Autor: Gisela Wuerfel

Corinth, the second largest city in the Peloponnese, was destroyed several times by earthquakes and rebuilt in a very pragmatic chessboard fashion. The city is not very pretty - but very lively, many young people, the University of the Peloponnese is here. The huge harbour is not very busy, probably due to Corona and economic crisis.
A few kilometres south of Corinth there is a gigantic single rock, Acrocorinth, 565 m high. It clearly towers above the barren partly karstified, partly volcanic hilly landscape. From its summit there is a breathtaking view to the west of the Gulf of Corinth and the surrounding mountains and the Greek mainland, to the east of the Saronic Gulf with its many islands, a red-brown-green-deep blue composition.
Since the early Greek time, 7th century, the rock was inhabited, a temple of Aphrodite is said to have stood on it. You can visit the by far the largest Greek fortress here, an impressive experience. Several defensive rings stuck to the partly almost vertical rock walls, towers and battlements, meter-thick walls, a cistern, a small church and a mosque stand on the site high above Corinth. The fortress is more than twice as high and much more extensive than that of Nafplion, which is already gigantic. With its strategic position, from which it was possible to dominate the gulf, it was of course always fought over by competing powers: the basic complex was built by the Byzantines in the 7th century. The Franks followed in 1210, then the Palaeologists (the last Byzantine emperors) in the 14th century, then the Knights of Rhodes, then the Turks, then the Venetians, then again the Turks until Greek independence in 1822. Everyone continued to build the fortress, which is one of the reasons why it is so impressive.
With its history, it is typical of the Peloponnese as a whole as a sought-after interface between East and West, as an important station on the trade routes from Italy to Constantinople, and as a transit area for crusaders.
We took a taxi up the steep mountain to the first gate - and after several hours of sightseeing, hiking and clambering through the extensive grounds we walked back by foot, always with the magnificent view of the gulf, down to ancient Corinth with its columns and excavated ancient buildings.

In the middle of March, together with Beatrix and Peter, from whom we had bought Aglaya, we stood on top of the car bridge and looked out over the Corinth Canal. And I (Gisela) had stood there 40 years ago and thought about what it would be like to sail through in a boat. Now we have done that with Aglaya. For our boat it was not the first time, for us it was. 

The channel connects the Saronic Gulf with the Gulf of Corinth. There were plans for it in ancient times and in 66 AD Emperor Nero made the first attempt, which he is said to have personally helped with a hoe and spade. 6000 Jewish prisoners of war were forced to work. But when Nero died two years later, the project was discontinued. Only the Venetians resumed the planning in 1687, but in view of the masses of rock that had to be moved, they put it down again. After the Suez Canal was completed in 1881, the new Greek state commissioned French engineers to build the Corinth Canal. It was completed 12 years later, despite major funding problems.

Already the journey was exciting: After we left the cosy little harbour in Nea Epidauros, we were unexpectedly met by wind from the front with gusts up to 45 knots with the corresponding swell. Is it possible to go through the channel with such a wind?

The day before we had already sent an e-mail to the Customer Service Corinth Canal and registered. Two nautical miles off Isthmia (eastern entrance) we then reported by VHF and immediately received permission to fix our boat in front of the office. Because you don't get through the canal for nothing. We paid 180 Euros for Aglaya. After a little waiting time, in which we could watch the oncoming traffic coming out of the canal and for that the almost archaic little road bridge was pulled under water with steel cables, we were called “Aglaya, quick, quick! Go!" So go! We had the canal all to ourselves, no other ships went in with us. 6.3 kilometres distance to the exit in Posidhonia, very close to us the partly bricked walls. 8 metres wide, that's not much, you're not allowed to make any detours. 30 knots wind from the front, but in the canal it doesn't matter, there is current from the front, but no swell. The small road bridge at the end of the canal disappeared under water when we were just before it. And then we were through. A great exciting experience!

But the welcome in the Gulf of Corinth was quite uncomfortable. The same strong wind from the west as on the eastern side of the canal. In addition up to 3 meter high waves. Fortunately we only wanted to turn left and enter the harbour of Corinth. That was the little excitement at the end of the day: mooring with 30 knots wind in the harbour. It worked. Luckily we had help from other sailors who were already in the harbour with their boat.

