Korínthos and Acrocorinth

Little wind was forecast for Wednesday 20 August and in reality there was even less than that. It was, therefore, a long and boring motor from Itéa to Korínthos, one mile southwest of the western entrance to the Corinth Canal. Even the dolphins that we saw en route didn’t want to play.

Korínthos itself is another modern town in best functional concrete. To be fair, like its ancient predecessor, it has experienced more than its fair share of earthquakes, the last big one occurring in 1981 when much of the town was flattened and a significant proportion of the town’s population had to live in tents for a year whilst the place was rebuilt. The small marina is located close to a large open ‘square’ with fountains and a large bronze statue of Pegasus. Off the main road running past the ‘square’ are a number of semi-pedestrianised streets, with frequent paving slabs featuring a pegasus. The ‘bus station’ is a few blocks beyond the top of one of the pedestrianised streets; as in Delphi it is more correctly described as a ticket office located in a café. The bus station would be important to us for getting to Ancient Corinth the following day.

Our guidebook has all the usual blurb about Ancient Corinth but it also ‘unreservedly’ recommends a trip to the summit of Acrocorinth, the fortified site that sits on a 565m high rock about 4km south of Ancient Corinth. The buses run to Ancient Corinth but the only way to Acrocorinth is by car or taxi from Ancient Corinth or on foot. We decided to do the visit on foot in the coolest part of the day and so arrived at the bus station to get the 0730 bus to Ancient Corinth. Unfortunately, though we were 15mins early on our planned timing, we were 10mins late for the bus! We had misread the timetable; buses leave Ancient Corinth on the half hour and depart for the museum at five past the hour.

However, our guidebook isn’t wrong: it is a long steep slog up to the gates of the fortress (and still a good long climb inside to reach the summit) but the climb from Ancient Corinth, when we eventually got there, was definitely worth it.

Inside the 3^rd enclosure wall with the Frankish keep on the high point    

The views across the plains to the south of the Gulf of Corinth, up the Gulf itself, across the isthmus to the Aegean and then south towards the mountains of the Peloponnese are magnificent and it is easy to see the fortress’ strategic significance.

The site has been fortified since about the late 7^th century BC and though the vast majority of what can be seen today dates from the Middle Ages, some of it dates from as early as the 4^th century BC. In the Middle Ages, Acrocorinth was vital for the defence of the Peloponnese, holding out against barbarian attack. Repairs on the original walls were carried out by the Byzantines and the fortress was extended to the west. Over the following centuries Acrocorinth changed hands several times, with the Franks, the Turks and the Venetians all occupying it and adding to the fortifications. It now has 3 lines of fortifications, one inside each other, and inside the 3^rd enclosure wall are monuments from all periods in its history.

Venetian chapel

Acrocorinth mosque

Unfortunately, the Frankish keep, which last saw action in 1828 in the Greek War of Independence, was closed for renovation work when we visited, though we didn’t find that out until we had climbed up there! However, we did get to explore a small Venetian chapel (still in use though there are on-going roofworks in progress), a ruined mosque and the ruins of Turkish houses and shops.

We walked around much of the 2km boundary walls and also climbed to the highest point, the site of the sanctuary of Aphrodite, which has the ruins of an early Christian basilica on its ruins. From here we had a fantastic view towards the Corinth Canal and also down towards Ancient Corinth.

The upper Peirene spring

On our way down we detoured to see the upper Peirene spring. In the approximate area of the spring there were workmen repairing walling and steps, and it seemed as if access to the spring had been closed. We enjoyed the views from the castle walls and were about to leave when one of the workmen gestured to Nicky that she might wish to go down the steps he was repairing. Suddenly it all became clear: the steps lead down about 5m into a cavern which is partially lit by a well hole that we had seen from ground level. In the cavern is a 4^th century BC arch across a pool of water that, it is alleged, never dries up.

As we left through the 3 gateways, we met a stream of visitors coming in. By this time it was nearly 1045 and getting hot so we didn’t envy them the climb to the summits, though they had probably had the benefit of having got this far in an air-conditioned car, unlike us. As we descended we were afforded excellent views of our next destination, Ancient Corinth, as well as of shipping and yachts approaching the next day’s highlight – the Corinth Canal.

Korínthos