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Published: January 19th 2020
Evening Views at Itea, Greece
a great place to spend a couple of nightsOn September 23
rd we left Trizonia after a wonderful couple of days and headed to Itea. Our purpose of going there was we had heard that there was an inexpensive and safe place to stay and it would be easy to catch a bus to Delphi from there. It was a calm, clear day and only after 4 ½ hours we pulled into the marina at Itea. It was definitely rough around the edges as it appears to be mainly for local fishing boats, but the bulkhead was completely empty so we enjoyed a side tie again. Life is good. Even better we found out that we only had to pay the equivalent of $19.30 for the total of 2 nights. If we wanted water or electricity there was an additional charge of $5.60, but as we had been motoring all day we figured we would not need the electricity and the water point was too far away for our very long length of hose. Arriving early gave us some time to walk around the town of Itea and get information on where to pick up the bus to head to Delphi the next day. In fact we decided to stay
an additional night and wanted to sign up for electricity, but when we plugged in, it didn’t work. After talking to the guy at the marina, Bob got his tools out and worked on the electrical point and got it functioning – as I said earlier, the place needs some attention!
As we had extra time, we decided to try very hard to get our Greek paperwork signed here in Itea. When you check into Greece, they have what is called a transit log and they want you to get it stamped in each port that you arrive in. We have been trying this at various places with no success. As there are some larger cruise ships that come in due to the draw of Delphi nearby, we thought this would be an easy thing to do. Needless to say with lots of walking around town and asking many, many people where the office would be we were unsuccessful. Oh well, at least we gave it a try and got lots of walking in!
The next morning we caught an early bus to Delphi as we wanted to try to beat the crowds with it being such a
popular destination. It was only about a 20 minute bus ride away, but when we got off the bus we weren’t really sure we were in the right place as the bus driver did not speak any English and we were dropped off at a spot that seemed in the middle of nowhere. There was another family in the same situation so we walked down the road a short distance and found the stairs that led up to the Archeological Museum and entrance to the ancient city of Delphi. We actually were there before they officially opened. It started to rain so we joined the crowd sitting under cover in front of the museum until it opened. Fortunately many in the crowd decided to head into the museum first to stay dry so we headed up the path to the ancient city as it wasn’t raining that hard now. After paying our 12 euro ($13.30) entrance fee we continued our hike up what is called the Sacred Way past many of the important monuments located in Delphi. Some of what we see today dates back to 800 BC, but it was built on the remains of a settlement that dates
Like Numerous Other Places We Have Been
the coffee shops have plenty of men gathered here back to 1600 BC. Mythology tells us that Zeus determined that this location was the center of the earth and as such the most sacred place. This was determined by Zeus throwing a stone (now called the sacred omphalos) and where it landed was the center of the world (which just so happens to be where Delphi is located!) A sanctuary for the son of Zeus, Apollo, was the result. Homer mentioned this sanctuary as a place of great wealth at that time. Fortunately for us the French Archeological School excavated Delphi in the late 19
th C. and is now a UNESCO protected World Heritage Monument for us all to enjoy and learn from.
Many of you may have heard about the prophecies of the oracle, Pythia, who was known to be the most powerful person in the world. If any important decisions were to be made, Pythia was to be consulted for her prophecy of what should be done. She would make her prophecies from the Temple of Apollo as this is also where the sacred omphalos, the prophetic laurel and the sacred tripod would be located as well. It was said that her prophecies were unintelligible by
those that tried to listen and had to be translated by a priest to be understood. It is now thought that there was ethylene coming from an underground chiasm which would have put her into a trance like state which would explain why no one could understand what she said. Another theory is that the prophet chewed on oleander leaves and breathing in the smoke of them being burnt could cause symptoms similar to epilepsy and give people the feeling that she was in a trance-like state. Interesting to have science try to help explain the mythology and stories from the past!
The ruins of the Temple of Apollo that are currently seen are remnants from the 3
rd temple built at this same location. The first was built in the 7
th C. BC, the 2
nd was built between 514-506 BC and the last was built in 320 BC. This was built in the Doric style where you can see the bases of where the statutes once stood.
Next you come to the treasury of the Athenians which is one of the best preserved, originally built somewhere between 510-490 BC. It was built from white marble that came from
Hard to See But Those Plantings in the Valley
are all olive trees - miles and miles of them! the island of Paros. If you look at a map it is not right next door so it would have taken quite a bit of effort to get it to this location. It has been restored twice, the first in 1903-1906 and the most recent in 2004. This is where the offerings of the Athenians to Apollo were kept safe. It also housed the trophies seized after great military victories of Athens. There were two treasuries located here, both built to look like small temples.
