Delphi Schmelphi

We woke up early (well early for our unemployed and vacation based standards) and headed by metro to the bus station in the northern section of Athens. We hopped on the bus and settled in for our 3-hour ride to Delphi. During the ride I tried to read the Delphi book and get my “Idiots Guide to Ancient Delphi” course completed before we got there.

Delphi was once known as the Navel of the world – or so coined by the ancient folks. It was the seat of the Temple of Apollo wherein the Oracle of Delphi would interpret and communicate the message of the medium (who was a woman over the age of 40, who sat upon Apollo’s tripod to receive Apollo’s messages) – okay so my ancient knowledge is a tad lacking. Anyway, it is a very ancient, and incredibly scenic site, with views of bays to the right of the site, and surrounded by mountains and impressive peaks on the other three sides.

We get into the city, hoof it up to the museum, and find out that the site closes at 3 (it’s 1:45 by the way), so we run, cruising past the tour groups, snapping photos, and trying to make it all the way to the stadium at the top. Diego (who had a single minded determination not to be stopped by those whistle toting museum Nazis) made it; Ulises and I were stopped at the amphitheater.

Despite being frustrated that our 6-hour trip resulted in an hour of site seeing – we did have time to explore the Sanctuary of Athena, and the impressive Tholos located there.

Given our rush to get to the site, we hadn’t eaten all day, so at 5, we sat down at a gyros place, and shoveled mass quantities of food and Mythos beer into our mouths before we hopped back on the bus at 6.

At 10:30 we decided to go eat, and having no luck in finding the place that our apartment host recommended, we stumbled upon a restaurant, which proved to be really amazing. We ate eggplant cakes, baked feta, chicken, burgers, and pasta until some time around 1am, where we dashed back to the apartment in the rain.

Tomorrow is Diego’s last day, and time to hit the Archeological Museum!