Completed between 1881 and 1893, the canal – 6,343 meters long, 22 m wide on average, and 8 m deep at most – connects Kalamàki and Posidonia in a straight line and is distinguished by the spectacular straight path almost completely enclosed by high rock walls peak.
A bottleneck that allows passage only to medium-small tonnage ships, especially the pleasure ones that crowd it by the thousands every year. The larger boats, as seen in the time lapse video, are forced to maneuver with great precision between its sides that are at most 80 meters high. Crossing the channel saves about 200 km on the route between the Ionian and Aegean seas.
The history of cutting the isthmus dates back to classical antiquity but it was the Roman emperor Nero in the 1st century AD who started the work leaving it unfinished. Due to a landslide that occurred on January 15, 2021, the canal was closed until July 5, 2022.