On the site there is a bronze replica of the base of what was called the Serpentine Column. It originally held a golden bowl supported by 3 serpent heads. Those have been lost over the ages and the actual column is now located in Istanbul as Constantine the Great moved it to Constantinople. This column was originally a trophy dedicated to Apollo in 478 BC. As we will be in Istanbul later this season it will be interesting to see the original column.
The 5,000 seat amphitheatre located here was used for musical, dramatic and religious events. As with other structures here this was not the first one located here. That one was
built in the 4
th C. BC, while the one we are looking at today is from the 1
st C. AD. The amphitheatre is listed as being the best preserved monument here in Delphi. An interesting fact we were told was that in 1927 the amphitheatre was the venue for the production of a Greek tragedy. It was the first time that an ancient theatre was used in modern times and was the brainchild of a Greek poet and his American wife. What a novel idea it was at the time and as we have seen in numerous places, these ancient amphitheatres are now being used which seems to be a wonderful idea (however, we never did get a chance to sit through a performance on these “comfortable” seats!)
The ancient city sits at quite a high elevation and as a result provides you with a magnificent view of the valley and surrounding mountains. The rain that had started when we had first arrived stopped for a while, but then started up again. It did not stop the tour groups from coming so by this time we encountered numerous tour groups climbing up and around the site. We were glad
Notice the Aqueduct
as well as the very winding road to Delphi that we had arrived when we did as we were now up above the amphitheatre with only a climb up to the stadium remaining. Fortunately there were only a few people at this point so we could take in this amazing venue for the Pythian Games which were sporting events comparable to the Olympics. The first stadium here was from the 5
th C. BC and the spectators had to sit on the ground. Marble seats were added in the 2
nd C. AD. The stadium is 178 meters long (584 feet) and could hold 6,500 spectators. At first 20 athletes could compete at the same time, but at sometime later it was reduced to 17. This stadium is said to be the best preserved in Greece. They have the stadium roped off so you cannot enter the stadium area to help continue the preservation of this national treasure.
After visiting the ancient city we headed over to the Archeological Museum here which holds numerous artifacts found during the numerous excavations here and nearby locations. You can easily spend hours here due to its wealth of exhibits and excellent signage allowing you to learn as much as possible about these findings
and how they fit into the cultural history and development of the area.
The Charioteer of Delphi which is a 5’11” bronze cast sculpture is one of the best known Greek statutes and is housed in the museum here. As we were told it was done in 470 BC and it shows the change in style from the stylized geometric representations previously prevalent and a switch to a more idealized realism. The realistic style became more the norm around this time and those of future sculptures. The charioteer’s clear restrain of emotion during a representation of a victorious moment is what became known as the Classic Greek style. This statue was part of a very complex grouping that included four horses and the chariot itself. There are only a few parts of the complex three-dimensional grouping remaining and those are on display here. The details of the charioteer were fortunately preserved as it was buried underground until being rediscovered in the 20
th C. The green patina also helped protect the bronze which is fortunate for all of us to see.
Other notable sculptures are those of the twins of Argos which are larger than life-size. This work was
done in 580 BC and the oldest monumental votive at Delphi. Another very impressive item at the museum is the Sphinx of Naxos. It is an early example of a carving in the round done in the 6
th C. BC. It was carved from a single block of marble and stands a little over 7 feet tall. It had been placed on top of a 32.8 foot column which then stood next to the Temple of Apollo. A sphinx was depicted with the face of a woman smiling with wings of a bird of prey and a body of a lioness. Again, we were treated to the privilege of seeing such a magnificent carving. There are way too many to describe or to show photos of but if you ever get a chance to make it to Delphi this has to be on your “must see” list of things to do.
After a very full day exploring Delphi we stopped into the new town of Delphi to have dinner before catching a bus back to Itea and Tsamaya. The views of the valley coming back on the bus were spectacular and it gave us a better view of the
valley filled with olive trees and the harbor where we were staying. As we wound our way down the hairpin curves down the side of the mountain we were reminded how nice it is to leave the driving to the bus driver so we could spend our time taking in the views and not the driving. With our elevation in the bus we also could get a good look at the aqueduct bringing water to the valley as well which at times seemed to blend in with the roadways. I tried to highlight where the aqueduct was in one of the photos for you to see.
After our full day outing in Delphi we had a quiet night in the harbor and got ready for an early departure the next day. We are definitely glad that we took the time to stop here in Itea to have a chance to learn more about the ancient city of Delphi.
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