Delphi, Part Two

Our hotel in Delphi (Fedriades) was located on the cliff above the valley below, approximately one-half mile form the ancient site of Delphi. Looking out of the window in the early morning revealed a valley spread below with farms and looking out to the sea, the village of Itea. The air was crisp and clean in this alpine type village close to the center of the ancient world. As the story goes, Zeus released two eagles at opposite ends of the world, when they met it was directly over Delphi which became one of the most important religious ares in the Greek world.

We drove to the archeological site and started our tour with a visit to the museum which houses many important finds excavated from the site. The statures, religious objects, and other artifacts help to paint a picture of what this site was 3000 years ago. Reconstructions of the site and models help to visualize the magnificence of the this ancient religious area. After the museum we walked up the hill into the remains of Delphi, as a religious site, this was truly astounding and in the early centuries was visited by people from all of Greece where they placed offerings, built monuments and thanked the gods for their successes.

Upon leaving Delphi we drove along the coast and into the country toward Athens about 150 km on two lane roads, through small villages, and finally to the toll road toward the airport. The closer we got to Athens, the more traffic increased until finally we found the exit to airport, dropped the car and walked to the metro for the train ride to our hotel. The Metro is an easy way to get to the heart of the city, it is fairly new and the is gradually being expanded, with the new airport located some 20 km from the city center, the metro is a fast, inexpensive way to travel. Tuesday we start to explore the city.