sayhello
Have Camera, Will Travel
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2006
Sorry, sorry, sorry this has been so long coming! My New Year's resolution is to get this all posted as soon as possible!
Day 3, Delphi and the Temple of Apollo
This morning, after another (early!) breakfast at the hotel buffet (it never changed, but there was a huge selection, so that was OK) we boarded our motorcoach for the approximately 2 1/2 hour drive to Delphi! We made a stop part way there, for what Landon & Elena described as just about the best iced coffee drink ever. (I believe they were frappes, or something similar.) It was a funky roadstop shop & coffee cafe that reminded me of a lot of the roadside places we'd stop at on our roadtrips when I was a kid. The coffee was delicious, as promised, and very welcome!
From the parking area of the roadstop, you could see our destination, Mt. Parnassus, off in the distance!
At the roadstop, it turns out Landon had purchased a treat for Elena - they were these cheese-ball sort of Greek snacks that she apparently adored!
This was a memorial to the Greeks who resisted and fought against the Nazis in WWII.
Yet again, I was amazed as our motorcoach driver maneuvered our humongous motorcoach through the narrow streets of the towns we went through.
When we arrived at Delphi, we used Whisperers to hear Elena tell us about the history of Delphi, the Oracle and the Temple of Apollo. Whisperers are devices about the size of a credit card, but much thicker, that you put around your neck and use earphones to hear with. They allow your Guide to speak into a microphone, and you can hear her clearly without her having to shout or be heard over other Guides. We've used them on all my European ABD's, and they work quite well (although I do recommend bringing your own earphones/earbuds. The earbuds provided with the Whisperers are disposable, and not the best quality.) Once again, Elena was amazingly interesting, and full of wonderful information about the history of Delphi, the Temple of Apollo, and the Oracle of Delphi.
We entered into a wide open area, with a brick and stone gallery alongside it. Apparently going to visit the Oracle at Delphi was a big social event. People got in line to consult the Oracle, and were able to shop as they passed the vendors set up in the cubicles of the gallery.
As we walked along the wide path leading to the Temple of Apollo, where the Oracle held court, we passed an area where there used to be tons of statues that had been donated by rich folks who had gotten good predictions from the Oracle. Most of the statues were long gone (except for a few that were in the museum there) but the inscribed plinths still stand.
This is a re-built "Treasury" (the Treasury of the Athenians). Apparently all the city-states had these Treasuries where the tributes brought to the Temple and to the Oracle were stored. Elena mentioned that one of the things they found in this treasury was music embedded in the walls. They'd have song competitions, and the winners were put on the walls. Unfortunately, although they know it's music, no-one knows how to read the notes.
This was a really cool remnant of a column.
This wall is ancient, and is made of stones so well fitted together that it has stood all this time with no mortar! In an area well known for earthquakes! Amazing!
Apparently some people feel that the earthquakes in the area released gases that, basically, made the Oracles stoned. Whether that helped them with their predictions or not -- well, that's anyone's guess!
And there was a view of the Temple of Apollo, further up the mountain.
I think what struck me the most about Delphi, besides the ancientness of the place, was just how much it was a part of "ordinary life". People would go, socialize, consult the oracle, watch performances at the theatre above the Temple, watch sporting events in the stadium above the theatre, eat meals of the animals brought to sacrifice to Apollo (they didn't eat red meat that much, but why waste a perfectly good sacrifice?) Somehow I always thought of something like "consulting the Oracle" as being a mystical, mysterious, secret-laden affair. Not OracleFest!
This is the altar stone where they burned/cooked the offerings.
The Temple of Apollo.
All 18 of us in front of the Temple of Apollo.
As we hiked up towards the amphitheater above, this was the view looking back towards the Temple of Apollo and the valley below.
The amphitheater above the Temple of Apollo.
Landon led some of us on a climb up to the stadium higher up the mountain from the Temple of Apollo and the amphitheater. (We'd done a lot of climbing at this point, and the rest of the group went back down to the on-site Museum with Elena.)
