Headed to Delphi today - first of all a visit to the ancient site of Olympia - this site was beautifully preserved - not too much ‘fixing’ and enough information boards for you to know what you were looking at. Watched a group of school kids having races on the ancient track.
There were excellent plaques with information around the site, which was preserved with just the right mix of 'fixing' and leaving alone!
I think he moved into lecture mode, but by then I was immune - and just went with the flow!!
The entrance to the stadium - the plinths on the left were the remains of statues of people who had cheated in the Olympic games - they were immortalised here as a warning to the new competitors...
Hard to believe it was in use so many centuries ago - we sat and watched a group of school children put it to modern day use, with their own races
After seeing the restored Stoa in Athens, we had no trouble working this one out... just as beautiful as the restored one, with the shade of the trees.
Drove along some of the most beautiful scenery again today - rivals the great ocean roads in both Australia and California…… just spectacular and not quite as winding as either of them - hugged the coast and there were numerous little hamlets along the way - if we were inclined we could have stopped for a dip at any of them…..
Could NOT believe the drivers!!! This black one squeezed around us and the truck and then sat out there in front of all the cars waiting - it seemed on this trip that there were 4 lanes being used, when really there were only two.... Graham soon adjusted though and started to drive like a local in no time!!
This is a gorgeous bridge connecting the Pelopponese with Mainland Greece - I think it was 2 kilometres long - it could be seen for miles around..... it reminded me of a huge ANZAC bridge -same suspension style.
The approach was quite exciting - cars and trucks wizzing past, looking for the signs (none of which seemed to make sense) and listeing to 'our girl' on the GPS - good thing we had decided to keep our sense of humour!
This is at least 25 kilometres away and still it dominated the view.....
We managed to stop for lunch in one of the little hamlets - this was a lovely cafe - but no one spoke English and the menu was completely in Greek- the waitress had to get someone eating at the next table to help interpret - ended up with a delicious pork souvlaki
Just one of the many views around the bends - kept wanting to stop for a swim
The view from where we had come - told you it was like the two Great Ocean roads (one in Australia the other in California) that we had driven
and then this little gem - the church in the middle of town - Delphi is approximately 3/4 of the way up the mountain in the background
Delphi is at the top of the hill, about 14 km in from the coast - basically like going from Sydney to Katoomba in 14 km- our hotel room view was just like the photo on the website of the hotel - high up and looking straight down the Corinthian Gulf….. Had a bottle of wine to relax down at a local café and then went to the archaeological site - another beautiful site - and at that time of day (7pm) no one else there - quite spectacular with the temples against the rocky mountains, especially in the twilight.
The view from our room - the town from the photo above is a little above the middle of this photo - the olives looked like the river was still going down to the gulf.....
The beautiful little church in the town square (probably the only flat piece of ground in the town...)
We sat under this tree to have drink and then came back for a most delicious meal
The international flags showed us the way to the archeological site
The site sits right into the mountain - part of its aura is the setting - just glorious!
No one was there- except the 'watchers' who were responsible for makin gsure no one touched the wrong thing
the right time to go - as the sun was setting and the shadows lengthened
This was the repository for many 'treasures' - not just the Athenians
This ampitheatre had perfect pitch - I even managed to sing a note - the acoustics were perfect.... even if my voice wasn't!
We could see why the oracle lived here - such a special and spiritual place - it was my favourite of all the ancient sites we saw.
Went back to the café for dinner - Iannis asked us how our room was, as he had booked it for us!!! That Fantasy Travel - what a great connection we found the day I stumbled across it on the web.
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