Day Eleven (Tuesday)

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Another rough night for me. Even though this seems like a quiet sleepy little town last night sounded like a 4th of July celebration. I started the night off with my windows and curtains open in order to get a nice breeze coming through but the street below my balcony must have had a sign saying "Hang out here". There were people yakking all night. When I put my foam air plugs in my ear the talking became a dull drone, just as I was falling asleep somebody broke a bottle. Then the disco must have let out because there was a new commotion below. I think I heard a couple firecrackers a little later. I finally shut the windows, put in the ear plugs, stripped off the sheets and my clothes and dealt with it.

Once again we had a pretty nice little breakfast. I had to walk a few doors up to the main hotel, but on the ground floor they had a very nice spread laid out for us. There was fresh, real orange juice, hard-boiled eggs, hard rolls, cheese and some meat. I made two litlle sandwiches and had two eggs along with my OJ. Outside the weather looked a bit threatening with overcast skies but we were told it would clear up later.

Since the streets are so narrow and there was nowhere for Niko to park near our hotel, we had to drag our suitcases down to the far end of town to load up the bus. Now I was glad I didn't buy one of those helmets.

While everyone loaded their stuff on the bus I went across the street to a newstand where I was able to secure a USA Today and catch up one almost two weeks of sports. As we were getting ready to pull out of town, Jimbo asked Niko to stop the bus. Jimbo then jumped out of the bus and ran off to meet with a local guy I had seen talking with him the night before. They were standing in the shadows deliberating on some sort of secretive business. This morning Jim and the local were huddling together and gesticulating once again. After a few minutes of discussion, Jim signalled for his daughters to get off the bus. Once they joined Jim the local pulled out 4 big metal containers. Jim and the girls then lugged 4 jerrycans full of Greek olive oil up into the bus. All that secrecy and negotiating for some olive oil. It reminded me of one of Cosmo Kramer's schemes.

Eventually we got going then drove only a half mile to the entrance for the Temple at Delphi. We had passed here the day before and we could see loads of ruins from the roadside. Once we got inside there were broken columns, statues and building blocks lieing everywhere around us. We had to wait for our local tour guide to come by and escort us through. While we waited one of the kids in the group jumped on to a big piece of chiseled rock that had probably been lying on that spot for 3000 years. Just as he landed on it it suddenly dislodged and slid down the hillside. The kid felt real bad and seemed embarassed. It reminded me of the Griswold's backing their car into the ancient stones at Stonehenge and toppling the whole thing like a row of dominos.

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Photos

Entering Ancient Delphi
The entire historic site is situated on a hillside. Our tour involved a steady uphill ascent over loose rock paths. As you can determine from this photo, ancient debris is everywhere.

Temple ruins
Almost as soon as you enter the protected area you see columns from ancient temples. The Oracle at Delphi was the main attraction. The Oracle was the Miss Cleo of Ancient Greece. The Oracle predicted the future in strange, very vague riddles that could be interpreted in a number of ways. That way if the Oracle was wrong he could say the listener misinterpreted.
Since the Oracle was the big drawing card a virtual city full of religious temples, vaults and stores were built on the road leading up to the Oracle's location.

Layers of history in Delphi
In almost all the ancient sites we visited on this trip archaeological excavations had revealed layers of building occurring over the centuries. At the bottom of the hill leading up to the Oracle this structure was originally built as an arcade of stores along the road. Later under Roman rule it became housing, still later it became part of a church. You can see the difference in building styles between the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks used stone while the Romans built with brick. The holes in the sides of the walls were where the scaffolding boards rested as the building was erected.

The Delphi Sports Complex
Because the Oracle at Delphi became such an important center of Greek life an urban area grew up just below the religious center. In the valley below that city once sat but only a very small part has been excavated so far. What you can just barely see in the distance was part of the sports complex. While the Olympics took place elsewhere every 4 years, Delphi hosted similar athletic competitions in the interim. In that area which we did not get to visit there are the remains of training facilities, a race track, a stadium and ancient baths

Lots of historic junk
It's amazing to see so much history just laying in piles all over these historic spots. I guess much of the stuff the archaeologists don't reassemble is either too damaged to reuse or is debris from a later era. While a column built by 2nd Century Romans would be impressive almost everywhere else, in Delphi that column is considered unimportant because it was built on top of the "good stuff" erected by the Greeks a thousand years before that.

