Like so many of us, I was nurtured on the stories of the gods and heroes of Greek mythology, so when an opportunity arose to travel with Viking on its 11-day cruise of Greece and its islands, I couldn’t resist. My ship kept me cocooned so that I could let my imagination soar as I set out on my personal Greek odyssey. What better way to visit Greece and its islands?
The Ancient City of Corinth
My trip began in Athens, but since I had been there just the year before, I chose Viking’s excursion to the Corinth Canal and the ancient city of Corinth, an hour and a half from the ship’s dock, instead of a tour of Athens. I had no idea what the Canal of Corinth might be and was amazed by the narrow channel with sheer walls 300 feet high on either side of an 80-foot-wide channel dug through the Isthmus of Corinth.For centuries, even in the time of the ancients, our guide told the group, it had been a dream to connect the two seas to create a shortcut for goods and commerce instead of sailing around the Peloponnese peninsula. For various reasons, it was thwarted, one being that it would bring down the wrath of the gods for disturbing the land. If Zeus had wanted the seas connected, he would have done it.
