Olympic Stadium and Corinth Canal

We arrived back in Athens last night and are staying at the same hotel that we were in when we arrived on Sept 3. This is the place with the fabulous rooftop breakfast room with its glorious views of the Acropolis. It's worth being at breakfast by 7:00 a.m. to see the sun coming up from behind the mountain!

Our first stop today was at the Olympic site for the 2004 Games. (This was a must-see on Fr. Rico's list!) Not everyone went on the tour - there was some power napping on the bus while the rest of us went inside.

Our guide, Thespina, used to be a 100-metre and 200-metre sprinter in the Olympics for Greece. We were able to go onto the ground level of the stadium - that was cool. And we were able to tour the aquatics centre that has 13 swimming pools and a diving centre. From the outside, we could see the Velodrome and the Agora (meeting place where a lot of pin trading took place!)

On our way, as it had become our custom, we said the Holy Rosary.

We had lunch beside the Corinth Canal. This feat of modern engineering links the Aegean and Ionian Seas. Completed in 1893, it cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnese peninsula from the Greek mainland. The canal was dug through the isthmus at sea level and has no locks. It is 6.4 km in length and at 24.6 m wide at sea level is impassable by many modern ships. It services mainly tourist boats and small fishing vessels, so it is of little economic importance, but it's fun to look at. The bridge near the restaurant drops down into the water to allow vessels to pass and then rises back up again. Very cool!Read more