Ancient Greece Revisited

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Monday: As mentioned in yesterday’s posting, we arrived on Easter so nothing was open. And it turns out that the government has selected 3 May as the workday holiday tied to Easter. So nothing will be open on Tuesday. No government offices and NO archeological sites! This means our plan of having time in Mycenae, Epidaurus and Napflion are being crunched into one day: Monday 2 May. We are on holiday and prefer to take things slowly with careful, educated steps. So we decided to cancel our visit to Mycenae and focus on Delphi and then return to Athens. It was a sad decision but appropriate considering all the things we want to do in Athens.

To get things moving we met our guide for Delphi at 8:30 AM and were up on the hillside and the Sacred Way immediately talking about the long and distinguished history of Delphi. Every step was a piece of history brought alive by the stories our wonderful guide Gorgianna shared. She grew up in the next town and heard all the stories of Apollo and Athena and the oracle. The original oracle, Cybil, was available to everyone who wanted to ask questions. She sat on a large rock outcropping and people came and stood below her for her wisdom. Then the temple was formalized in the 6^th Century BC and the oracle became more removed from the rabble and the priests step in to provide interpretation for the oracle. Turns out the oracle, in addition to eating a hallucinogenics, sat above a powerful combination of gases rising up from the crack over which she had her three-legged stool. A modern team of scientists found another source of the gasses, near the original site (damaged in an earthquake) and had them analyzed. Anyone breathing in this concoction would be high as a kite and certainly able to predict wars and every other event in ancient Greece.

We had a great visit to the site and the museum where there are many globally unique pieces found buried in the hillside. Several were earth-shattering as they set the pace for art and culture 2,500 years ago. Of particular interest was the bronze charioteer with the reins still in his hand.

Sadly we left Delphi and drove to Athens where we had a visit to the Acropolis and the many views and historical feel of the citadel. Lots of pictures and avoiding crowds and making sure not to slip and fall on the polished stones. Afterwards we checked in at the Grand Bretagna in the city center and cleaned ourselves up before doing a little drink on the rooftop overlooking the Acropolis. Happily we went to bed and rest.

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