Delphi

 On our second full day in Athens, we decided to take an excursion to Delphi with a tour group. Our trip to Delphi was where I cemented my retirement plan. Although, I feel like Mila won't be going with me. Anyway, we had to meet the bus across the street early in the morning. After my daily "Kalimera!" and coffee from the ladies at On the Road across the street, getting ready, and having a little freak out moment while watching not our bus drive off, we caught the correct bus. 

Our tour guide Mariana was a fount of information as we rode through Athens. I chuckled to myself as we passed Heinrich Schliemann's house, now a museum, and Mariana sang his praises. As we learned in Our Fake History, Schliemann did a lot of good.  He just did it through sheisty methods. He reignited interest in Ancient Greece during the 19th century and is considered the Father of Archaeology. However, he was not above simply deciding that what he found was exactly what he was looking or even more prestigious. Consider this picture:

That's Sophia Schliemann wearing jewelry trumpeted by her husband as the "Jewels of Helen" from "Priam's Treasure." You see, Schliemann discovered an area that he believed to be the Homeric Troy. In actuality, he gathered caches from a general area  and claimed they were found together in a stash that had belonged to Priam. So, while he did find a bunch of cool stuff, there was no way to prove (or believe) that it was what he said it was. He was more P.T. Barnum than Indiana Jones.

Anyway, Delphi is about a 2 hour drive along modern highways from Athens. It's in central-ish Greece whereas Athens is south Greece. For rich Athenians, it was a four day boat ride. We passed Marathon, a spot that I had very much wanted to visit. However, it didn't quite fit into our plans. 

We stopped at a roadside café for snacks and bathrooms. It seems like that spot was made for this express purpose - serving people passing through on their way to Athens. Just before getting to Delphi, we drove through the cramped (for a big bus) streets of Arachova. I had never heard of the town, but I'd love to go back. It's a tourist town in the mountains that really looks like it hasn't changed in the past 200 years. Check it out if you ever get the chance.

We climbed higher into the mountains until we reached Delphi. Of course, a light rain started as soon as the bus stopped. And... here is where I'll have to do lots of research. As I look back at the pictures I have saved, I'm realizing that I'm unsure of why I took many of them. Two reasons - time and the fact that my headset wasn't working and I couldn't hear much of what Mariana had to say.

If you're looking for this Delphi: 

Photo from the 300 Fandom page

Well, that's not exactly what we saw. Like the Acropolis, Delphi was a temple complex on a hill. To be exact, it's a temple complex that climbs up a mountain. Many of the same outbuilding were similar but the main temple was to Apollo, whereas the Parthenon is a temple to Athena. I forgot to add one of my favorite little nuggets from the Acropolis which also applies to Delphi. As we were walking up and around the Acropolis, we found ourselves by a group of very stereotypical young women (looking like they were there for the IG photoshoot and nothing more). One of them exasperatedly commented "It's just a bunch of rocks." She's a treasure.

The oracles (or pythias) was chosen as representatives of the god Apollo and were sought for their visions of the future. As was correctly pointed out in 300, a mixture of gases in the mountains would put the young women into a drugged state and they would give out cryptic predictions. We didn't go to that area. Their predictions were purposely vague as, if wrong, they would lose their power and influence (and likely their heads). Therefore telling a king before battle that "A king will fall" could mean him or his enemy. 

We started our trek up to the principal temple and examined the "bunch of rocks" that surrounded us. Although it was chilly and rainy, there were quite a few tour groups and I had to really fight to get close enough to Mariana to be able to hear what she was saying.

Roman columns from, I think, a stoa along the "sacred way"

Many of these buildings were built by visiting dignitaries representing their city states and used as an offering to Apollo in order to get favorable advice from his oracle. These were called treasuries.

there it is, the belly button of the world

Delphi was considered to be the belly button of the world since Zeus had two eagles fly, one from the east and one from the west, and this spot was where they met. Sure. This monument is a replica but the original will pop up later as it was moved to the Delphi museum for protection and display.

the treasury of Athens, placed in commemoration of the victory at Marathon

You can see the Greek columns of the temple up there

there are some four million olive trees in the valleys down there

Luckily the rain stopped but the fog stuck around, making for cool pictures.

We made our way up the mountainside passing treasuries, 2000 year old walls, and spires. Interestingly enough, we found out that the temple was torn down by Theodosius, the same guy that built the famous walls in Istanbul. We also saw the twin of the serpent tower that Theodosius took and placed in the hippodrome in Istanbul.  

I was amazed at how well-preserved the wall on the right still is, after all these years

Looking back down from the foot of the temple

The remaining columns at the temple

Like many of the temples that we saw on this trip, it housed a giant statue to a god, this time Apollo. It was the centerpiece of the whole complex overlooking the valley and out to the sea. The guided portion of our tour stopped at the temple but we were given time to continue up the mountainside to the theater and stadium.

The trek was a little slippery and, although it was chilly, we were sweating. OK, so I was sweating. I don't think Mila sweats.

Mila practicing her stand up set

This theater was rebuilt in Roman times on top of the original Greek theater. Can you imagine performing there?

After looking around the theater for a bit, we decided to push it further up to the stadium. We were given just enough time to see both before the tour at the museum would start. A special no prize if you guess that we were late.

The stadium was a project of Herodes Atticus, the same dude that paid for the Odeon at the Acropolis. If you're wondering about the weird shape of the stadium, you're not alone.  Instead of doing laps like we do today, runners would go back and forth in their assigned lane from one end to the other. The longest race was about 3,000 meters (1.86 miles) but they had multiple distances. 

what a cutie pie

We did our best to hurry down but we got caught up in a group of Scandinavians that we couldn't quite pass through. Plus, it was slippery. So, we arrived to the museum just as Mariana was leading the group into the first gallery.

The museum contains finds from just a few hundred meters away and date back up to 3,000 years ago. 

One of the many kouros statues that we saw on our trip. Something to keep in mind is that these statues were usually colored. These kouros typically had red hair and vibrantly colored clothes and even makeup.

A noseless sphynx

The pieces of the pediment and frieze of east facade of the treasury of Siphnos

6th century BCE statues of possibly Artemis and Apollo

6th century BCE bull

a model of what the complex would have looked like

so the penis was offensive but not the testicles?  OK

The original "belly button of the world" You can see that it's been restored and also why it isn't sitting out in the elements

The charioteer of Delphi, from 470 BCE. It is considered to be one of the most important pieces of Greek art as it shows a Greek youth in his moment of glory as Greece was coming into its own

After finishing in the museum (and dodging the teenagers on field trip) we started down the mountain towards the modern town of Delphi. We stopped to looked over the lower portion of the complex where the temple of Athena and gymnasium was located. Athletes would spend time adjusting to altitude at this spot before heading further up for the Games. 

From there we stopped to get lunch at, I think Epikouros Taverna. I wish I would have taken pictures. This is where I am going to retire to. It overlooks Delphi and the bay and all the waiters were guys in their 60s. So, 20ish more years!

We drove through Arachova and stopped to get pictures overlooking the city and the valley.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel, grabbed snacks from the market down the street and pizza from the corner pizzeria before heading to bed for the long day coming up.