Heading out!
We are heading for the Corinth Canal which is the canal that runs right through the middle of Greece. The canal was started about 2000 years ago and finished so that large boats could use it only about 100 yrs. ago. When Augustus was chasing Marc Antony and Cleopatra, he transported his ships across the isthmus on rollers. Use of this canal, the most expensive in the world, will cost us about E200. It is 3.2 miles long with about a 2 knot current flowing through it.
As soon as we clear the canal, we will be beelining to Turkey through the Greek Islands ever mindful of the meltemi, which are akin to the papagayos in Central America, which haven't quite petered out. The prevailing wind, however, is from the N NW so we should be able to make some time even though our recalcitrant engine is not quite up to snuff.
We are hoping to be able to meet up with our friends on High Drama who sailed to Turkey the hard way-via the South Pacific. They started the same time we did and beat us. Talk about fair weather sailors-that's us. We love every place we are so much and find so much to do, but we never have been able to come up with an agenda other than somewhere-sometime. We are looking forward to Turkey, though. After lunching on Big Mac's in the shadow of the Acropolis, I guess we're looking forward to a little vacation.
The Olympics couldn't have been better. Even taking the buses and the metro was smooth. All the walking routes were well mapped out, dozens of volunteers were everywhere to help. We were very surprised, however, that so few American flags were showing up at the games. Athens is a beautiful city with ancient treasures around every corner. The Hellenes as Greeks prefer to be called are very proud, very friendly, totally helpful. We will look forward to coming back through next year.
See you all soon.
- August 30, 2004