The MGS Forum
Places to visit => Places to visit => Topic started by: Hilary on March 21, 2013, 03:57:20 PM
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Spring has come to the village of Ancient Corinth.
An early Christian church.
An olive grove.
Looking toward Acrocorinth
Looking towards Kyllini Mountain
Looking towards Gerania Mountain
Last but not least, a donkey
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Nice pics Hilary, not least the donkey!
What are the dimensions/scale of the early church? over here early churches tend to be REALLY small, whereas the one you show looks quite sizeable by comparison. How early, do you reckon? Interesting!
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The church must have been huge.
I am afraid I know nothing about it except that it is being excavated and potected in conjunction with the Ancient port of Lechaion.
There are the remains of another huge early christian church near the Ancient port of Lechaion which you can find reference to on the web.
Both sites are now fenced.
If you look on google maps to the west of Corinth there is what looks like a lake.
This is the ancient port of Lechaion.
The shape of the early christian church, which is 179 meters long, is between the lake and the sea.
Somewhere I read that it fell down during an earthquake
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Heavens!! seriously huge. Thanks for the info, will see what I can find out. I must admit the early christian period in Greece is not one I've ever looked at, I have a feeling it will be an interesting search.
Jill
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Hilary, how nice to see your photos: spring bursting forth with lovely wild flowers and blue skies. Especially since we in -not exactly mediterranean- England are once again blanketed with snow.
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The columns of the temple at Ancient Corinth surrounded by spring wild flowers
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The Ancient Diolkos at the Corinthian Gulf end of the canal.
Not many wild flowers left at the beginning of May
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The columns and Melia azedarach at Ancient Corinth
September, 2013
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The ancient port of Lechaion on a windy November day.
The two moles of the outer harbour can be seen protruding into the sea.
The inner harbour has been fenced in and many Tamarix trees planted along the seaside road outside the fence.
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The ancient port of Lechaion
The man made inner basins were dredged in ancient times and the silt and pebbles form small hills near the water.
The channel leading to the sea is now closed and the area a resting place for migrating birds
Since the hills are made of gravel and silt they make a natural gravel garden.
There was only one plant flowering in November when these photos were taken but plenty of plants preparing for the spring
A very exposed windy place as this tree demonstrates
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The Basilica of St Leonidas
The remains of this church are next to the ancient port of Lechaion.
It is currently being excavated and preserved
According to various internet sites I read it was constructed either at the end of the 5th C or the beginning of the 6th C.
The length from the apse to the atrium is 223 meters.
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Recently I have added three posts about the ancient port of Lechaion and the basilica of St. Leonidas.
Currently the site is officially closed, and largely fenced, so you may not be able to see it at close quarters.
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I have been enjoying your photos and information about ancient Corinth Hilary. Especially the port of Lechaion. Fascinating.
Although I must say your later photos in November and December make me shiver. It looks a wild, windswept place.
Daisy :)
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Daisy,
A fair exchange as I love seeing the photos of your garden
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Akrokorinthos
These photos are all taken from the car park.
In the spring there will be plenty of wild flowers to see, especially Euphorbia and Asphodel
Looking north you see, first across the fertile plain then across the Gulf of Corinth to Sterea Ellada
Looking south you see the small hill of Penteskoufi and the road leading to Nafplion.
The new National Road is no longer the white scar which it was at first
Spelling
Corinth is now known as Korinthos
Acrocorinth is now known as Akrokorinthos
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A view of Akrokorinthos from below the village.
Plenty of Asphodel and Euphorbia around on the 2nd of March
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Those asphodels are going crazy, Hilary!
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Hi Hilary, thank you for taking us on a journey with your photos . I wanted to use the Greek expression for travelling taxidevondas but I don't know how to change language on my iPad. There are so many lovely places to see in Greece. I hope we will be healthy enough to explore they in the near future. Regards from warm and very sunny Cyprus.
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Really lovely early spring landscape, Hilary.
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February at the ancient port of Lechaion
Still windy but very sunny.
Many of the photos I took are blurred because of the wind.
We will just have to go back again
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The Asclepium, or rather in search of it.
We went in search of a place which I thought was the Asclepium and had seen several years ago.
The wild plants were too tall see over.
We found a well fenced area.
