One of the advantages of living close to the big city is that whenever comes up a need to go there and arrange some affairs, it is easy to do so. It is also something that I have missed during the nine years that I was living in a remote island and every visit to Athens was a difficult and expensive trip.
But it turns out that the exact same thing can easily become a disadvantage. I am telling this because since my previous post (witch by the way was about Athens) last Friday, I have been there not one but two more times! Making a total of three visits in less than two weeks.
Don't get me wrong, I love travelling but going up and down on the same highway, is not exactly my definition of fun and visiting a big, chaotic city on a very tight schedule can become quite problematic too!
But as I was driving back to Nafplio for this third time, I decided to avoid the highway and take an alternative, more touristic route :)
The old road
This is the national road 8 or more commonly, the old Athens - Patras national road. It is now replaced by a modern highway with three lines in each direction but some parts of it are still in use and are true gems from the past. I love this particular part, right on the coast line. No matter what the reason of the trip is, I can't avoid feeling that I am on vacation. Especially on a bright, summer day like today :)
The steep hillside on one side, the sea on the other and summer resorts established in the distant past when everything was more clean and more simple. Now the industrial zone of Athens is only a few kilometres behind me polluting the sea and the air very intensively. But people seem to prefer to forget about it and enjoy their summer in the best way they can!
The Corinth Canal
The Corinth Canal is an artificial canal in Greece that connects the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland, arguably making the peninsula an island. The canal was dug through the Isthmus at sea level and has no locks. It is 6.4 kilometres (4 miles) in length and only 24.6 metres (80.7 feet) wide at sea level, making it impassable for many modern ships. It is currently of little economic importance and is mainly a tourist attraction.
source
And to complete the tourist attraction part of the canal, there is a memorial to the people who participated in the construction, a statue of the prime minister of Greece during that period and an info kiosk that informs the travellers about the beauties of the whole region!
Not really a market
Yet all the above are for free!
And having tourists but nothing to sell, is an insult to the gods of commerce :)
The Greek business acumen came to fill the gap with cheap souvenirs and summerish accessories!
And most importantly, they gave me the excuse to dedicate this post to the #MarketFriday community, initiated by 
It is not much of a market but I know that Denise enjoys a travelling touch in our posts and after all, it is Friday!
The train station
For the next part of my journey I remained away from the highway and I continued on the old road. The scenery changed from seaside to rural. Now I was surrounded by olive groves, vineyards and apricot trees. This part of the road goes alongside with the rails of an interrupted railway. I have traveled on this train when I was young but now it's only the bumps at each intersection that have remained as well as the abandoned train stations.
This is the last one at my route and a perfect spot for some resting under the shadow of the trees and a few more pictures. My trustworthy bike has taken me to many great journeys for decades but the years are starting to show both on the machine and the man :)
A more slow pace with a lot of stops is now more suitable for both of us. Which is just fine for me!
The next turn brought me to the last part of the journey but now I was too eager getting home to make more stops. The heat of the noon was getting stronger, I was getting hungry and the last kilometres passed in no time :)
Have a great weekend!
Unless stated otherwise, all the pictures and the words are mine.
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