a canal there. It is said that there were initial planning drafts and engineers were commissioned with the first measurements. However, they were of the opinion that the water level in the Corinthian Gulf was too high. If it were connected, they suspected that the island of Aegina and Attica would be flooded. Nero was not deterred by these predictions. He ordered several thousand workers to the isthmus, digging from both sides and meeting in the middle. After three months, Nero had died in the meantime, the work stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Years later, the Venetians also toyed with the idea of piercing the Isthmus. However, they abandoned the plans in view of the masses of rock that had to be overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the beginning of industrialisation and especially the invention of dynamite and blasting gelatin, the plans for canal construction came up again. Now there was the first machinery that made the project look more realistic. The banker Andreas Syngros donated a large part of the construction costs and so there was not much standing in the way of implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1881, construction work began on one of the most spectacular canals in the world. It was decided to dig a 6343-metre-long canal that would form a connection between the Saronic Gulf and the Gulf of Corinth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hungarian engineers Istv\u00e1n T\u00fcrr and B\u00e9la Gerster were responsible for supervising construction work. The work went as deep as 84 metres through the rock. The canal thus reached a water depth of about 8 metres and is about 24.6 metres wide at its widest point. The steep walls along the canal rise up to 79 metres at an angle of 71-77\u00b0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1893, the construction work was completed and the first ships were able to pass through. For shipping and the transport of economic goods, there was now a much quieter and, above all, shorter route “through” Greece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The passage of the ships did not always run smoothly. To this day, landslides and rockfalls on the steep walls occur time and again and the canal then has to be closed until the required water depth is restored after the rock has been dredged out. This closure can take quite a long time and involves a lot of machinery. When we visited Greece, there was work going on in the canal. Huge floating dredgers were in the water and mountains of rock were rising up on the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But wilful destruction also hindered shipping. At the end of the Second World War in 1944, the German Wehrmacht blew up part of the steep wall and all the canal bridges to make further use impossible. In addition, they sank locomotives, railway wagons and mines in the canal. It took a good four years until the canal could be used again and the more than one hundred thousand tons of debris, the railway and the mines were removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For shipping with its huge container ships, the waterway is no longer usable today due to its dimensions. Since 2020, only ships with a width of 17 metres have been allowed to pass through for safety reasons, and so almost only private smaller ships and excursion boats are still on the canal. These have to pay a fee depending on the size and draught of the ship. The excursion boats in particular offer the numerous holidaymakers an unforgettable view of the artificial gorge and are often fully booked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, and we already knew this when we arrived, the canal passage was not possible during our visit. The canal was being cleared of rock and sand. So we could not drive through the Corinth Canal, but had to be content with a view from the shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we had booked a hotel not far from the canal, we decided to go for a hike. From Loutraki, we first walked along the sea coast. A really beautiful path with a great view over the coastline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a while we had to change to the road and followed it to the mouth of the canal. There is a bridge that can be lowered. This is lowered into the canal with the help of a motor in case of a ship crossing. It is quite a wobbly looking bridge and not all types of vehicles are allowed to cross it. There is a weight limit, which I can very much understand when looking at what looks more like a makeshift structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Admittedly, I was a little disappointed when we arrived at the mouth of the canal. I had images of a deep gorge in my mind, which was not present here at all. The coastal area is flat and the entrance to the canal is accordingly shallow. However, if you stand on the small bridge and look inland, you can imagine what the view of the canal looks like from a different perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our original plan to take some photos at this spot and return to Loutraki had failed. A new plan was needed and so we set out to follow a route on Google Maps. This was supposed to take us to a bridge on the shore side of the Peloponnese, which would give us a view into the gorge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The path really existed! At the beginning, we even discovered an archaeological site caused by the ruts of the ship transports on drag carts that used to travel there at that time. Then we went uphill along a dusty and shadeless path along the canal. Every now and then a car would pass us with a big cloud of dust. Only a few metres from this path runs the Corinth Canal. As we walked higher and higher, the water ran deeper and deeper below us and the steep walls rose higher and higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few signs warned not to step too close to the cliffs. Nevertheless, we had a great view down. We could see very well the undercutting of the water, which creates small caves. Looking back, it was great to walk along there. Not many holidaymakers enjoy this view, and we certainly didn’t meet any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only our bridge, over which we had planned our way back, threw a spanner in the works. It did exist, but it was closed due to construction work. We only realised this when we passed the World War II bunker and stood in front of a huge construction site. Here, countless cubic metres of rock were stored that had been removed from the waterway. There was also no longer a path along the shore at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we followed the approach road of the construction vehicles to a turn-off. The small road led past beautiful houses, olive trees and gardens. A beautiful and now also dust-free path on which we were completely alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally we reached the main road, where the bus station of Corinth is also located, which led us to “the” viewpoint on the Corinth Canal where all the tourists come. A bridge with a slightly wider pedestrian area on both sides took us from the Peloponnese back to the mainland. From the bridge we finally had the view we had hoped for. Steep rough rocks and deep down the water of the channel. It is a truly unforgettable view of an impressive structure. When you consider how much rock mass was removed here and what technical aids were available at the time, the structure impresses me even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right next to the bridge is an information centre and a viewing platform from which you can also look under the bridge. If you are lucky, you can watch people bungee jumping from the bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For whatever reason, most visitors do not go to the other side of the bridge and look in the less popular direction. Here you can see a new bridge and can easily see the end of the waterway. For me, the layers of rock can be seen very well here, almost more beautifully than in the other direction of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have to admit, I was impressed. If you manage to block out the usual tourist hype and really “just” look at the structure, you can’t help but be amazed. What a feat of construction to build a waterway into these masses of rock! Especially when you consider at what time and with what kind of materials work was done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Certainly, the view from the bridge would have been even more spectacular if a ship had sailed through the canal. Then you could have understood the dimensions even better. But even so, this building is one of the most impressive I have seen so far. And a boat trip through the Corinth Canal is still on my wish list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let’s just go for a quick walk\u2026 that’s how many somewhat unorganised excursions start for us, which end up showing us something of the area that we would never have seen otherwise. And that’s how our hike from Loutraki to the Corinth Canal began.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[421],"tags":[85],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"historische](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-hist-strasse-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Corinth Canal is built<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Wasserstra\u00dfe](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-kanal-von-kleiner-bruecke-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Kanal](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-ansteigender-fels-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nShip passage with obstacles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Bauarbeiten](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-kanal-von-kleine-bruecke-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Kanal](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-kanal-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHiking along the canal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Loutraki-Fischerboot-1024x768.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Einfahrt](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-einfahrt-kanal-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Kanaleinfahrt](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-kleine-bruecke-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"verkl\u00fcftete](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-kanal-fels-zerklueftet-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Kriegsbunker](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-kanal-bunker-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Steilw\u00e4nde](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-kanal-von-touribruecke-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Kanal](\"https:\/\/vonortzuort.reisen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/korinth-kanal-gesteinsschichten-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWas the visit to the Corinth Canal worthwhile?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n