Then we saw some walls and an arch.
Euphorbia at eye level.
On our way back we saw what looks like a column base in a fenced field.
Then two sheep enjoying all the fresh greenery.
Our search for the Asclepium is not finished, we have to go back after visiting the room devoted to it in the museum and studying the map.
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Your travels always make interesting reading Hilary, thank you for sharing them with us and posting the photographs. :)
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Fantastic photos Hilary.
Just a small correction; Muscari is M. commutatum.
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Umbrian , Oron,
Glad you enjoy my photos of spring in the Peloponnese.
We are just back from a week in Sparta so there mi9ght be some interesting photos, on the other hand they might all be rubbish
Oron,
Thanks for the correction, and I was so sure I had got it right this time.
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Isthmus
Looking for flowers for the May Wreath
Ballota acetabulosa, Garden Horehound
Papaver rhoeas, Common Poppy
And various yellow daisies
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The Justinian or Hexamillion Wall.
For those of you who enjoy seeing ancient remains.
And for those of you who enjoy seeing road and railway bridges.
Four bridges spanning the Justinian Wall.
Nicotiania glauca, Shrub Tobacco, and the wall.
Reseda alba, White Mignonette , Phagnalon rupestre and the wall.
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Ancient port of Lechaion in May.
The views towards Akrokorinthos were lovely although the bright sun seems to have bleached the colours.
Gerania is the mountain range across the Gulf of Corinth.
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Roses in a friend's garden with Akrokorinthos in the background
Shame about the electricity pole
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Xylokeriza.
Views of the Oneia mountain range from the village of Xylokeriza.
The Oneia, Donkey, mountains are a low range, 581m. south of the village.
I have heard that there is a sign posted walk along the top of it.
The olive groves were full of wild flowers at the beginning of May
Last but not least the view of Akrokorinthos from Xylokeriza
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Another walk at Xylokeriza at the beginning of June, before it gets too hot.
A sign for a mountain walk, note the perfect pomegranate tree in the background.
Agave and Cypress trees.
Cypress trees with the Oneia Mountain range in the background.
Olive trees and the Oneia mountain range
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Akrokorinthos from the village of Solomos, more or less to the south
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By the sea at the ancient port of Lechaion.
Mandragora autumnalis braving the wind and the cold
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The Basilica of St Leonidas next to the ancient port of Lechaion at the end of December.
Once more only a dandelion in the way of flowers.
This column capital made up for the lack of flowers.
Doesn't it look like a thistle from the side?
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At the end of December some of the younger members of our family decided to climb to the top of Akrokorinthos.
They had wanted to do so in the summer but I had put them off telling them that it was too hot and the grass too tall.
They left the car in the parking place, near the coffee shop, where the main gates are and passed through the three gates.
That is probably the steepest part and most difficult as the stones are polished with use.
In the photos
My two granddaughters aged 2 1/2 and 7 1/2 are looking down to Corinth on the edge of the sea.
My son, note the coffee cup, is pointing to the mountains of mainland Greece.
The last photo was taken looking to the west and Mount Ziria.
All photos were taken by my daughter
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All the gardens in the village of Ancient Corinth are full of flowers at the moment.
Here are a few photos from my friend's garden.
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Anyone visiting Ancient Corinth in the summer remembers this tree for the shade it affords!
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Regarding my post of the 21st March 2014.
What we saw through the, head high, vegetation was not the Asclepium but the
FOUNTAIN OF THE LAMPS.
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Asklepieion of Ancient Corinth.
With the help of Google Earth we found the Asklepieion, at last.
It was not difficult to get into the fenced area but difficult to know where to put your feet as there was a lot of vegetation.
Unfortunately nothing much interesting in the way of wild flowers, just white daisies and
Calendula arvensis at the end of January.
The photos are of
The information notice board.
The bedrock base of the ancient temple.
An architectural fragment.
A capital and a view down to the plain showing the suburban railway, with train, and the Athens- Patras National Road.
A wall with wild plants in between the stones.
What apparently was a ramp deep in vegetation and
The Lerna Court
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Akrokorinthos seen from the west.
The hill to the right of Akrokorinthos is topped by a small castle called Pendeskoufis ΠΕΝΤΕΣΚΟΥΦΗΣ
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The frontispiece of one of the volumes of FLORA GRAECA designed by Ferdinand Bauer.
