Corinth Canal - part 2 - or why getting lost helps?

I've always wanted to take a picture of Corinth Canal with a boat inside it - you know, like the iconic picture below. 

Image taken from http://traveltamed.com/places-to-visit-in-greece/

If you have read the previous post, you already know what happened on day 1 and you probably know that I was dead-set on getting things right today. This part of the story starts in the morning at the hotel reception. 

Totally into the idea of getting a shot like the one above, I went to ask about ships. After all, they should know, right? The guy at the reception was very helpful but I doubt he understood much of what I had in mind told me that tourist boats go inside the canal but big ships are few and far between. Still, I was determined to go there and take my iconic shots. 

In the morning we went to Mycenae (which is the topic of another post) and at 11 am we drove back to Corinth - the distance is roughly 60 km. 

Where IS the canal???

There was a road sign on the highway but from Peloponnese there was none. So we got a panoramic view of Corinth and its streets. And the oil refinery. If you book a hotel - check where it is on the map because there is a very high chance of being close to the refinery. And that is HUGE! If the hotel is close - you will enjoy the smell of petrol derivatives 24/7. Corinth is a really nice town with plenty of things to see for it's size and no doubt - amazing accommodation and taverns - but the smell of petrol is not one of my favourites. Luckily we checked that BEFORE we went there. 

One of the beaches of Corinth that I managed to shoot along the way.

We went in and out of Corinth several times during some of which we came close to the channel. Twice we went over a submersible bridge at one end of the canal and we kept driving along one of its sides. 

The bridge I was talking about

The lagoon - the black and yellow thing on the left is the bridge

You can see it's there but you cannot reach it. You see where it is but you don't see where to turn for the viewpoint. 

The end of the canal as seen from the submersible bridge. The image is taken from a car in motion - you cannot stop there

Time went on and the sun went down - and I got nervous. Meanwhile we kept circling the streets of Corinth. 

One of the views of Corinth I managed to capture

 After all, we had only two days in that part of Peloponnese and it was already day 2! Bearing in mind that the pictures from yesterday I can happily delete at any instant because they show nothing of the canal that I wanted to capture.  (you can see the previous post to get the impression of how bad things were). 

The view from the submersible bridge - again!

After a few zig-zags in and out of Corinth - AGAIN! - we got to the viewpoint. Time: 12.30. Not too late, I hoped. I got out of the car and started running - at 30 degrees plus Celsius - and started frantically taking pictures of practically everything I got my lens on. Thank God I got the wide angle lens!!!

The canal from the other side of the bridge

Time went on and I got to the other side of the bridge (remember what I told you about the viewing platform being nonfunctional). 

This is the iconic view of the canal. Shot from the pavement of the car - bridge. Basically hanging on the safety fence for the shots of that side of the canal because the viewing platform was closed. 

By the time I was done with preliminary shots, it was around 1 pm.
Guess what??? At the far end of the canal I saw a boat approaching! A BOAT! No matter the time, I was totally into waiting for the boat to come to me - and even to get out of the canal.

One of my favourite shots from the day and roughly what I came to Corinth for :) 

 It was the picture-postcard thing I wanted to do!!! So I waited - it turned out that I didn't have to wait for a long time - some 15 minutes.
It was a miracle! My dream came true (well - sort of - it was a big ship but this little boat was ideal to show ho big th channel is). 

Another of my favourite shots

So I started snapping as if I had a machine gun - click, click, click, chat, chat, chat, chat! I LOVED IT!!! I was glad we got lost, after all - because otherwise we would have gotten to the canal earlier and we wouldn't have seen the boat. 
Sometimes getting lost helps.
Now, the technical information: how to get a picture like that?

The boats

There are several tourist boats that get inside the canal - either to show it to the tourists or just for the fun of being photographed from above (the people in the boat were having a great time while I was taking those shots). The boats have different schedule - so make sure you check it out first before you get on location. I think that there is at least one of them that gets inside the channel at midday - which means - somewhere between 12.00 and 13.00 pm and I think that there is another one later on during the day. 

The light

Make sure to be on location at midday - when the sun falls directly from above and the water inside the channel looks azure. Trust me, you won't regret it. 

If it is cloudy - any time would be suitable. But the water is less likely to be azure. 

Clothing

It is generally HOT in Peloponnese 7 months out of 12 and temperatures rise up to 30 degrees Celsius (and often higher - when we were there temperatures ranged from 30 to 38 in different parts of Peloponnese) so make sure you have sunscreen, a hat (it's windy at the bridge so make sure you keep it ON your head in some way) shorts and a T-shirt. Sneakers are a must - you'll need all the stability you can get while on the bridge. 

