Day Twelve (Wednesday)

The Corinth Canal

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Our next stop was in the much more modern city of Corinth. The area where we parked was full of souvenir and snack shops. Traffic zoomed all around us as we walked up the road to look at one of the great engineering feats of the late 19th Century. The Corinth Canal connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea.

Too narrow for modern freighters

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As much as I enjoyed seeing the ruins of Epidaurus and Mycenae I was just as favorably impressed by the scale of this construction marvel. It must have required tons and tons of blasting to get through this thick rock. We were at least 80 feet up and it was solid rock all the way. The canal was designed for 19th Century ships and is now too narrow for modern freighters. Tour boats and personal pleasure craft can save themselves the 250 mile trip around the Peloponnesus by cutting through this man-made gorge.

View of the Acropolis from the pool deck of the Hotel Oscar

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When we finally were able to board the elevator and get into our rooms we dropped off all our stuff then regrouped up at the pool on the the top floor of the hotel. What a view of Athens!

Lykavittos Hill

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On the other side of the rooftop we could see the highest point in Athens, Lykavittos Hill. At one time the last remaining wolves in Greece were rumored to inhabit its peak, hence the name which means "Wolf's Hill". Now the hill is the site of a Byzantine church. From the summit tourists are treated to some of the best views of Athens. A tramway takes you to the top. I'm filing away that information for the next trip.

Mystery diner

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Right around the block from the hotel was our favorite restaurant of the entire trip. I can't find half the letters of the second word in any online Greek alphabet so who knows what it says. To me its spells "delicious"

A quick nosh before dinner

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Who counts calories on vacation? Or when they're at home for that matter. No, they aren't both mine. I was passing one along to Tyler. I should've saved one for later though.

Catering to tourists in the Plaka

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Since we arrived too early outside the restaurant where we were scheduled to attend the Greek Cultural Evening, we had a little time to explore the adjacent Plaka shopping area. We spent most of our free time eyeing the merchandise in this tourist trap.

The Greek Cultural Experience begins

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I made darn sure I was at least three seats from the stage when I saw just how close we were going to be to the action. Although the meal was included in the package, we were only given one drink for free. Since any additional were 5 Euro I made sure to nurse my Mthos for the full 2 hours. Fortunately we also had pitchers of water.

Let the dancing begin

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While we ate our dinner of more kebabs and rice we were "entertained" by a few vocal performances. But as soon as we finished the main course the dancing began. This guys was the featured performer. He was actually very good but two or three dances would've been enough for me. Twenty or more by the end of the evening was a bit much.

Bring up the next dancer

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Young, naive Tyler made the mistake of sitting next to the stage and sure enough, as soon as the guy in the previous photo ended that particular dance, he yanked Tyler up on stage. He was a good sport and played along, probably because he got a free beer to chug.

Having way too much fun?

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I'm not sure if that guy is helping Tyler with the next step or holding him back from running to his seat. Tyler hasn't even downed the beer yet but he looks like he's soused.

The Pas de Deux

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This Greek ballet ended with both dancers downing a glass of Mythos beer.

Thank God they ignored me

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As the night went on and on, more and more people got hauled onstage to embarass themselves. Here is Matt Blessing bellydancing with a chick sporting the Belly of all Bellies. She was too old to be pregnant but something was going on there. As the Greek Evening finally concluded I kept hearing catcalls, whistles and shouts of "Opa" from behind me. When I looked behind me who was standing in the entrance wheedling his way in but our buddy, Jim. He had opted to skip the dinner and explore Athens on his own instead. After somehow getting invited into the home of an Athenian who lived in a home built into the rock face of the Acropolis, Jim had come back to the Plaka and was now getting into the festivities.