Day 13 - The Oracle of Delphi

I didn't find the best photographers for this trip, but it's better than nothing! :-)
This is on the side of the mountain where the lowest level is. 


I decided to take another day tour since I'd run out of things to see in Athens.  It was probably the best tour I've ever been on.  The guide (I never heard her say her name, but I'll call her Ariana; it's a nice Greek-sounding name) had an amazing breadth of information and tied it all together very well - history, mythology, etymology. She reminded me of Michael Constantine's character in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" because she could connect every English word to a Greek root.  She had a style that was similar to the other two guides I've had (in Rome at the catacombs and in Tel Aviv): she would ask a question and then answer it herself (And how did they build the temple? Well, I'll tell you...)  But she wasn't the only good part of the tour: everyone on the tour spoke English!!!  I sat behind a couple from Ohio (he took the photo) and at lunch we sat at a table with a couple from Toronto and newlyweds from Denver.

I took this photo of Ariana in the museum at the site (and a guard told me that I can take photos of only the old stuff!).  I was amazed we could take photos at all.


But back to the tour...

Here are some photos - easily as good as some I've seen on line ;-)


Those are olive trees in the rows.  I was surprised this photo turned out at all since I took it from the moving bus.  You can see blurred trees at the bottom.

The scenery around Delphi is beautiful (location, location, location).  

The stadium is on the highest level (it's 582 ft long and this is a standard length known as a "stade."  It was quite a hike up here in 97 degrees.  Also, many of the steps were slick - polished by feet and wind - so on the way down I put my camera inside my bag (see photo above) - (I had mailed the camera bag - and other extraneous stuff - home when I was in Tel Aviv) so minimal damage would be done to it if I slipped (not worried about broken bones; just broken camera)  

Some of the other walkers weren't so concerned with the walking issue I guess, based on their trekking attire.  I especially like the blue ball cap with the white ball gown, the black purse, and flip flops. Very creative combination, yes?  Especially the off-the-shoulder touch.

Then there was this fashion plate.  Notice her shoes.  A bold choice for this outing.


Finally, here are shoes I could never walk in even on flat pavement without slipping back and catching my heel on the edge of the wood.  

After the hiking and heat, we went to the air conditioned museum - yea!!  Here are some photos of their amazing collection.  This would have been a gift to Apollo.  This is gold.  And notice the eyes!  Not blanks.

The charioteer below has bronze eyelashes!!

Ariana ushered us through the museum selectively - so we were there for only about 45 minutes.
Next we were treated to lunch in a very nice restaurant (famous and wealthy people eat here, too!).  

The cost of the tour was $128 and included entrance fees to Delphi and the museum, lunch, the great guide, and pick up from/delivery back to our hotels.  You wouldn't believe some of the driving required.  The town of Arachova, on the way to-from Delphi, has one street and it's only two tour buses wide.  Barely.  And two tour buses had to pass.  Amazing!
I saw something else amazing on this tour:  RAIN!

It lowered the temperature to 70 degrees!


The last stop was back in Arachova to shop for souvenirs.  Ariana told us to haggle, so I did.  One shopkeeper was very persistent in showing me a handmade silk piece for "only" 150 Euros and I might have caved if I wasn't going on to Istanbul.  Instead I went across the street and haggled from 17 to 13 Euros - a $5 savings.  I got a real bargain for $16.75!
Fortunately, we had only about half an hour for shopping.  


Here's the final view of the trip back down to Athens.  

So that's about it for Greece.  Here's the last photo of this part of the trip, from the roof terrace of the hotel.

And some random info-toids provided by Ariana...
* Demosthenes was the father of the atomic theory
* There are 300 sunny days in Greece
* The three main sources of revenue here are shipping magnates, tourism, and agriculture
* Pistachios are a major cash crop
* Olive oil can be used as a face moisturizer (and anything else - like Windex in MBFGW)
* Delphi is thought to come from the Greek word for dolphin, which carried Apollo from Mykonos to mainland Greece 
* The word "ecstasy" described the falling down trance the priestesses at Delphi would go into
* There are 140M olive trees in Greece - that's one inventory I wouldn't want to take!


On to Istanbul tomorrow!!!