Marina Beach** Livadia

Delphi is a small town perched high on the southern slopes of Mt. Parnassos. The town overlooks other mountains in the distance and the Gulf of Corinth way down below. It is a gorgeous setting for what we were to see while there.

Delphi used to be famous for being the home of a prophetess known as the oracle (a.k.a. the Pythia or sibyl). The oracle worshipped Apollo and could speak his words to others. She became a phenomenon and people would come to her from all around the ...

... br>After a conducted brief break we had a walk through the area of the site that was open for viewing and gained some impression of what it must have looked like all those centuries ago. Our access to the higher part of the archaeological site was barred because of possible rock falls but we obtained great views down the valley to the athletic track and also up the sheer sides of Mount Parnassus. The ochre colour was ubiquitous in the countryside and the ...

Day... (Giving up on this - no longer accurate as have failed to count no. of days spent some places!)

So nice, we decide to spend another day here. Lyn wants to go and look around the town, and I am keen to get my boots on and do a bit of proper walking. It's a fine day and there is a short-ish trek up to the Throne of Apollo up behind the town.
I set off in fine fettle: excellent path ...

... fantastisk dejlig udsigt, saa her satte vi os til at spise spegepoelsemadder (igen igen). Efter frokost i det blaa, tog vi til Larissa (en stoerre graesk by) for at skifte saa vi kunne komme videre sydpaa til Livadia (en lidt mindre stoerre graesk by), hvor vi ville overnatte. I Larissa handlede vi lidt ind og kom til til at tage et IC tog som var fuldstaendig proppet - vi havde ikke lige taenkt over at ...

... up the hill to the ruins. There's a huge amount of small spaces where shrines and temples were placed by cities around Greece to show their wealth and prominence in a continual game of oneupmanship. Further up the treachery's start, with the most prominent being the Treasury of Athinia. Surrounding it are a few others, mostly just ruins and the remains of temples where many of the statues now in the museum where found. Further up I found ...

... my book. "Give me the battlefield instead," I have him think, "where anyone who purposely holds back pays a just and instant price." The site at Olympia is impressively expansive. Foundations of ancient buildings cover a huge area. The largest-scale temple was built to Zeus in the classical era, but there are other temples and buildings all around - a palaistra (martial training area), a gymnasium (athletic training area) lots of dedications in the form of small buildings ...

... here were the remains of the Temple of Apollo and a theater. At the top of the hill was a large stadium that was still in fairly good condition. From the Sanctuary of Apollo we crossed over to the Sanctuary of Athena. Both areas had great views and it was interesting to see a place that was so important in the ancient Greek world. The myth was that Zeus released two eagles to determine the center of the ...

... fantastic, the exact opposite of the National Museum in Egypt - well lit, well labelled in several languages, and with fantastic reconstructions and stories about the functions and meanings of the ancient artifacts. The displays included some 6th century BC bronze warrior's helmets, some massive bronze, marble and terracotta statues, and the remains of some spectacular statues of the gods in gold and ivory ...

Today, we started our journey by joining a two day one night tour to Delphi and Meteora. This is the part which I like most, to actually have someone explain to us and drive us to the attractions. Ahh... time to relax and enjoy the journey.

We made a stop at the Delphi Musuem, aming them was this Sphinx ...

... like magnificent, astounding, awesome, and incredible could be inadequate, but they truly are for this description. What I saw today was all those things and so much more. Lush mountains, billowing clouds, sunbeams, a rainbow, groves of 100 olive trees, the fertile plains of Thessaly - everything was testifying to the glory of God. I think and I look and I observe this magical place and I keep coming back to the same thing: GOD IS AWESOME!