10 Oct 2016
Santorini, Greece:
Picture Perfect

October 10, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Santorini is the Greek island of your mind’s eye.

Whitewash and aqua blue against steep hillsides, with lovely beaches and spectacular views.

Santorini is one of the more spectacular sights in the Aegean, a half-circle of steep cliffs topped with two horizontal towns of white and blue: Fira and Ia.

Oh, and one more thing: It’s a picture-perfect Greek island that also sits atop a ticking time bomb.

The cliffs are actually the rim of a huge volcano. A huge dormant—not dead, just sleeping—volcano.

A SANTORINI ALBUM

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9 Oct 2016
Transit of the Corinth Canal, Greece:
Squeezing Through

October 10, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The Corinth Canal is the strange passage between the seas, one of the most interesting and challenging little canals in the world.

It connects the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea to the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea, a straight four-mile (six-kilometer) line across the top of Peloponnesia in Greece.

Pelopennesia is the southernmost part of the mainland of Greece, although, you might instead want to call Pelopennesia the largest southernmost island of Greece, because for more than a century it has been divided from the mainland of Europe by the Corinth Canal.

It’s an obvious place for a canal, since it cuts off 185 nautical miles (213 statute miles) or 343 kilometers of sailing between the Aegean and Adriatic.

Not having to go down and around the bottom of Peloppenesia saves almost a full day for a sailing vessel or about half a day for a ship like ours.

The idea of having a canal here was so obvious that it was pursued way before modern times. The first serious consideration of a canal cutting across the Isthmus of Corinth was in 602 BC, when Periander, the Tyrant of Corinth and one of the Seven Sages of Antiquity proposed it as a public works project.

But he was not sage enough to figure out how to dig the ditch.

In 66 A.D., the Emperor Nero sent war prisoners from the Aegean islands and six thousand Jewish slaves to work on the canal. Nero himself started the work, digging with a golden hoe, while music played.

Nero’s slaves dug a ditch three kilometers or two miles in length and 40 meters or 131 feet wide before Nero had to rush back to Rome to quell the Galva mutiny.

In Rome, Nero was arrested on charges of treason and sentenced to death in 68 A.D. That unfinished canal was never used.

The 19^th century, the Industrial Age, was the also the Age of the Canal. The modern pathway, begun in 1881, follows—almost to the inch—Nero’s plans. The Corinth Canal was completed and opened on July 25, 1893.

The canal was never a huge financial success. It was (and is) too narrow for big ships, too difficult in bad weather or tides, and too prone to landslides.

Earthen or rock cliffs flank both sides, reaching a maximum height of 63 meters or 207 feet above water.

Within that V-shaped cut, the canal is very narrow: 80.7 feet wide (24.6 meters) at sea level. That’s less than two tour buses or coaches in width.

Our ship, Silver Cloud, is just about the widest vessel permitted through the canal.

And we need help: a tug boat at the bow, an experienced local pilot and two spotters, and some white knuckles up on the bridge.

A CORINTH CANAL ALBUM

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If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

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9 Oct 2016
Itea, Greece:
A Visit to the Oracle

October 10, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Itea is on the mainland of Greece, at its southern flank on the Gulf of Corinth. There’s not all that much to the place, just a few taverns and cafés and a few gift shops.

There’s a little beach in town; as is the case most everywhere, the better beaches are away from the harbor.

THE VILLAGE OF ITEA

Pleasant enough, but that’s not the reason we’re here.

Just east of Itea is Kirra, which was the ancient port of Delphi. And 15 kilometers, or 10 miles northeast are the partly restored ruins of Delphi itself on the southwestern section of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis.

It was here that Apollo slew the Python, a dragon who lived there and protected the navel of the Earth.

This was also the site of the Oracle of Delphi, the most important of the classical Greek world. An oracle was a person—or sometimes a group of people, or a place—considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophecy.

Oracles were considered portals through which the gods spoke directly to people. This is different from a “seer”, someone believed to be able to interpret messages sent by the gods through bird signs, animal entrails, and other methods.

A DELPHI ALBUM