Treasury of Athens
As we hiked further up the hill toward the Temple of Apollo, we passed a section of the site where the city-states of Ancient Greece each built a treasury full of that city's important religious articles. Each city tried to outdo the other, but being the richest the Athenians had the most impressive structure. The Treasury of Athens is the first known Doric building constructed out of marble. It was built with the spoils from the Battle of Marathon. What we see here was rebuilt with some of the stones used in the original building. Many of the original marble pieces were taken away and used in other buildings throughout Greece.

Climbing still farther up the hillside
Another view of the Treasury of Athens as we make our way further up the road toward the Temple of Apollo

The Temple of Apollo at Delphi
This was the center of Delphi. Here the Oracle made his/her predictions. Because the site is built on the slopes of a volcano and because archaeologists recently found evidence of vents that came to the surface here, it is now theorized that the Oracle would sacrifice herbs and other potent plants over the volcanic vents. They would then inhale the fumes and experience hallucinogenic visions.

Even further up the hill
Mike and I decided to go to the top of the Phaedriades hillside where the Hippodrome was situated. In this photo we're not quite there yet. Just below us is the Amphitheater with the Temple of Apollo behind it. In the distance that area of green olive trees is where the unexcavated village lies. To the far left you can see some of the ruins at the athletic complex. Gail's down in the Amphitheater wearing the black shirt and shorts.

The Hippodrome
At the top of the site of old Delphi stands the Hippodrome where races were held for the Pythian Games. The stadium is much longer and narrower than our modern sports stadiums.

A closer view of the athletic center
When our tour concluded it was time to pile on the bus and leave Delphi for our day long drive to Tolo. I took this shot across the road as we were leaving the parking lot.

Along the Gulf of Corinth
After we left Delphi we headed down the mountain toward the coastline. We curled around the shoreline passing a number of tiny isolated islands like this sitting out in middle of the gulf. There is a small church or monastery on this one.

Lunch stop
Jurgen and Niko conferred and came up with the idea of stopping at a restaurant right on the beach. Some of the kids had their swimsuits with them so they changed in the restaurant bathrooms then jumped into the surprisingly cold water. They had about an hour to cavort and wreak some havoc while the rest of us sunned ourselves on the rocky beach.
Around 1:00 we headed into the restaurant. We sat on a patio with a view out to the gulf. The menu selctions were varied but the prices were a bit steep.

Health food
This was a restaurant noted for its seafood. So of course, I got chicken. Add a couple Alphas and I considered it a great meal.

Taking a break
After lunch Niko drove us a short distance back down the coast to a ferry slip. We got off the bus and climbed aboard the non-frills ferry. Even though the day was rather cloudy, the temperature was comfortable. We climbed to the top of the boat. Some of us took in the sights on our mini-cruise while Bob and a few others slept off their lunch.

Volcanoes along the Gulf of Corinth
Like I Said before, I was surprised to find Greece had so many mountains. I was even more surprised to spot these two huge dormant volcanoes.

On the other side of the Gulf of Corinth
When we reached the other side of the gulf, Niko had to get the bus off the ferry before we could reboard. The whole trip across I was wondering how carefully the crew had considered the way the ferry was loaded. They didn't exactly center the load or even weigh the vehicles before they went on board. Even though the weather was clam, the sea was rather choppy. I hope they're more careful in rough weather.

Hotel Dandis in Tolo
It was still a couple hours drive to get to our hotel. We made a quick potty stop at a very modern, clean rest stop near Korinthos. Soon after that we left the main highway and took a couple of two lane country roads through much flatter territory to the other side of the island. It took us awhile to find the hotel. We found Tolo with no problem but Niko and Jim had to ask a couple of the locals where the hotel was. The town of Tolo was tiny and it didn\'t look like it would offer much entertainment for the evening. It really looked like we were in the middle of nowhere. I wasn\'t expecting much until we pulled up to the hotel.
It was a big modern hotel. The lobby made a great impression reminding me of the beachside hotel we\'ve stayed at in Fiji. It was accented in blonde wood and sported soft leather sofas. The lobby was open to the pool area on the opposite side. The pool was huge and very clean.
I had a nice big modern room but alas, the a/c didn\'t work. Luckily I had a big patio window that I could open and the sea breeze brought some relief from the stuffiness.
We had a nice dinner in a ballroom on the ground floor. The Greek beers were the best thing to quench my thirst in this humid climate so I had a couple. We enjoyed a small salad bar and something with rice. Naturally I was still hungry. After dinner we walked away from the little village and toward the beach area. The area was rather lively. I had a Gyro and a couple beers at a nice little outdoor bar. The place was packed with German tourists who came to watch Germany play another World Cup game on the big screen. Unfortunately, Italy beat them in overtime and thus went on to the Final.

Comments

[mamacita]

Another good one.....Greece was awesome!