Delphi

Saturday morning we boarded the coach bus for the 2 1/2 hour trip to Delphi. But before we even reached Delphi, we visited a Greek Orthodox Monastery, Osios Loukas. It was built around 1000 years ago, and it was just stunning. The great view of the valley mixed with the historic buildings and church made a great visual experience. We went inside the churches to see original mosaics, paintings, and beautiful icons. 

     After seeing the Monastery we went to the small town Delphi, one of the most important places in Greek history. It is so famous because  in the legend, Zeus (A Greek god) sent to Eagles to fly around the universe and they met up in Delphi, which was the supposed center or "navel of the universe". Back in its height, the town was basically made up of offerings and temples  to various gods, and it was all rather flashy. Representatives from various cities would bring elaborate offerings and gifts to persuade the gods to give them good advice.  The advice came through the Oracle of Delphi, an older woman who had been chosen to receive the word of the gods.  Over the centuries, many women filled this role. Ruins of the site are still in pretty good shape, which was very interesting and really aweome! Blocks of marble from buildings lay all over the ground, ancient Greek writing on walls and pieces of stone. Huge columns still stand and it makes everything seem stuck in time. I was so amazed at the ruins and all the things that still survived! It was hard to imagine that people walked around in the city in 8th Century BC, and their market is still there. We saw the theatre, the stadium and various other things. The stadium became the site of the Pythian Games, something similar to the later Olympian Games. Pieces of pottery and artifacts lay all over the ground but it was strictly forbidden and illegal to take anything, even a pebble on the path.  

     Once we had finished seeing the ruins, we went to our cute little hotel and ate dinner at a delicious  place, serving many kinds of traditional Greek foods.  We sampled lamb, veal, pork, and chicken dishes. Greek food is the best! In the morning, we got up and went to the same Delphi site but we saw the museum which was filled with most of the artifacts from the town, because you could not keep them outside or they would get ruined. I have to say that it was a very cool musuem because you knew everything you were seeing came from right outside the window. The only thing bad about that day was that a wasp got in my shoe and it stung me on the bottom of my foot, but luckily a fellow tourist saw what had happened and helped because she had some kind of cream for bee stings. I think going to Delphi and seeing the ruins was probably my favorite thing we have done so far, because it is so amazing! 

I will post more soon,

Julia