The Amazing Marvin is visiting his relatives at the moment. He is at Zea Marina, a major base for the Sunsail and Moorings charter companies. This means that around 5 pm he gets to see Leopard 38s, 44s, and fellow 48s cruise by on their way to med-moor by the superyachts. We have seen very few catamarans so far in the Med, especially Leopards/Moorings, and now we are surrounded by them. Marvin is tipping his hat a lot here!
The Burnetts got to Piraeus, a suburb of Athens, via the Corinth Canal. It was their first canal transit! It is a very cool canal to transit, mainly because of the steep walls and the extensive history. It feels like you are going through a massive tunnel, with Athens at the end. Nero started it but left it unfinished, the French and the Greeks finished it (1800 years later), and the good ol’ US Army Corps of Engineers fixed it up after the Germans trashed it in WWII. Of course, when it comes to ambitious architecture projects, the Burnetts have learned to substitute the word, “Nero,” with: “6000 Jewish slaves.”
The Burnetts have explored Athens, including the Acropolis and the awesome National Archaeology Museum. The museum brings home the impact of the dark ages. Society can get amazingly advanced, with sophisticated art, science, and architecture, (and STYLE — Wow! the Mycenaeans!) and then a bunch of people with better weapons and no respect for culture comes by and then, WHAM!, time to start over in 1000 years.
Speaking of the threat of an impending dark age triggered by stupidity, those who don’t follow our BurnettsAhoy Facebook page might not know that Mel recently got an article published on KevinMD, a doctor website. It’s all about how sailing has helped her not hate her job so much, but it’s also about the many, many flaws in the way medicine works in the US. This article is here, if you feel like a downer.
If you feel like an upper, check out our pics!
This jellyfish in Itea is the size of a dinnerplate. Would not be a tasty dinner.
The approach to the Corinth canal, sunrise. We overnighted there from Itea.
Mel steers Marvin into the canal
The fisherman probably cares more about boats than fish
The water and rock in the Corinth canal are fab!
We head to the first bridge
It was a lot of work to cut through this
Too much land on chartplotter! Agh!
Love the rock and water
More cool rock
You can see the hacking that went into this
We could swim here if we weren’t…transiting
Wonder what that was for?
The trees wave to us as we go by
Haven’t seen rocks this cool since Virgin Gorda
More cool rocks in water
More bridges
The canal is…landscaped?
The light at the end of the tunnel…is the Aegean Sea
Another romantic shot of the canal.
We’ve come a long way! No, not really. The canal is short.
I mean it, Mel wants to swim!
Fans say hi
We make it under the bridges with our 75′ mast height
Sunrise produces challenging lighting conditions here
Greg at the helm, while crazy Mel takes 1000 pics
Mainland Greece is still connected to its peninsula
Close to land we are!
Goodbye, Corinth Canal!
Too bad the eye isn’t real!
Med-moored in Zea marina
The new Acropolis museum has you hover over excavations
Note to others: do NOT wear a skirt to Acropolis museum
The Acropolis
Rendering of a pediment in the Parthenon. You can see why Athena won.
Allie loves her frozen choc milk at the Acropolis museum restaurant, which was AWESOME
Dignitaries had their names inscribed on stadium seats. Some things never change!
So where is Yanni?
Athens from above. Why does Europe hate skyscrapers??
Ancient and new
Cool theater backdrop. Would be hard to do a pure comedy here.
Olive tree. Ruins. This is Greece.
We climb the hill for our reward
The Propylaea introduces you to the Acropolis
The kids find a cat, name it “Yanni.”
These ladies had awesome big hair
Obligatory Acropolis pic. But cool.
Athens, stormy day
Even the clouds want to organize into columns!
The Roman Forum takes up a lot of real estate
This turtle has been trying to reach this column for 3000 YEARS!
Modern Athens is more colorful than the ancient version
We visit the National Archaeology Museum of Athens!
Stylized Mycenaean figures. Before CAD!
People have thought hedgehogs are cute for thousands of years!
Mel likes the ancient jewelry. Go Owls!
Of course she’s happy. She is part cat and can fly!
Asclepius, God of Medicine. Would be pissed off a bit these days.
A 3 ft-tall version of the Athena statue that was in the Parthenon.
Mel Photoshops Athena into the Parthenon. Because she can.
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Hey Melinda I read your post on KevinMD- yo go girl! You are doing what so many of us wish we could do. The saddest thing is that the overlords that are destroying medicine are often themselves MDs who refuse to admit they have screwed up and have no solutions other than hiring more administrators and external consultants. Just like the big telephone companies had to be broken up, it’s time to break up the academic medical centers and their Wall Street ways of doing business
William! Good to hear from you! I agree that “having no solutions” is the problem. Medical administration seems to take its lessons from how to sell cars, and it just doesn’t work. I really think we need more research into ways to limit bureaucracy and ways to guarantee ethical practices in a profit-driven industry…
Loved your article Mel–my boyfriend forwarded it to me–he too is a neurologist on a personal sabbatical (two months now) from the dysfunctional corporate American medical system. We just got back from a couple of weeks in Ecuador–nothing like world travel to awaken one’s senses to the passion of life! We both look forward to following your family blog.
Thanks! Yes, there is more out there than quality measures!