Tour busses of the size found here in Greece are NOT meant to wend through ancient streets meant for horse and carriages and Peugeots so we rented a car (a Peugeot) and made our way from from the Athens airport (first taking a bus from Napflio, then a taxi to the airport) and went to Delphi which was not an easy day trip away from Kalampaka as our travel agent had insisted Windy, windy roads as in twisty, turny, easily car sick roads up and up and up severe switch backs and cars passing big trucks on iffy turns and the [View Full Entry]

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This entry will be condensed because we have to get on our mopeds for dinner. Today we toured famous monestaries in the mountains. What else would a nice Jewish family do on a Bat Mitzvah trip. Enjoy. [View Full Entry]

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With the weather in northern Greece not so good today (better tomorrow and for the next 5 days) we decided to stay in Delphi and do some walking. Perched on top of a mountain overlooking Delphi was what seemed to b a viewing hut. It seemed a good idea, and there was a clearly marked trail. It took 3 hours to do the climb, mostly a relatively easy walk, and a bit less than 2 hours to get back down, The views were fantastic. We also saw eagles, a snake, loads of butterflies, flowers, and at times the whole mountain seemed [View Full Entry]

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The ride to Delphi Gone are European highways, instead what counts in Greece as main roads. Bends, hairpins, pot holes and vehicles going too fast, oh and as the afternoon went on an increasingly strong gusting wind. So we drifted along at a leisurely pace taking in the amazing scenery and enjoying the ride as much as possible, which was fun after getting out of Patras. The bridge crossing from the south coast of the Gulf of Corinth to the north coast was impressive as a piece of engineering, then the coast round to Itea, winding around mountains and bays, then [View Full Entry]

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Well I have to say, that despite the previous day's pessimism regarding certain ruins, I have become a changed man. The ruins were quite impressive and in remarkably good shape. But before Jan gets ahead of himself, I am going to steal the keyboard to tell you guys about the site itself. Delphi is an UNESCO site. It is home to the temple of Apollo and the sanctuary of Athena. There is also a theatre (ampitheatre), stadium, gymnasium, and numerous treasuries. Most of the foundations of the site date back to the Mycenean period, but the ruins that we saw were [View Full Entry]

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Well I have to say, that despite the previous day's pessimism regarding certain ruins, I have become a changed man. The ruins were quite impressive and in remarkably good shape. But before Jan gets ahead of himself, I am going to steal the keyboard to tell you guys about the site itself. Delphi is an UNESCO site. It is home to the temple of Apollo and the sanctuary of Athena. There is also a theatre (ampitheatre), stadium, gymnasium, and numerous treasuries. Most of the foundations of the site date back to the Mycenean period, but the ruins that we saw were [View Full Entry]

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Last night we got two new roommates, a dad and his daughter were hostelling from Greece to Italy and finally to Slovenia. At first it was nice to room with them because the dad had paid for air conditioning for the room, it was heavenly!!! They were in bed early and both had some sort of "problem" during the night. The dad was a cronic snorer and the daughter had a crying fit sometime in the night. It was interesting. BUt we felt less bad when we woke up at 8 this morning and had to get ready and pack while [View Full Entry]

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The natural beauty of the Sanctuary of Apollo is obvious and the location provides a commanding view of the surrounding area. I imagine one of the reasons I like modern Delphi so much is because of its rugged, mountainous situation, much like home. In fact, the view from a distance is remarkably like home, it is only on approaching more closely or when viewing the buildings that one realizes one isn't in BC. Modern Delphi is a cute little town perched on a fairly precipitous hillside. There is so little space on the side of the mountain that the town has [View Full Entry]

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Once again it was difficult to travel back in time to appreciate the site with so many people around, both us and the other tourists. My anticipation was that it would still feel like a holy site but reality was more like a circus with thousands of tourists yacking and walking around with guides speaking in many languages from every 'corner' of the Sanctuary. It is unfortunate that they can't protect the artefacts in situ rather than having the sites sitting naked and the gems of friezes and statues in sterile rooms in the museum as it must have been an [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone, This is the travel site for the European trip by Di Helen Jan Rodger and Win. This is just to let you know that we will be writing up a travel diary of what we see, ( courtesy of Di's Helen's and Jan's Photos), what we eat, what we hear, what we do (courtesy of everyone who wants to write. We will often be writing in difficult situations while traveling and you will be getting the raw notes with spelling and grammatical errors for free - no time for corrections). In India we were often writing in the dark!. [View Full Entry]

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