I was thoroughly enamored a year ago when I cruised under the world’s longest multi-span cable-stayed bridge that links the Peloponnese with mainland Greece. In fact, I interrupted a group reading of “The Odyssey” by passengers aboard the Corinthian II to rush to the top deck to admire the stunning 2.9-kilometer (9,449 feet) Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge over the Gulf of Corinth.

More impressive than reading “The Odyssey?"

So you can imagine my excitement on Sunday when I was in a car that drove across the bridge from Antirion on the mainland to Rio in the Peloponnese. It was an event that was second to, on that day anyway, meeting the Oracle at Delphi.

But I had a severe reality setback when I discovered that the one-way toll to cross the bridge, which opened in August 2004, was now up to € 12.20 (US $15.75). That makes it € 24.40 (US $31.50) for a roundtrip, though you get a slight break if you make the return journey in less than three hours and it’s only € 1.80 (US$ 2.30) for a motorcycle. YIKES!

I tried to justify the cost as a small price to pay for beauty. Or maybe, I thought, the income is being used to pay down Greece’s onerous debt. Perhaps it’s worth paying the excessive price to have easy access to the Peloponnese, which previously required a ferry ride from western Greece. Maybe I’m simply used to the $6 it costs for a round trip on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Perhaps I should shut up and simply be happy to have a free view of the bridge from my current base camp in Rio.

But seriously how many people, whether tourists or locals, can afford to pay that amount in any currency?

The free view of the bridge from my squat in Rio.

Then I learned (and every Greek in the Peloponnese seems to know this) that the toll revenue is being used almost exclusively to repay Vinci, the French company that led a consortium that built the bridge for a mere € 630,000,000 US$ 807,278,318). The Greeks, it turns out, get less than a euro from every toll.

But as I MedTrekked away from the bridge, whatever its cost and whatever its toll, I continued to marvel at the aesthetics of the expensive manmade wonder that, to some, rivals the ruins at Delphi.

I leave the bridge in my tracks on Monday.

Text and Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."