7/2 Agamemnon's Castle, Tomb and Ithaka

Canal at Corinth, making the Peloponnese an island

Again on Saturday we feel a need to "get out of Dodge" and leave Athens on a bus tour, this time including the Corinthian Canal - which our cruise was scheduled to navigate, but which was canceled because of the Greek strike. We drive over it twice on the bus, have an opportunity to get out and photograph it, and rue that we had missed both the spectacular canal and the visit to Odysseus' home, Ithaca.

Remember, these posts are in reverse order. This is the end, not the beginning.

No locks, just a long, narrow, deep gouge through the rock. Apparently the Corinthian II is about as wide a ship as can pass through. Larger cruise ships and other vessels have to go around, as we ultimately do, too.

We visit Mycenae, one of the oldest archaeological sites in Greece and primary site of Mycenaen culture on the mainland.

Mountains and flowers everywhere!

Agamemnon's Palace - he ruled during the Trojan War

Agamemnon's tomb?

 Pictures from our last day are here.

We enjoy the short drive to the sea at Nafplio and its stunning views.

How could our tour be complete without ending our odyssey in Ithaca? Homer's (or whomever's?) version has the first four books covering Telemachus' short odyssey, then about the next 8 books on Odysseus' odyssey, then the next 12 are Odysseus' return to Ithaca and the wily warrior's defeat of the suitors who had been eating him out of house and home.

No Ithaca! Our trip cannot not be finished!

As we wander about the Plaka Saturday night casually seeking a restaurant that was neither the ritz of the GB nor the touristy side of the Plaka, a man about our age approaches us and says we look like we need a restaurant (he must be looking at John. I look like I need a gym). Having tired quickly of the restaurant hucksters last night, we follow him suspiciously.  He points to a restaurant in a nearby square, then walks away, so we kind of believe that he wasn't a frontrunner for the restaurant.

It takes me several minutes to decipher (in my biblical Greek from seminary) that the name of our restaurant is "Ithaka"! Not Odysseus' Ithaka, we'll need another trip for that, but a symbolic finish nonetheless. We made it!