The bridge - again, in case you didn't pay attention last time

Gear

Any camera would do but let's try to get the DSLR settings:

• manual mode - f/8 - f/18 (depends on your ideas and the amount of light) - you need a BIG f/ number to get the bottom of the channel sharp; shutter speed - 1/320 sec + (in case there is a boat around - they move quite fast)
• images shot in RAW (or the highest quality JPEG) - so you can use your files later on.
• lens - wide angle is a must - you don't have much space to move around either way. 10-18 mm is a good choice but if you don't have one - use the widest setting of your lens (normally that is 18 mm). Forget about telephoto lenses unless you want to get a portrait of someone in the boat below.  

Safety precautions

Corinth canal is one of the two entry points from mainland Greece to Peloponnese (I keep repeating that, I know, but I hope that it gets stuck in your head) - the road that hosts the railing is VERY VERY BUSY!!! You can see trucks, buses (tourist and municipal) and cars of all brands and sizes driving over it at any minute. So:

• Do NOT go in the middle of the road for no reason (it is narrow enough)

The railing of the bridge in detail. 

• Do NOT hang over the railings!!! You don't want to risk a 70-meter fall down to the 8-meter deep water. (I am myself afraid of heights and that one took my breath away but still...) If the other viewing platform is still closed (as it was when I was there) DO NOT TRY TO GET ON IT!!! If they closed it - they probably did it for a reason - probably it is not stable enough to host ANYONE. DO NOT play the hero!

A side shot of the canal to show you ho deep it is.

Last note - Corinth Canal is one of the most spectacular places I have been to. If you are in the area - do go there. It's worth it!
Corinth has other places to see as well - Ancient Corinth is a must - see and has a great view and they have to have a museum or two. 

For those in love - bring a padlock and lock it on the bridge - many couples do that like they do it in France. As you can see from the picture above - they are quite a few. 

Corinth Canal - part 1 - or why light matters?

I've been thinking a lot about what to write next in the Travelogues section and I kept coming up with one and the same idea - Corinth. 

Read part 2 here

Here we are - next topic is Corinth Canal or Korinthos Isthmos (or if we want to be exact - Ισθμός της Κορίνθου in Greek).

Where is that? 

The most logical question here is to ask - where is that on the map? If you are not interested in geography, history and you don't live on the Balkans, you probably have no idea. The answer is simple and it is GREECE. 

Image taken from http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/corinth.htm

So far so good, but where in Greece? After all, it's not that a small country. I will not keep you waiting - it's between Peloponnese and mainland Greece. You can see it on the map below:

Image taken from http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/corinth.htm

In case you don't know - Peloponnese is the biggest peninsula in Greece and the south-most part of mainland Greece. Don't worry - there will be a post about Peloponnese as a whole later on. 

Corinth Canal is what separates the peninsula from the rest of Greece. 

A bit of history. How, why and when was the canal created?

Before I went to Corinth, I thought that the canal was made in ancient times. Turned out that in ancient times Corinth was one of the wealthiest towns in Greece but not because of the canal - it was the lack of it that made people so wealthy. Corinth had two harbors - one of each side of the Isthmus - and ships used to be dragged from one to the other. Of course, Corinthians charged travelers for the service - even if you don't want to transport the whole ship across the land, luggage still had to be carried to the other harbor. The alternative was going around the island of Kythira and facing the danger of getting in one of it's notorious currents and storms. Most ships didn't want to risk that much. 

Nero's plan for the canal
Image taken from https://en.wikipedia.org

The whole process was so uncomfortable that even at ancient times emperors such as Julius Caesar, Caligula and Nero planned to dig a canal to end the misery.  Problem was that none of them lived long enough to do that. In later centuries plans were forgotten and after the Ottoman empire came in the 15th century - people had bigger problems... 
Things changed in the 19th century when Greece got its independence. The Greek government asked a French company in the 1830s to dig it but the price - 40 million gold franks - was too high so the project was abandoned for a couple of decades. Then, in the 1880s another French company took the project. Before it was built, several companies and entrepreneurs got bankrupt before it was finally opened in 1893. 

The canal during construction in 1882
Image taken from http://corinthianmatters.com/2013/01/18/historic-photos-of-the-isthmus/

Still, there were some problems.
Problem 1 - the canal was too narrow which meant that big modern ships, which were just evolving back then, could not use it. Narrowness meant that there was a lot of wind in the canal itself. So many ships avoided it anyway. 

