July 27, 2010 - Back to Athens

We started the day in Nafpilo, climbing the 999 stairs to Fort Palamidi which dominates the skyline of this town. The views are spectacular.

A short bus-ride later placed us in the former pleasure capital of Greece, Corinth, a town renowned for it's excesses. Nestled on an isthmus between the Agean and Ionian seas, this dual-port city honored the goddess Aphrodite - weary merchants and sailors looked forward to meeting her priestesses who were proficient in the art of, what our guide described as, sacred prostitution (as one would expect from the Goddess of Love, no?).

A temple to Apollo dominates the remains of this once great city. The other highlights included a Roman shopping mall, complete with decorative fountains, store stalls, a marble-paved street, and a public restroom.

The museum on this site was small but housed an impressive array of statuary and artifacts recovered from the site, including an entire display that had been recovered in Miami, FL in 1999 by the FBI after a daring robbery.

We crossed the canal, constructed in the early 20th Century that now bridges the two seas. The water is an unearthly blue - a stunning color to cap off a colorful trip to the Peloponnese. We have returned to the mainland and will spend the last day and half in Athens.