Wow! What can one say about Delphi? First off, it's museum (absolutely on the DO NOT MISS list) is chock full of archaeological finds, reproductions of marble statues (like the statue of Antinoos) , metal use (like the unique bronze charioteer), the Naxian Spinx, gold and silver jewelry, weaponry, stone work. The museum presents it in a way that you can see the absolutely unbelievable early artistry and its progression from one era to the next. Ah, but after the museum the "fun walk" starts. Back on those wonderful marble slab paths (watch out for the shiny parts - slippery) to visit the theater, the archaeological site of the Temple of Apollo, Castalia Spring and the large rock that is referred to as "The Navel of the Universe". Ask one of us to explain, it has to do with Greek Mythology and is very complicated. The ruins are just (in my way of thinking) unbelievable as to their size, workmanship and beauty - I kept thinking to myself "How de do dat?" I took some photos purposely including people to show the enormity of these objects. You also have to wonder - where did we go wrong in not following through with the creativity of these marvels?
I am not sure I mentioned this before, but try to arrange your expeditions in the morning as the afternoons can be brutally hot. Especially when you are walking up somewhat steep inclines on marble slabs.
We ended the day with a not so exciting lunch at one of the pre-determined stops. Our guide (Elena), a very spry 67 year old who has been a tour guide for 38 years (but has the stamina of a 25 year old - at times, we had a hard time keeping up with her!) told us that the "rest stops" as pre-determined by "the supervisors". Nonetheless, she made this tour worth every cent as she relentlessly filled us in on the history (both real and mythological) of each site and included information that I am not sure the average tour guide would have. She kind of reminded me of a female Desi Arnez as the would often start off her talk with "Now let me s'plain something to you."
After lunch, we said goodbye to six of our fellow tourists, (our tour consisted of 10 people in the beginning) as four were continuing on to the fourth day of the tour, and joined a large group who were returning to Athens after a one day tour to Delphi. Word to the wise - if you visit Athens, take the three (or four) day tour (as we did) and don't settle for the one day outing. It's not worth it for just one day as you really lose a bit of the flavor of the surroundings and it makes for one very long day.
We hassled getting through the Athens traffic (at 7:30 at night) to our hotel. Seems like someone else was on strike in Athens today. We returned to the same hotel we had stayed at.
I cannot say enough about the Athens Plaza hotel - first class! We had to be picked up by 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday and asked if we could get a few rolls and juice before we left. Of course - they delivered juice, tea, coffee, misc rolls, meat, cheese and fruits to our room at 4:15 a.m. Tuesday morning.
One thing I almost forgot - tell me that last time you rode in a Mercedes Benz TAXI! I'm not joking. We were taken to the airport that way. As a matter of fact, we saw very few "older" or average type autos. Most of the buses were Mercedes or comparable. More on all this later.
Some of you have asked about updated photos. I was able to upload a few interesting sign photos that I added in Delphi from various areas we had visited. I will try the slideshow route from various areas along with a slideshow of the signs that I found interesting.
I will wrap up our Grecian odyssey in my next post along with personal observations, hints and general truths.
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