Preliminary remark: Salamis! The naval battle of Salamis, an island we also passed by, is almost an anniversary to the day! It was in the last days of September 480, exactly 2500 years ago, that the Greeks (Themistocles) defeated the Persians (Xerxes). Historians say that this was the origin of an independent, western, non-orientated occidental culture, with political development, with literature, theatre, epics, "classical Greek" as we understand it today. But of course there were already advanced civilizations in this area, Mycenae, and Homer's epics date back to the eighth century. But the cultural area of that time, the Levant, probably reached as far as Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt in the south, so it was not as independent as it is…….
Greek country life - of course Aglaya remained in the water. But as storm was announced, we wanted to weather it as safely as possible. So Nea Epidauros, a tiny harbour, but protected on all sides - 3 km away the village (the famous theatre is only 15 km away), which is picturesquely and wildly rising up a mountain slope, surrounded by steep rugged rocks and canyons. On top, on one of the rocks, the remains of a Byzantine fortress, and a village like in a Greek picture book. Sleepy steep streets, rather corridors, tiny squares, a single pub in the village square, but: this is where Greek independence was declared, in 1822, after the Ottoman domination was overcome; a column and a museum bear witness to this. As always, we climbed up in the midday heat and were rewarded with a gigantic wide view of almost all the islands of the Saronic Gulf, suburbs of Athens so to speak. Aegina, Methana, Poros, Salamina, Agristi……..
Between port and village a plain where oranges, lemons and wine are cultivated, very idyllic everything. So we walked through these groves and, as usual for us, we got further and further into the hills. The walk ended after 10km in Palea Epidauros, i.e. in the old Epidauros, a charming bay - and on a peninsula an amphitheatre, which is only a fraction of the size of the famous theatre, but which has a completely different and wonderful charm amidst olive groves - and completely without tourists.
The taxi brought us back to our little harbour, where Aglaya was patiently waiting for us.

Aegina is a beautiful island that is almost a suburb of Athens, which makes the port extremely turbulent and hectic. Many boats from Athens make short trips here. But more about the harbour later. In Aegina, hydrofoil boats from Athens, Methana, Poros and other islands dock, as do large car ferries.

The island is hilly and overgrown with pistachio trees. In the city there are kiosks and shops everywhere, selling huge quantities of pistachios and pistachio products, from ice cream to salted, unsalted, but also unroasted pistachios or pistachios pickled in honey or covered with sugar. For dessert we once got unroasted soft pistachios, marinated in honey with ginger - a delicacy.

On a hill, about 15 km from the main town, with a wonderful view as far as Piraeus and the entire Athens coast, lies the sanctuary of Aphaia, who was worshipped here - and only here on Aegina - the temple is older than the Acropolis in Athens. Probably already in Mycenaean times a fertility goddess referring to Egyptian deities was worshipped here, a sphinx stood on a column. In Greek-Classical times it was a daughter of Zeus (once again).
A large, relatively well preserved temple, surrounded by a mighty wall, evokes associations with Agrigento or Paestum, but is not quite as complete. And the frieze, which is hardly surprising after all the history, is in the Glyptothek in Munich.
The hill is located above a small fishing and bathing resort, Agia Marina, very idyllic, but it has also suffered from the financial crisis and now the Corona crisis, some taverns and also hotels are abandoned.

After three days we left Aegina - but first with heavy obstacles: The harbour, where you lie with bow anchor and line at the stern to the pier, has a roughly semicircular ground plan. That means: All boats drop their anchor approximately in the middle. This in turn means that the anchors of the boats with their chains lie criss-cross over and under each other. And suddenly, when we were pulling up our anchor, we had a chain on it and an anchor, but it was from another chain. This caused stress, the wind pressed us against other boats, a chain blocked our propeller - a diver untangled the chains and freed our propeller. After I told him that I didn't have enough cash, he was content with 150 instead of 200 €, an expensive "fun"!