Delphi

Sunday, April 17th:   Delfi

We hit the road early this morning as we had a long drive to get to Delphi, home of the Oracle of Apollo. Well, Helen threw a big hissy fit and would not find any satellite signals, nor would she find small places like Delphi or big places like Athens. Basically she was a no-show.

So, heading out in what I felt was the right direction, off we went.  I made it into Athens, but somehow could not find the highway leading up to Delphi. Instead, I found an obscure mountain pass going up and down, back and forth,  through and around the mountains (after I narrowly escaped with my life from the drivers of Athens).

Well, after we played musical chairs trying to keep Kayla and Megan from getting too car sick and an extra hour or so later due to the road we took, we finished our five hour drive to Delphi. It was worth every moment of harrowing driving we had experienced and those yet to be experienced.

It is not an exaggeration to say that it is easy to see why the ancient Greeks thought this was a holy place. It was. And it was absolutely stunning. I LOVED it.

It was rainy again today as we drove up, but stopped while we visited the ruins.  It allowed us to see them in the cool mountain air with the clouds still swirling around the mountain tops and adding a lot of charm and beauty to this place. Don't come her in July.  April is a wonderful time. The flowers are blooming everywhere and it is so green.

The ruins are built into the side of the mountain and you climb 700 feet in elevation to see all of the ruins. Did I mention the travel tip of: *Don't wait to you are retired to travel!*   If not, take it to heart and travel now.  You (and I) are not getting any younger.

We had an absolutely wonderful time going through the ruins and then the museum afterwards. We had a nice Greek lunch in the town of Delphi (which was moved from the site 150 years ago to a location about 15 minutes away.  How do you move a whole town?) and it was a super cute town.  After our lunch and short walk, I barely squeezed our car out of the parking lot (don't ask!) and we headed down the mountains to Athens....and it started to rain.

Anne and I got the car turned in without a single scratch!  Helen begrudgingly helped us into Athens, if not to the airport itself, where we gladly dumped her and the car and then made our way to our hostel.

It is a studio apartment with a living room, kitchenette, bathroom, and a bedroom with bunk beds that is only for the five of us. It is a fabulous location (basically at the Acropolis metro station and the Acropolis itself and we are quite pleased with it.