September 19, 2024 

Delphi

 

 

We had to get up really early to catch breakfast and our tour bus at 6:45 for a trip to see the Oracle at Delphi. There were 35 of us with our Tour Guide, Chryseis (another archeologist unable to support herself on an archeologist salary who turned to being a tour guide – lucky us as this is the 3^rd trained Archeologist we have had for a tour guide – who better??)

 

We got another taste of Athens traffic – I mean long parking lot … Once out of the city, however, we made good time.  Athens is a very crowded city.  The buildings are never over 8 stories high because of earthquakes. (We did see one or two exceptions.). The buildings are all painted in light colors and all had balconies with awnings. There were blocks and blocks of them.  Many had been built to house the refugees from the Syrian civil war.

 

We did not see a policeman or a police car.  We heard a siren one night, but that was it. The freeway had 4 lanes each way – 7 if you count the white strip ‘lanes’ that the scooters and motorcycles used. It takes a great deal of faith in one's fellow motorists to ride in Athens. (Apparently it is illegal to ride in between lanes of traffic – but who cares?)

 

Delphi is on the side of Mount Parnassus – which is a bunch of high mountains 7K feet and not a single peak (hard to get my head around that one). They ski on Mount Parnassus and we went through the area on the way to Delphi.  We drove through very pretty country, lots of olive trees, fruit trees, cotton fields and mountains.

 

 

Delphi is a unique area.  It is at the nexus of two perpendicular fault lines. It is famous among the new agers as it is the prime meridian of all Ley Lines. The Greeks believed it was the center of the Universe – the navel if you will. It did not feel any more special than Augusta National however.  But maybe, having been there it will help my golf game (the Pyramids didn’t, but hope springs eternal). Geologists have investigated the site and have determined that the noxious fumes emanating from deep in the earth through a fissure under the temple of Apollo cause hallucinations, or an altered state of mind.  And so the Oracle who sat above the fissure gave ambiguous answers to the seekers that, like our modern "horror-scopes" can be read to be accurate. I am not judging, I’m just saying.

 

Anyway, it is an important site. Ancient kings have walked the steps we walked – including Alexander the Great. After the Christian religion became the state religion, Delphi fell into disuse and then reduced to rubble by the many earthquakes. After Schliemann discovered Troy and Arthur Evans unearthed Knossos, attention was paid to these ancient sites and today we have a world class museum and an archeological park. While we were unable to visit the place where the seeker would ask and the Oracle sat we saw a lot of other neat things.

 

The Museum set the tone for what followed. Although there was no Lego set, there were ample pictures and diagrams to help us orient.

 

 

This is where the Oracle would cleanse herself prior to entering the temple of Apollo.  We did not stop, just noted the place.

 

 

The sphinx who stood at the entrance of the Sacred Way

 

 

This is our guide explaining the dancers of Apollo--love the dancing carytids!

 

 

Games were held here.  This is a bronze of a winning charioteer. The detail is striking – there are even eyelashes! You can tell he won because he has a cloth band around his head.  The owner of the chariot received the laurel wreath.

 

The Site was guarded and roped off except for well defined paths.  There were a lot of steps (More than the Acropolis). Prior to entering the site there was a market place where pilgrims could purchase gifts for the god and the priests.  It was the price of admission to the site.

 

 

Then once the admission was accepted, the Sphinx “let” people on the path that would pass treasuries to the temple of Apollo. Underneath the temple was situated the rooms for the seekers to wait and eventually be brought before the Oracle. In front of the temple was a green snake column (that was stolen by the Byzantines to decorate Constantinople).

 

 

Here, Shirley rested while Paul climbed another million steps to the Odeon where he got a picture of the interior of the temple.

 

 

The trek down was treacherous as the stones were uneven and slanted. But we made it and back to the bus.  We drove another 15 minutes to a tour group restaurant where we ate typical Greek food.  The Salad was very good with fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, onion and olives with oregano and olive oil.  We got back to the ship at 5:25, 5 minutes before they wanted to close the hatch.

 

Supper at the World Café (they had a Greek feast). Then to the heating pad and the blog.

 

 

Oh - and 6947 steps and 7 flights of stairs Anna 

Shirley's take: Pineapple cucumber smoothie again--ready for a different one!  We had a wonderful and exhausting visit to Delphi.  Fortunately, my back held up but I could not continue to the theater with Paul.  Lunch was interesting and OK but the Greek salad (no lettuce) was awesome!  Just like I remembered from my visit from years ago.  I must try to recreate this at home.  I did not partake of much of the Greek feast, but I did enjoy a traditional Northern Greek bean and vegetable soup--Fasolado.  Good but mostly celery and carrots and very few beans.  I also had to have a piece of baklava!