Blogs from Delphi, Central Greece, Greece, Europe - page 3

Geo: 38.4708, 22.5659Delphi is famous for the Oracle that once resided here, so renowned for her ability to foresee the future that the most powerful people of the ancient world traveled vast distances and paid small fortunes to consult with her before making any major decisions. Wouldn't they feel ripped off if they knew scientists now believe she was just spouting random drivel while high on ethylene gas?Turns out there was a chasm near where she sat, spewing toxic gases that made her all loopy and caused her to mutter nonsensical phrases that priests would interpret for those who had come to see her. The messages were rarely clear, and could often be understood as either good or bad, depending on what the receiver chose to believe. Sounds like a bunch of high hippies running a ... read more

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 ... read more

The hotel owners probably wondered what we were up to when we didn't appear downstairs for breakfast like all their other guests for the night.However,our overnight rate didn't include breakfast so we fed ourselves from our supplies although we didn't bring the microwave in so there was no scrambled egg. The breakfast room didn't compare to having breakfast on our airy balcony under the wide awning protecting us from the already warming sun and of course we had a toaster and they didn't downstairs. Although we had seen the passage of a small ship through the Corinth Canal yesterday which was more than we could have expected we didn't get to the bridge that crosses the 21 metre gap on the main road between Loutraki(where we stayed) and Corinth. The idea of a canal for the ... read more

Another great day of travel. It's always best to set off early, because you never know when random changes might happen to the bus schedule. So I was out of Olympia bright and early, and my first stop was Prygos, which is more on the coast. Then hopped a bus for the two hour drive up to Patras. This is the last big city in the Peloponnese before you cross over to Central Greece over this massive bridge that spans the Gulf of Corinth. This bridge is apparently an engineering masterpiece. Since the region has so many earthquakes, it was built in such a way that it's actually safer to be on the bridge than on land during a quake. Apparently the bridge moves with the shocks, or something like that. Then drove up the coast ... read more

Today the plan is to head straight to Delphi before it gets too hot out and then make our way north to Mikrokastro. Got up at 8am, packed up the few things we brought in and had some breakfast at the hotel. The ancient site of Delphi was literally just around the corner from the village of Delphi and we were there in just a few minutes. It was still very early but the parking in from of the museum was already full so we grabbed a spot on the edge of the road. We decided we should see the site first and then see the museum while it was still relatively cool out. We tried to buy water, but all they had was sparkling water at the snack bar. Luckily we had some water in ... read more