Kim, Nicole and I have returned from our excursion to Delphi. I have a bunch of pictures and will probably spread them out over the next few posts.

Mark and Martha picked us up about 6:45 a.m. on Sunday. We all drove out of Athens (easy to do early on a Sunday morning). Delphi is located NW of Athens. It's flat land for most of the way, but the last bit of it is through some mountains. Fortunately it was good weather and a good road. We stopped after a couple of hours driving, only about 30 minutes away, at a Swiss-chalet looking cafe/restaurant. If I haven't said it before, this is a coffee culture. After our break, we drove on to Delphi. Mark and Martha had reserved room at a great economical hotel. There was nothing extravagant about the place, but we had a spectacular view from our window. After the requisite time to drop our bags, take pictures, potty, etc. we walked toward the archaeological site.

Delphi is best known for the Oracle. It was believed that, because of the location of Delphi at the "navel" of the world, being closer to the center of the earth and all, had mystical properties. Sibyls sat on a rock "tripod" and offered prophecies, which were interpreted by the priests. The temple of Apollo was there, but nearby city-states all kept "treasuries" nearby: buildings containing treasures that they offered to Apollo. We walked all around the ancient site, which incidentally was only discovered in the 19th Century. There had been a village built on the ancient site. They relocated the entire village a few hundred yards away (the site of the current town of Delphi) and excavated the ruins. A lot of what they uncovered is in the adjacent museum, which we also visited. We spent a few hours wandering the ruins (built into the steep side of the hill) and visiting the museum. After, it was time to walk back to the village to get lunch (again, about 3 p.m.). We found a very nice place, of course with another spectacular view and had a massive lunch. Following lunch, Mark and Martha went for a nap, Kim went back to the hotel to do some stretches, etc., and Nicole and I walked around the village, window shopping and stopping in a number of souvenir shops.

We passed the evening hours leisurely. We walked around the town, stopped for coffee, and even went into a local hotel while we sat in their lobby area. We ordered drinks and taught Mark and Martha both Euchre and Scopa. We played cards and backgammon for a while, walked some more, then stopped in another cafe. There we bumped into this huge group (30?) of students from the University of Dallas. They are studying in Rome. They had their ancient Greece midterm and were now traveling to see what they had learned. None of us really wanted to have a 10 p.m. dinner so we had a little snack before heading back to the hotel.

Monday morning we had breakfast then headed off for a walk past the archaeological site and down the road a bit. It really was just to enjoy the wonderful weather. The day before had been mostly cloudy but this was sunny and spectacular. We got out of Delphi just before noon and made a stop in Arachova, a town at the foot of Mt. Parnassos, a very popular Greek ski area. The town also has some very nice views. Once again, we wandered around town. Not going in the shops with Kim cost me money, as she found something she liked in one of them. Back in the car, we again stopped at the Swiss-chalet-looking place for a snack before the drive back to Athens. Mark and Martha decided that since we would make it back to Athens early (before 4), we really didn't need a stop for lunch. We got caught in some nasty Athens traffic getting back into town but still made it back early. Nicole and I made a grocery store run and Kim prepared dinner.