The stadium.
Continued in next post
Day 3, Delphi and the Temple of Apollo
This morning, after another (early!) breakfast at the hotel buffet (it never changed, but there was a huge selection, so that was OK) we boarded our motorcoach for the approximately 2 1/2 hour drive to Delphi! We made a stop part way there, for what Landon & Elena described as just about the best iced coffee drink ever. (I believe they were frappes, or something similar.) It was a funky roadstop shop & coffee cafe that reminded me of a lot of the roadside places we'd stop at on our roadtrips when I was a kid. The coffee was delicious, as promised, and very welcome!
From the parking area of the roadstop, you could see our destination, Mt. Parnassus, off in the distance!
At the roadstop, it turns out Landon had purchased a treat for Elena - they were these cheese-ball sort of Greek snacks that she apparently adored!
This was a memorial to the Greeks who resisted and fought against the Nazis in WWII.
Yet again, I was amazed as our motorcoach driver maneuvered our humongous motorcoach through the narrow streets of the towns we went through.
When we arrived at Delphi, we used Whisperers to hear Elena tell us about the history of Delphi, the Oracle and the Temple of Apollo. Whisperers are devices about the size of a credit card, but much thicker, that you put around your neck and use earphones to hear with. They allow your Guide to speak into a microphone, and you can hear her clearly without her having to shout or be heard over other Guides. We've used them on all my European ABD's, and they work quite well (although I do recommend bringing your own earphones/earbuds. The earbuds provided with the Whisperers are disposable, and not the best quality.) Once again, Elena was amazingly interesting, and full of wonderful information about the history of Delphi, the Temple of Apollo, and the Oracle of Delphi.
We entered into a wide open area, with a brick and stone gallery alongside it. Apparently going to visit the Oracle at Delphi was a big social event. People got in line to consult the Oracle, and were able to shop as they passed the vendors set up in the cubicles of the gallery.
As we walked along the wide path leading to the Temple of Apollo, where the Oracle held court, we passed an area where there used to be tons of statues that had been donated by rich folks who had gotten good predictions from the Oracle. Most of the statues were long gone (except for a few that were in the museum there) but the inscribed plinths still stand.
This is a re-built "Treasury" (the Treasury of the Athenians). Apparently all the city-states had these Treasuries where the tributes brought to the Temple and to the Oracle were stored. Elena mentioned that one of the things they found in this treasury was music embedded in the walls. They'd have song competitions, and the winners were put on the walls. Unfortunately, although they know it's music, no-one knows how to read the notes.
This was a really cool remnant of a column.
This wall is ancient, and is made of stones so well fitted together that it has stood all this time with no mortar! In an area well known for earthquakes! Amazing!
Apparently some people feel that the earthquakes in the area released gases that, basically, made the Oracles stoned. Whether that helped them with their predictions or not -- well, that's anyone's guess!
And there was a view of the Temple of Apollo, further up the mountain.
I think what struck me the most about Delphi, besides the ancientness of the place, was just how much it was a part of "ordinary life". People would go, socialize, consult the oracle, watch performances at the theatre above the Temple, watch sporting events in the stadium above the theatre, eat meals of the animals brought to sacrifice to Apollo (they didn't eat red meat that much, but why waste a perfectly good sacrifice?) Somehow I always thought of something like "consulting the Oracle" as being a mystical, mysterious, secret-laden affair. Not OracleFest!
This is the altar stone where they burned/cooked the offerings.
The Temple of Apollo.
All 18 of us in front of the Temple of Apollo.
As we hiked up towards the amphitheater above, this was the view looking back towards the Temple of Apollo and the valley below.
The amphitheater above the Temple of Apollo.
Landon led some of us on a climb up to the stadium higher up the mountain from the Temple of Apollo and the amphitheater. (We'd done a lot of climbing at this point, and the rest of the group went back down to the on-site Museum with Elena.)
The stadium.
Continued in next post
Stalking you on both TR 
