Greece trip, Day 2 (Delphi)

June 6 we went to the ruins of Ancient Delphi. We went with a tour group. Normally we try to avoid tour groups (if only because you're forced to move around with a big group of people who also don't know where they're going), but with this one it seemed worth it just for the transportation out there. Delphi is about a 2 and a half hour drive from Athens (you know you're from Michigan when...). Plus the bus was air conditioned. And the tour guide was very informative, even on the ride there. Also, while places like the Acropolis and the Palace of Knossos have a lot of informational plaques you can read while you are there telling you what you are looking at, Delphi didn't seem to have as many as other sites. And it included lunch, so all in all I think it was worth it.

Sidenote: in Athens we noticed that there were a lot of stray dogs, especially near the ruins. The same was true at Delphi. None of them looked like they were starving or anything, and I later found out is is because people leave out bowls of water and piles of kibble for them. But anyway, Taber came up with the theory that when people stopped believing in the old gods, they lost their power (like in American Gods or the recent Clash of the Titans remake) and turned into dogs. So here are Athena the Acropolis dog and Apollo the Delphi dog.

Athena

Apollo

We also saw Zeus and Hera at Zeus' Temple and even Asklepios the Asklepeion dog, but they were too quick for us to take a picture. We figure all the other dogs int he city were the minor gods and nymphs and stuff that didn't necessarily have their own temple. Or something. But yeah, it was hot both those days, so pretty much all the dogs just plopped down in the shade, right in the middle of the path if need be.

Anyway.....so the Delphi dog is named Apollo because the famous Oracle of Delphi was part of what used to be a giant sanctuary dedicated to Apollo. Cities would pay tribute to the temple for the gods' favor and to be able to see the Oracle. So, a big money-making machine. The Oracle actually referred to the place where the prophecies were made, not to those making them. It consisted of two rooms. In the first room sat two preists. The second room could only be entered by the Pythia, the woman who speak the prophecies of the gods. She would sit on a tripod over a chasm and speak in tounges. Modern science tells us that the chasm probably opened to what once lead to an oil reserve, and the fumes coming from the chasm were probably ethylene. So essentially she was high. The priests were there to "interpret" her prophecies. Which were always very vague and could be taken to mean almost anything. Clever.

Anyway, enough history, now time for some.... pictures of ancient ruins. Ok, so more history it is.

Our lovely tour guide Dorina, in front of the agora the romans added in later.

the Omphalos, or naval stone. The ancient Greeks believed that Delphi was the naval of the world. There was a more decorated stone in the temple, now in the museum.

Cities built treasuries near the temple to keep their tributes in.

this is the treasury for Athens. They reconstructed it.

they could tell which stones went to this treasury because instead of using local limestone like most other cities, Athens shipped in marble to build their treasury. Rich kids.

A polygonal wall. as in the stones are polygons. and they didn't use mortar or anything in between to keep them together, just gravity.

Daphne?! is that you? (sorry, Greek myth joke)

This was the entrance to Apollo's temple

The rest of the temple

Water removal system!!

Theatre

Then we walked a little further up the hill to the stadium.

I have found in my travels that often one of the coolest things to do in any given city involves climbing up to a great height and taking pictures of the great views. There is the Belfry tower in Bruges, The Atomium in Brussels, the Eiffel Tower in Paris.....I don't think I climbed up anything in Rome. So you know, they only have ruins from one of the biggest ancient civilizations, but no tall things. lame.

But anyway, that has also been the case in Greece in many places. The Acropolis and Delphi are both such cases. We had to climb up a lot of stairs (so many stairs!), but the views we got made it all worth it. As evidenced by these pictures.

Anyway, then we got to go to the museum, where they have the best finds from the ruins.

Delphi Museum

A tripod. Not the one the Pythia sat on, but maybe similar?

statues in the Archaic style

Sphinx

"The Charioteer"

The other Omphalos (naval stone)

We stopped in a town called Arahova - wouldn't you love to wake up to that view every morning?

 I saw a lot of wind turbines on mountains. Pretty good for a country in such economic distress.
*cough*getontheballAmerica*cough*

When we got back to Athens, we went to dinner at a place near Monastiraki Square, which is a big crowded tourist trap with a bunch of people trying to sell you stuff. but once you get away from the square, it is a nice neighborhood. We ate at a restaurant on a quieter street called Kalipateira that serves "mezedhes". My understanding is that they are kind of like the Greek version of tapas. We got a "variety plate" for two and it was delicious. So was the Greek wine.