A relaxed day at Xylokastro anfd to Corinth

Today we leave the car alone completely. After a homemade breakfast we first go to the beach that we almost have for ourselves. A few hundred meters further is a beach tent and there it is much 'cozier'. By that I mean that it is much busier, with loungers (beach beds) and the like. For me that is not necessary, I prefer a quiet beach where you have space for yourself and that is what we have here. Only they should slightly soften the music, we can hear it from this distance. In the afternoon we find a terrace and after an hour in our apartment we go out to the beach again. In the distance, on the other side of the Gulf, we see the inlet where Delphi is high in the mountains.

At the end of the afternoon we walk through Xylokastro to the marina in the west where we choose a terrace to eat something. Terraces enough in this modern city that was already a popular seaside resort for aristocrats at the beginning of the 20th century. We are of course well ahead of the high season and it does not seem to be very touristic now. It seems that especially Greeks themselves come here on holiday, often from the region of Athens.

Along the promenade along the water are dozens of restaurants and terraces where it is absolutely not crowded. Halfway through the village we sit down somewhere close to the water from where we have a nice view while the sun is slowly turning the sky red. The temperature is pleasant and we stay outside for a long time. We have done very little today and have not experienced anything, just as if we really have a holiday. I think it's a wonderful feeling. Nice to do something cultural now and then but this trip was very full of it.

Well, and what will I say about Greek cuisine? We order something with chicken, some salad and of course we get fries with it. Meat is often grilled here and apparently everybody thinks these black crusts are quite normal. Well, I don't like the black bits and I am not much of a vegetable eater, so food like stuffed eggplant is nothing for me. And I miss the Dutch mayonnaise with the fries. But this is holiday, not home, so I enjoy my meal anyway!

We liked it very much at the beach yesterday so this morning we go back for a few hours. the beach here consists of small pebbles and is therefore not a fine sandy beach as we have seen it. But from our apartment we can bring loungers and it is less than a minute walk to the beach. Just like yesterday it is very quiet and we almost have the beach for us alone.
But a whole day just on the beach is nothing for me, I also want to do something and yesterday we have had a long rest day.

In the afternoon we drive to new Corinth, the nearest town just 40 kilometers away. We visited the ancient ruins in the beginning of our journey and now we drive directly to the center of Corinth, near the harbor. Corinth was first situated near ancient Corinth until 1858 when it was destroyed by an earthquake. The city was rebuilt a bit further and officially it is now called New Corinth. In 1928, the new city was also destroyed by an earthquake and in 1933 by fire but now both times the city was rebuilt on the same spot.

It is hot today and we are happy with the cooling fountain on Pegasussquare. Pegasus was a winged horse from Greek mythology and emerged from the blood of Medusa when the hero Perseus killed her. The horse has always been the symbol of ancient Corinth and is also incorporated in the modern emblem of Corinth. In the center of the fountain is a statue of Pegasus jumping to the sky.

The center of the city is not very large and we walk around a bit, take some pictures and of course find a terrace for a refreshing drink. Then we drive to the west side of the Corinth Canal, to a spot where we see the bridges over the narrowest part of the Channel in the distance, at least one kilometer away. There are several bridges over the 6 kilometer long canal and from this place the view is actually the least spectacular. In the east you stand above the 70 meter deep channel, here we are just above sea level.