The canal during construction in 1884
Image taken from https://corinthianmatters.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/isthmus-1884_551573_536651073012278_1728426558_n.jpg

Problem 2 - the different tide time of the two seas on both sides of the canal which made it difficult to navigate and caused dangerous currents inside it. 
Problem 3 - Greece is a highly seismic region. The canal location is even more so. Besides - the rocks are of sedimentary nature and thus - are quite unstable. That meant a lot of landslides.
Things didn't get better in the 20th century either - WWI and WWII did their job well to slow the traffic down to a trickle. Still, the canal is a wonder of the engineering mind and a spectacular place to visit. 

The canal as seen from above
Image taken from http://www.sailingissues.com/corinth-canal-diolkos.html

How to get there?

Here are a few ways:
Route 1 - say you are traveling by car - you'll need the highway that goes to Athens first. When you get to Athens the highway will fork - one part goes down to the gates at Piraeus and the other goes for Corinth. You need Corinth. The view from that part of the highway is really nice because you drive along the coast. Just follow the big green roadsigns (which will show the nearest town - in our case Corinth). The distance between Corinth and Athens is roughly 80 kilometers.
Route 2 - get on a plane for Athens. When you get at Venizelos airport (aka. Athens' airport) you get a rent-a-car and follow the instructions from Route 1.

What we did is to drive all the way from Sofia to Athens - which is 800 something kilometers (thank God for Greek highways!!!) and then to Corinth in one day (thank God the driver LOVES to drive!!!). 

How to find the canal???

If you have seen the pictures on the net (as I have) - you probably imagine a narrow and shallow little canal in the middle of a meadow. Truth is very far from that. The main traffic from mainland Greece to Peloponnese goes ABOVE it (I mean literally above it!!!) and you can see that it is DEEEEEP. REALLY DEEP. 

Once you get near the town of Corinth, there would be a big (you can't miss it, it is several meters wide) green road sign reading Korinthos Isthmos (in Greek and Latin alphabet). You take that turn RIGHT (if you are coming from Athens as we did) and then follow the main road that goes to Peloponnese. You need the main road that says Tripoli (the next bi town along the highway) or Nafplion (the nearest town in Peloponnese). There are NO other roadsigns indicating where the canal is once you enter Corinth. Guess it is because everybody knows it and if you ask, they will be happy to show it to you. 

Check out Google Streetview !!!!! to see where exactly you have to turn (LEFT, I think, if you are coming from Athens) for the parking and the viewpoint. There would be NO sign - if you are driving along the canal already, you have missed it. There is a big municipal one that is free of charge and you can buy souvenirs as well. There are no tickets for the view - after all - it is on the main road.  

What to do?
As I said above, the main traffic in and out Peloponnese goes ABOVE the deepest part of the canal (where all the pictures are taken). The bridge that houses the main road also houses the viewing platforms - that would allow you to peer around 70 meters down to the bottom of the canal and take a few photos of it. 
Problem 1 - when we went there one of the viewing platforms on the left/right hand side of the road (depends on the direction you are going) and which hosts the iconic view of the canal was closed. 
Problem 2 - The viewing platforms are NOT part of the bridge - they are metal constructions that are attached to the concrete base of the road - so all the vibrations from the traffic on the road are felt on the bridge. Trust me, if you watch the abyss below - that's not fun. 

What you can see from the other side of the bridge - photo from the evening

Problem 3 - The platforms are fairly narrow so if you want to take a picture of yourself AND the canal WITHOUT having the railing and the platform in shot, you won't succeed. The other option is to hang on the main road and risk getting run over.

Don't get too excited  that picture is from the next day. That is the viewing platform

Problem 4 - The road is REALLY busy - almost every minute you have a truck or a bus on it - so you cannot (even if you are such an idiot) stand in the middle of the road to get a better vantage point. 

The canal

When I saw the pictures of the canal I thought it is deep but when I was it in real life - my jaw dropped. 
I'd be honest - I'm afraid of heights. Well, I don't faint or something, but I don't like being that high. High buildings are OK, as long as I don't have to go on a balcony (which is another story). But walking over an around 70 meter abyss... is quite another matter. As I said, my jaw dropped!!!
The view is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

What I saw at 6.30 pm

Problem 5 - By the time we got there (after a 10-hour drive from Sofia) it was already past 6 pm. That is not much of a problem but light is all about the view of the place. Main problem lies in the depth of the thing - the less light you get, the darker the bottom is. Water is only 8 meters deep so it is a lovely hue of blue when it is lit. 
In my case - it was dark as hell and I was furious. I've been dreaming about going there for a long time so I didn't want to miss it. The only resolution was to get back the next day when the light was right - which meant at midday when the light falls directly from above.  That was despite the fact that we had to visit Mycenae and a few other archaeological sites. I hoped that I would be able to take the picture I want.

About that - in a follow-up post!