Though surpassed in scale among the world's great man-made waterways by the Suez and Panama Canals, the 6 kilometre (4 miles) long Corinth Canal remains an eventful feature of the voyage from the Ionian Sea to the Aegean (which it shortens by 202 miles). Opened in 1893, it severed the Peloponnese from the rest of mainland Greece, taking 12 years to cut arrow-straight through solid rock. Its narrow width - just 27 metres - makes it impassable for larger vessels, and adds to the excitement of the journey as the solid rock walls tower above, taller than a 20 story building, thus giving the illusion that the channel is narrower than it actually is.