Day 6 8th June 2013 = To Delphi and Beyond

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Another long (3 hour) drive from the western Peloponnese to Delphi. First a 60 mile drive to Patra, which is a 2 lane road. The locals make it into a 4 lane road which makes life interesting, particularly when cyclists, pedestrians, tractors etc become involved. Carol stayed very quiet. I think she was in shock. (EDGES OF ROADS, BIG DROP, OLD GREEK LADIES AND MEN WITH DONKEYS WALKING ON THE HARD SHOULDER WHICH TIM IS DRIVING IN, MAD DOGS RUNNING TOWARDS YOU AND DEAD CATS AND DOGS TO WEAVE IN AND OUT OF.)Then at Patra a new and very spectacular bridge, the Rio Antirro or Charlilaos Trikoupus (so good they named it twice) appears. (ALSO KNOWN AS THE A55) It really is an impressive piece of engineering, take a look at the photos. When you get to the far side though you reach some toll booths. 13 Euros. Shout it 13 euros. (BEST BRIDGE I HAVE EVER SEEN BETTER THAN THE GOLDEN GATE IN SAN FRANSISCO BUT THEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY TO GO OVER THE GOLDEN GATE.) I know it saves a massive journey to Corinth but you could buy a decent hat for that money. (LEAVE MY HAT OUT OF IT. SOME DISTANCE ALONG THE JOURNEY WE REALISE WE HAVE LEFT OUR COFFEE MUGS BEHIND AT OUR LAST ACCOMMODATION CANT DO WITHOUT THEM!)

The journey along the northern side of the Gulf of Corinth is really special. Mountains, shimmering sea, open cast mines. OK there is the odd mine but this is coastline at it's best.

Eventually we climb into the mountains to arrive at Delphi, the centre of the earth in ancient times as 2 eagles set free by Zeus met at this point and dropped a rock. Bit of a random way to name the centre of the earth in my opinion. It would have been better if the rock had landed on flatter ground. More climbing today.

As you can imagine of a site of world renown, it is spectacular. From the Athenian Treasury to the Temple of Apollo to the Theatre, it Is awe inspiring. Then after a massive climb we reached the stadium. I had been limbering up with thoughts of further glory but word travels fast around here. Having heard of my exploits at Olympia they saw me coming and hastily put some tape across to stop me. They made up some excuse about rock falls.

Then when we were as far away from the car as possible a thunderstorm started rolling in. (WAS IT ZEUS OR APOLLO VENTING THEIR WRATH AT US?) We teetered down the steep paths to the bottom.

Then to the museum. Many finds were similar to Olympus for obvious reasons but the statues were incredible, particularly the Sphyx. Once again it was quite surprising how few people were there.

We got back to the car just before the violent storm hit, turning the road into a river. It had cleared by the time we had covered the 25 miles to the Hotel Iridanos on the coast at Antikyra. This is a very Greek beach resort, a little world weary perhaps, but none the worse for that. The hotel was very good bearing in mind it was the cheapest so far. I think were the only residents. (TIM FAILED TO MENTION THAT WHEN WE ARRIVE AT DELPHI HE PARKED US ALONGSIDE A PRECIPICE AND WHEN REVERSING NEARLY SENT US TO OUR DOOM. WHEN WE GOT BACK TO THE CAR SOMEONE HAD JUST ABOUT BLOCKED US IN SO CAREFUL MANEUVERS WERE REQUIRED TO GET OUT OF THE PARKING SPACE. I HAVE TO GET OUT OF THE CAR AND DIRECT PROCEEDINGS. WELL AT LEAST I WOULDN'T BE IN THE CAR IF HE WENT WRONG AND TUMBLED DOWN THE MOUNTAIN SIDE. WE DID IT A TEAM EFFORT AND NO ROWS.

FIRST JOB UPON ARRIVAL IS TO VISIT THE ONLY SHOP OPEN TO BUY SOME COFFEE MUGS THE OWNER COULDN'T BELIEVE HIS EYES HE HAD HIS FIRST CUSTOMERS SINCE 1958 AND SOLD US TWO OF THE MOST NAFF MUGS GOING ALONG WITH HALF INCH OF DUST. Fork handles?

In the evening we went down to the harbour front for a nice meal. Whilst there Carol looked at a small typically Greek fishing boat and said, " I thought that boat was pointing the other way, but I can see it's udder now." One raised eyebrow later and she said, "oh no, that's going in the blog isn't it. I do know that boats don't have udders and cows don't have rudders." We then had one of those 5 minutes where you have a form of joint hysteria when you wish you could stop laughing but you can't. It must have had an effect on the taverna owner as he brought us a free caraff of wine, which, quite frankly, we could have done without.

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Comments

[Jean]

Hi
Sounds like you are having a brilliant time, have fun love from the madhouse x x x