Concert in Corinth

On Saturday night we drove with friends from Athens to Corinth about 80 Km to attend a concert of G.F.Handel arias, this year 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of his death. The artists were friends of the people we drove down with and we got to speak with them and the Maestro after the concert at dinner. The backdrop was the 2800 yrs old archaic style Temple of Apollo in Corinth, god of music and we also had a view of the gulf of Corinth. The sky was clear and we could see so many constellations out in the country side, I was thinking how the ancient Greeks has assigned names and stories to the constellations, which have come to us.

It was a very nice evening and it was only 29C in late evening instead of the 34C in Athens. A gentle breeze just made things a little cooler. After the concert we had dinner at midnight on the old square of Corinth surrounded by the ruins of the temples and other antique buildings, everyone was having dinner as is the fashion in Greece, very late, probably because any earlier would be too hot to eat anything.

As I listened to the music, I thought what a wonderful setting for a concert and such a unique one. We had been to Corinth about 10 yrs ago early on a Sunday morning and it was quiet then and you could walk amongst the ruins, nowadays you have to follow a clearly marked path to avoid damaging the ancient monuments, it is the same for all other sites in Greece.

Of course on the way to Corinth you cross on the highway the Canal of Corinth which was started by Emperor Nero in 67 AD and then abandoned as too technically difficult for the time despite more than 6000 slaves working on it. It was only completed in 1895 with great difficulty, it has a lenght of 6303 meters, making of the Peloponnese an island.