Depicting CORINTHUS.
The books took 34 years to be prepared published between 1806 and 1840
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Akrokorinthos seen from the archaeological site today covered in snow.
Akrokorinthos and the spring of Hadji Mustafa which still flows with good water.
For years my husband used to come to this spring to fill water bottles with drinking water
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Ancient Corinth in the snow. Not many people there yesterday but we were not the only ones, by all means.
The snow was melting quickly in the sun and large dollops were dropping from the trees.
The Melia azedarach looked particularly pretty.
For those of you interested in things archaeological part of the museum has been revamped and the "new" twin "kouri of Tenea" are on display
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Akrokorinthos in April
Many yellow wild flowers.
One photo looking towards the west and the other looking towards the north
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Poppies galore today in Ancient Corinth
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Hilary your poppies in Greece seem to be a deeper darker red than ours here in Cyprus. I noticed this last Spring when we were in Athens. It was suggested that there must be something in your soil that encourages the rich colour. Perhaps next time I am in Greece I should collect some seeds and try them out in our garden.
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I remember thinking just the same Charithea when we were part of a MGS holiday in Greece. As we drove towards our destination on the first day I thought the poppies along the roadside were a different variety because they were such a deeper red to those that adorn our roadsides and fields. Could be the soil I suppose - an interesting experiment to collect seed......
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Plenty of flowers for the May Wreath in a field between Ancient Corinth and the sea
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A short walk in the village of Ancient Corinth
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Hilary, I bet you enjoyed every bit of the way.
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I posted in this thread in May 2014 about the Justinian or Hexamillion Wall, six mile wall.
On Sunday we went out to look at a piece of wall next to the Epidaurus road.
This stretch of wall, near Isthmia, turns out to be another part of the Hexamillion Wall of which there are several stretches scattered across the Isthmus, some more preserved than others.
When I started walking along an old road next to the wall I was rather disappointed as it just looked like a pile of stones but spring was upon us and there were thousands of wild flowers growing on the sides and on top.
Now I have found this reference to the construction of the wall
”The wall was constructed with a rubble and mortar core faced with square stones “
which explains the look of it on the west side, the square stones had found another home .
The east side the wall has the appearance of a proper fortification with worked stones and two turrets.
There, although, the ground looked flat it was covered by dense vegetation hiding ankle twisting stones; because of this I didn’t try to get closer
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On Sunday we set off on what I had planned as a round trip in the area passing by olive groves and other cultivated areas interspersed with wild areas in the hope of finding some flowers I had not already snapped.
We never did find the road I had planned we take but ended up at a few dead ends and were given incomprehensible directions from the couple of people we asked. However, there were plenty of roads and fields to choose from and you can’t get lost with Acrocorinth looming over the area.
We stopped at a field with a view down to Corinth and the sea and back to Acrocorinth and its castle. I was going to walk in the olive grove then realized it looked as if it had been sown with some kind of cereal crop. I have never seen that before and wonder if it is an anti-Bermuda buttercup measure, there was plenty of evidence of this invasive plant. Instead, I walked up the road which was a little lower than the field and took some photos of wild flowers and a butterfly which would not stay still, an Old-World swallowtail.
Unfortunately, I have not gone to the trouble to find out all the names of the flowers we saw but have satisfied myself with yellow flower and blue flower. If anyone wants to enlighten me, I would be grateful
The place was very noisy with all the insects buzzing around on their business
I was thrilled to see the two bindweed flowers with incumbent insects.
The last photo is of Acrocorinth looking very green
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We are seeing reports of wild-fires through Greece, including Corinth.
I hope our forumists are all safe,
cheers
fermi
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I don't think there are any fires in Corinthia at the moment.
Just seen on FB that a fire was approaching Gryllis nursery at Marathon but it was quickly extinguished
I keep thinking about all our members with or without gardens scattered around Greece
The situation is heartbreaking
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Worrying times indeed- like Fermi I hope all our members are keeping safe.
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Ancient Corinth on a hot day in September 2021
Nothing at all in the way of wild flowers to see but it is always a joy to visit the site especially now when the tourist groups are slowly making their way back, armed with the necessary certificates.
