We were able to start the morning off at a reasonable time today! Wake up call wasn’t until 8:15 and we didn’t have to be ready to leave until 9:45. Our first traditional Greek breakfast consisted of more meats and cheeses, more breads and pastries, coffee, and Greek yogurt! Now, I’ve had this at home, but it was nothing compared to having it in Greece. They must do something differently because it was amazing. And adding honey made all the difference. I felt like I was eating dessert for breakfast. After we were all finished up, we loaded our luggage on the bus and made the very short drive to the side of all of Delphi’s ancient ruins.
Our tour of the ancient city of Delphi started right away. Our guide started leading us up the hill towards all of the ruins. For those who are not aware, Delphi was where the Oracle was. The Temple of Apollo was built right on top of two fault lines, which would shake and omit some sort of gas periodically. They ancient people believed that this was the Gods communicating with them. A young girl would breathe in these emissions, gain the wisdom of the Gods, and answer all of the questions that the travelers had. This occurred once a year at the beginning, and turned into once in month as more and more people started showing up. One of the most notable groups of people who visited Delphi to ask their questions was the Spartans. The Gods gave them cryptic advice as to where to build their City, and low him behold, it worked! They became a great strong force after this.
We learned all about the temple, the treasuries, and the importance of this ancient city. After it was abandoned, it became a place where people would take rocks from buildings to reuse until it was eventually built on top of. Many years later, the city that was on top of the ruins was relocated and the site was excavated. Delphi has been opened to the public since the early 1900’s. All of the statues, sculptures and relics found now sit in the nearby Museum.
When our guide was finished we were given free time. Some of us chose to continue walking up the hill to the stadium. Up here is where they would host some of the Olympic Games. This also provided a great view of the valley below and all of the ruins. Those who did not go up, walked back down towards the museum and spent time learning about the history of all of the artifacts that were found. After sufficient time had passed and perhaps some snacks were gotten, it was time to leave the small town of Delphi and continue on to Athens!
We drove a short while before reaching the restaurant for lunch. I think I can stay with confidence that we all left stuffed. From there we had nearly a three hour drive ahead of us. Some people slept, some people stared out the windows, but time seemed to pass quickly because before we knew it, we had arrived! We got to our hotel a few hours before our dinner reservation, so everyone decided to take a dip in the pool. It was very refreshing.
Dinner consisted of more delicious food. We had a Greek version of a burger and fries. It was more like a flat meatball, but still tasty. At this point, everyone was pooped. Plus a 5:45 a.m. wakeup call tomorrow! We're hitting the sack early. So until tomorrow, everyone enjoy the pics :)
No comments:
Post a Comment