Delphi

Well, we had quite an experience on our way to Delphi yesterday. We stopped at a beautiful little coastal town called Galaxidi where we had time for a coffee break and a quick look around. We continued on to Kirra where we had lunch right next to the Bay of Corinth. The water here is so blue and there are different shades of it as it gets deeper. After lunch, most of us were standing out in the shade of a tree looking out at the water when we experienced an earthquake. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on. My first thought was that we were on a dock and the water was pushing us around. But, the place we were standing was concrete and we were not out over the water. That is when I realized that is was an earthquake. It lasted quite a little bit of time. We found out later that it was a 6.5 on the Richter scale and the epicenter was near Patras. We had passed through that town about an hour before. There was some damage but only 2 deaths reported and about 40 people injured. Not bad for such a large quake.


Today we visited the oracle at Delphi. Yes, that oracle. We first visited the sanctuary of Athena and the gymnasium and spring and then walked up to the temple of Apollo where the oracle was situated. The ruins there are very impressive as you will see in the photos. Archeologists have found many treasuries here that contained offerings to the gods that are now in the museum on site.




In the museum we saw an excellent example of a sphinx and a beautiful bronze of a charioteer. It depicts the victor of the chariot race at some Olympiad as he is wearing a wreath around his head. It is well preserved and has amazing eyes that follow you around the room.

We are now experiencing a mountain thunderstorm. It has cooled down considerably and the rain smells very nice. Later we will visit the village of Arahova.

More at our next stop.