Corinth: a place you'd rather miss

Unconventional is what I'm trying to become during the last few posts. I must stop that, it doesn't work.  I started the whole "being unconventional" thing because I was after true experiences of traveling, knowing new things and meeting exciting people, changing my self in the process and all that crapy stuff you expect from a 100% teenager. Since I'm not a teen anymore, I though "hey, what was conventional back then, could be unconventional now". So, I started being unconventional by planing some unconventional trips. And now that I have had the first, I regret it.

Loutraki is located on the other side of the gulf, and it's blessed to be compared with modern Corinth, one of the most boring and uneventful places on earth.

Corinth (or Corinthos in Greek) is a place of great archeological interest. If you are not Greek, you might have heard of this crapy place for two reasons: (a) Paul the Apostle, one of the most hate-worthy persons in history, sent some judgmental but influential letters to Corinthians, titled "to Corinthians" (how unoriginal!) and (b) a historical Brazilian football (a.k.a. soccer) team is named after them (the people, not the letters, I guess). The place has been inhabited for over 3500 years and it has  been an integral part of ancient Greek world.

Corinth is built inside the Corinthian gulf, next to the Corinth Canal. This is the sea side of the town.

The monster city that is now Instampul is historically related to Corinth, because it was founded as a Corinthian colony, by a bunch of Corinthians. Their leader, Byzantas, gave his name to this newly founded city, which was called Byzantio. During the 4th century a.c., when a Roman Emperor decided to make it the New Rome (the capital of Roman Empire), it was named Constantinople after the emperors name, Conctantine. About 1100 years later, the Turks conquered the city. The name "Instampul" is derived from the Greek phrase "eis tin Poli" (to the City). That's how modern Instampul has changed so many names in its more than 2500 year of existence. At least that is was I told by some crazy-looking guy who was begging for beer money next to a kiosk. That guy, and his informational story (which, strangely enough, checks out - although Byzantio was actually a Megarian colony!) was the only interesting thing happened during my Corinth visit.

In this picture from Corinth you can see nothing particular. That's exactly how I feel about Corinth: nothing particular is there.

Corinth town is like a small crosswords puzzle if you look it from above. There is a road near the sea. There are numerous roads parallel to that one. The rest are vertical to the parallels. And that's it. All buildings are the same. They look boring because they are. Corinth is a very small, boring town. Don't go there. But if you do, follow my advice: don't explore the town. Everywhere it's the same shame. Just find a souvlaki restaurant (very easy) and eat some souvlaki. Then, leave.

Eating souvlaki and drinking coffee is the only thing you can do while in Corinth. Thus you become fat and nervous.

I 've just had a vision of me sitting on a desk, working, when some clerk (at my services) enters my office:
- "Boss, there are some good news and some bad news"
- "Tell me", I order him
- "OK", says he, "a nuclear bomb completely destroyed Corinth"
- "I see… and what are the bad news"

A highly boring town road. I had to photoshop some extra colors, otherwise the internets wouldn't let me upload it.

I don't want to visit that place again. I will probably proceed with my unconventional plan, since it involves a lot of drugs and not very well hidden conventionality in it, but I have to admit that my first try was a complete failure. Let's hope I will soon forget Corinth, the most boring place I 've ever been.