Blogs from Delphi, Central Greece, Greece, Europe - page 4

We visited the Delphi Museum first this morning to learn more about Temple of Apollo and the other artifacts that have been found here. It was very informative and I’ll try to share some of that information with you with the pictures I post. Then it was back onto the bus for another long ride. We finally arrived at the Osios Loukas Monastery. This was just one more beautiful site in Greece that was incredible. The architecture and the mosaics were amazing. We then crossed the Corinth Canal and stopped for a rest break. We finally made it to our last stop for the day. This is the one I’ve been looking forward to. The Theatre of Epidaurus is not only the best preserved theater in Greece, it is the best preserved edifice in all of ... read more

Saturday 30th April 2011 Today we head further south towards Attica. Initially rejoining the E75 Thessaloniki - Athens motorway as far as Thermopylae where we stop for a spot of lunch and a short history lesson. It was here at Thermopylae where the Greeks tried to defend a narrow pass in battle against all odds of the massive army of Persians led by Xerxes, in 480 B.C. The Greek army was led by King Leonidas of Sparta. Xerxes demanded they lay down their arms only to be told to 'come and get them'. For forty-eight hours the defenders of Thermopylae held out, defeating not just the poorly trained initially sent to dull them, but the Immortals, the Persian elite. Unfortunately for the Greeks, Thermopylae held a secret: a small pass by which the main defences could ... read more

Greek Gods should not be so hard to find, I mean afterall I'm in Athens, the ancient cultural center of the Roman Empire and the very place where ancient Greek religion, and the whole mythology surrounding Greek Gods was invented. I'm not being picky either, at least not really, the only quota I have for my own personal Greek God (which I will just go ahead and assume also applies to my friends at home currently awaiting Greek Gods) is tall, nice physique, good hair, good teeth, and well good hygiene is a plus (although it is Europe so I can't exactly expect it). Anyways. Day 2 in Greece and the search continues. Today, I'd branch out and extend my search to Delphi. ln Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most ... read more

We headed out to Delphi around 9AM, as early as we could manage. Fearful of being unable to find a parking space at Delphi, we went straight to the site without breakfast. We found parking reasonably easy, but food was limited and water completely absent. We found a small café and obtained some survival rations (crackers, juice, nuts, coffee, guidebook to the site) but no water. In Istanbul, inexpensive cold water was always available from street vendors, and we were in disbelief that one could not buy water at this tourist attraction in Central Greece. We headed up toward the sanctuary of Apollo, passed the ancient agora where the shops used to be and wondered whether any of them had sold water in ancient times. Fortunately, the weather was relatively temperate with a gentle breeze and ... read more

21st June, Port Said, Egypt. After 7 days at sea due to the tour of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings being cancelled we finally landed at Port Said, Egypt. We got to this port by navigating the world famous Suez Canal. I actually arose from my bed at 4.30am to view this wonderful event but it was pitch dark and I could see nothing so went back to bed. I got up again around 9am and was greeted with my first view of this famous waterway. It is certainly a magic piece of engineering but the views on either bank are extremely drab with only isolated farms, Military Camps and desert/scrub for hundreds of miles. That said, it was very interesting to view a bit of rural Egypt and see at first hand the ... read more