Time out in Corinth

The original engine for the rack and pinion railway

 

11th May With strong winds predicted (again!) we sailed down to Corinth where we knew there was a safe harbour. We were greeted by Jonathon, a bushy-bearded, eccentric English seafarer who has made Corinth his home and acts as an unofficial harbour master guiding boats into the berths. He suggested we took a tight space in the corner of the harbour in among the local boats. It was tricky manoeuvring between the mooring buoys, but once in we were well protected. The one disadvantage was the slight spray that came over the harbour wall when the wind got up. I made the mistake of leaving my washing out one day when we went out, and came back to find it nicely salted!

On the train cutting through the Vouraikos gorge

As the wind was too strong for sailing we decided to hire a car and visit a couple of must-see places on our list. The first was the rack and pinion railway which runs from Diakopto through the Vouraikos Gorge to the alpine town of Kalavryta. The railway was built in 1896, and part of the line runs along a shallow shelf that’s been cut into to the side of the sheer rock in the gorge. The ride was exciting and provided some great views along the gorge and down to the rapids. Then, as we came out of canyon, the scenery opened up to reveal Kalavryta in an alpine valley that wouldn’t look amiss in Switzerland.

Memorial at the Museum of the Sacrifice of the People of Kalavryta

It’s hard to believe that such a beautiful place has a dark history, but in 1943 the Germans staged a savage reprisal against local members of the Greek Resistance here. The German soldiers locked all the women and children, along with a few prisoners of war, in the primary school and set it on fire, while over 500 men and boys were marched up to a ridge above the town where they were summarily shot. Fortunately the prisoners of war managed to break the school doors down so most of women and children were able to escape, but their husbands and sons were already dead.


Memorial at the site of the massacre



We visited the small museum recording the events, which was built on the site of the school, then walked up to the ridge where there is a memorial to the men. It’s a peaceful spot, with only the sound of the wind in the pines and the tinkling of goat bells to break the silence, and we both felt incredibly moved as we looked back down over the town and valley and contemplated all that had gone on there.

The fortified city of Acrocorinth

The next day we were joined by fellow sailors Martin and Debbie for a drive up to see the ruins of the medieval city of Acrocorinth. The old city is  perched on a 500m high mass of rock a few miles from modern Corinth and was one of Greece’s best fortified sites. There’s not a lot of the old city left, but site gives you stunning views across to the islands of the Aegean on one side and the Gulf of Corinth on the other.

Remains of a medieval chapel



Wonderful views from the top

Back down at ground level, we decided to go and have look at the Corinth Canal as we would be we sailing through it in a couple of days’ time.  It’s slightly scary walking along the pedestrian bridge and looking down the 300 feet of sheer limestone to the narrow canal below. We hadn’t realised quite how long it is (4 miles) and we were duly impressed by the engineering that went into its construction at the end of the 19^th century.
 

The Corinth canal