Corfu

Commercial

Odysseus is received at the palace of Alkinoös, king of the Phaeacians of Scheria, and sits as a guest at his table. The king is boasting about a trip once made by one of his ships to Euboea:

Euboea, which those of my people who saw it when they took yellow-haired Rhadamanthus to see Tityus the son of Gaia, tell me is the furthest of any place -and yet they did the whole voyage in a single day without distressing themselves, and came back again afterwards.You will thus see how much my ships excel all others, and what magnificent oarsmen my sailors are."

Considering the distance from Scheria to Euboea (Evia) around the Peleponese is about 720km, it would be quite the feat indeed to row it in one day as king Alkinoös suggests. As magnificent as his oarsmen might have been, rowing at a speed of 30 km/h for 24 hours wouldn't have been humanly possible. The story reads a bit like a modern TV commercial, far too good to be true, though we might be able to use it.

Around the Peloponnessos

Evia

Peloponnessos

Chalcis

Chalcis

A few meters

Odussey Book 7 line 281-301 Barry B Powell

Even though Alkinoös clearly takes some liberties, even the shorter route is undeniably quite an achievement.Let's examine the 24 hour route Rhadamanthos most probably took a bit more closely.

The fastest route to Euboea is through the Gulf of Korinthe and from there over land to the point on the mainland where it's only a few meters across to the island. Though it really is an island, Alkinoös might consider Euboea part of the mainland. In this case, the (boat) trip ends in either Korinthe or even better somewhere on the coast opposite. Travellers would have to walk an additional day (13 hours).