The Peloponnese — Corinthia and Olympia

The Peloponnese

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The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus is a large region of Greece, very nearly an island. It lies to the west and south of Athens, Patrai is near its northernmost tip in the map at right.

The Corinth Canal is shown crossing the narrow isthmus that barely connects the Peloponnese to the European mainland. It's just 6.3 kilometers long, saving a potential 400 kilometer sea voyage around the Peloponnese. It was an obvious place for a canal and one was started in the 7th century BC, but it was only completed in 1893.

Corinthia is a short bus or rail trip from Athens. The rail service is now provided with the Προαστίακος or Proastiakos suburban train. Wherever you are going in the Peloponnese, you have to pass through Corinthia. Rail service is even more limited in the Peloponnese than it is in the rest of mainland Greece. You can continue by rail along the northern coast through Patrai to Pyrgos and change there to an even smaller train to Olympia. And, you can go south by train past Mycenae to Argos and Nafplio.

See the dedicated pages for more details about bus and train travel within Greece.

View of the Saronic Gulf from the Athens-Corinthia train.

Corinthia / Κορινθια

Corinthia is possible as a long day trip out of Athens. The train runs along the cliff faces above the Saronic Gulf on the way between Athens and Corinthia.

The view at right is what you see from the train as it runs along the cliff. This is looking back toward Corinthia just before sunset while returning to Athens from a day trip.

There are plenty of places to stay overnight in Corinthia. I have stayed at the Akti Hotel, it's not too far from the train station and the waterfront.

You cross the Corinthia Canal just before you arrive in Corinthia. The canal is at the town of Isthmus, which is where we get the word for a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land masses.

The canal was started under Periander in the 7th century BC, but it was only finished in 1881-1893. It's just 6.3 km long, but it saves a 400 km journey around the Peloponnesus! That is, if your vessel can fit into a 21-meter-wide canal...

The Proastiakos suburban train moves quickly across the new bridge on its runs between Athens and Corinthia. So, how to get a picture?

Record a video and extract the sequence of frames with the free mplayer program:

% mplayer -vo jpeg dscf2292.avi 

Click here to view the video from the train crossing the canal.

In Corinthia, walk from the waterfront to the park in the center of town. Buses leave frequently from there to go to the ancient city of Corinthia.

From here you can walk up to Akrokorinthos, seen behind me in this picture, to the site of the ancient temple complex.

Also see another page of mine for some detailed pictures from the ruins of ancient Corinthia.

The view from the top of Akrokorinthos is spectacular! At left is the view to the northwest, over the Gulf of Corinthia and generally toward Delphi.

At right is the view to the northeast, across the Isthmus and over the Saronic Gulf toward Athens.

	Paoli United Methodist Church
paoli-umc.com

Olympia / Ολυμπια

From Athens or Corinthia take a train through Patrai to Pyrgos. There you change to an even smaller narrow-gauge train for Olympia.

You're looking for Olympia, on the Peloponnesus, and not Mount Olympus, north of Athens!

Here you can see the main stadium. This was the site of the athletic contests back in the day. The "Olympic Games" as they were called. This was before today's corporate sponsorships, and even before East German steroid-fueled domination.

It was also the site of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Like all of them except the Giza complex of the Pyramids and the Sphinx, it's just ruins today.

For other Seven Wonders pictures, see my pictures from Rhodes and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

More pictures! Pick your destination:

Α α Β β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε Ζ ζ Η η Θ θ Ι ι Κ κ Λ λ Μ μ Ν ν Ξ ξ Ο ο Π π Ρ ρ Σ σ Τ τ Υ υ Φ φ Χ χ Ψ ψ Ω ω Greek language study guide
Athens and Cape Sounion	Meteora	Delphi
Mycenae	Tiryns	Santorini (Thira)
Mykonos	Ios	Paros
Other Islands — Patmos, Rhodes, Naxos, Samos	The Peloponnese — Corinthia and Olympia	Thessaloniki
Greek Food and Drink	Roadside Greek Orthodox shrines	Island hopping by ferry
Greek train travel	Greek bus travel	All the way back to the introduction
		How is the plumbing?
Α α Β β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε Ζ ζ Η η Θ θ Ι ι Κ κ Λ λ Μ μ Ν ν Ξ ξ Ο ο Π π Ρ ρ Σ σ Τ τ Υ υ Φ φ Χ χ Ψ ψ Ω ω Greek language study guide

Click here for details on a free Greek language course.

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