There are some benches for the tourist groups to sit on under pine trees and cool off while the tour guide explains about the history of the site and what they will see on their way around.
On our way down the Lechaion Road I noticed an Olive tree, a Pomegranate tree and what looks like an Almond tree all of which I had never noticed before
As always Acrocorinth looms over the site and gets into many photos
A few years ago, I had promised to go back to the site to identify a certain pine tree, well I have not done so yet. I will put it on my ‘Sunday trips this winter’ list and hope that the ancient site is still open to the public
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Thank you, once more, Hilary for your excursion photographs. I really miss our trips to Greece. When our daughter taught in Kifissia she used to explore Greece and we would get cards and letters describing them. There are still a lot of Ancient ruins that we have not seen. Maybe next year?
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The Diolkos
I posted the first photo of the Diolkos, which connected the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf, on this Forum in May 2013
Now a photo of the same scene looking towards the canal after the recent clearing and cleaning of the area
The third photo is of the Diolkos looking towards the Gulf of Corinth end of the canal
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A SUNDAY WALK IN AN OLIVE GROVE UNDER ACROCORINTHOS
We went for a drive on Sunday looking for yet another ancient ruin, which we didn’t find
However, I did get to walk in this olive grove carpeted with low plants and some very small flowers. It was so good to see the flowers which had survived the recent snow.
It was also good to see young trees among the old
The crenelations of the castle on top of Acrocorinthos were quite visible but are not so obvious in the photo
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Sunday 20th February
We went in search of the Early Christian church dedicated to Saint Kodratos, just north of Ancient Corinth. What looked to be a good road on Goggle Earth turned out to be a narrow, concreted road which then deteriorated into an unpaved track
I walked down part of the road and saw that we weren't up to going down the path either on foot or in the car. The Church appeared to be fenced in so I took a photo which shows the outline in the building, which looks large.
Afterwards we went to the flat area across the National Road looking for wild flowers and to get some exercise. Again, all the flowers were tiny except the wild mustard which was in full bloom.
I liked the view of Acrocorinth with the strip of winter corn then the yellow mustard backed by dry canes
The photos would have been better if the sun had come out
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Monday 7th March,
ΚΑΘΑΡΑ ΔΕΥΤΕΡΑ, CLEAN MONDAY
We decided to go in search of the climbing wall near the village of Solomos, south of Corinth. These drives are always an opportunity for me to snap wild flowers.
We had a leaflet giving instructions on how to reach this cliff and also a note saying not to make a noise which would distract the climbers. We didn’t go near the wall at all but could see an ant sized person climbing and could hear someone talking, giving instructions?
I enjoyed the views through the olive trees
1 The climbing wall
2 Acrocorinth from the south
4 Penteskoufi, from the south
4 The view towards, Corinth, Loutraki and Gerania
5 Swathes of Grape Hyacinths under the olive trees
6 A group of Star of Bethlehem
7 A small yellow flower, could it be Meadow Gagea?
8 A lone Anemone
9 And the star of the show, a Giant Orchid
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What a wonderful way to spend your Katharine deftera among nature and enjoy the wild flowers. We have been having rain and wind since the beginning of March so nature watching has been postponed.
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It is cold and windy today
There was snow on Gerania this morning but now it has melted
However, spring is on its way
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Akrokorinthos, the plain and the Gulf of Corinth snapped early in May 2022
The plain and hillside still look very green but the Euphorbias and other wild flowers, are quickly drying up
Euphorbia characias, Mediterranean spurge is mentioned in many issues of THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN quite often in lists of useful plants to have in Mediterranean gardens
I chose to read
LANDSCAPING MY GARDEN:
PART 1 by Sue Goumas
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 14, Autumn 1998
Euphorbias are scattered around Ancient Corinth and Akrokorinthos
This is a photo of one taken in March a few years ago
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Ancient Corinth in the spring
Poppies and yellow flowers, not to mention the ancient ruins seen through the fence.
I am ashamed to say that I have not yet identified the millions of yellow flowers now in bloom in the ancient site
You might find interesting
POST-AGM EXCURSION TO THE SOUTH-WEST PELOPONNESE
By Katherine Greenberg
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 75, January 2014
http://www.mediterraneangardensocietyarchive.org/75-agm.html