Aeolos Hotel Delphi

... going to be fruitful and/or safe. From the sounds of it there was a noxious hallucinogenic vapour released from a crevice in the rocks which caused the oracles to speak in tongues and incidentally shortened their lives. There was process which those seeking advice, called consultants – rather the reverse of what this word means today – had to go through and this inevitably involved the payment of money or the donation of a goods as well as the ...

... place must have made on people all those generations ago: it has a definite aura about it. You almost expect a faun or satyr to come strolling around one of the bushes at any moment!<br>Way up on the tops, the sky is turning blacker by the minute. I think I spy the top of a kind of brown rainbow-arc cresting the summit. Perhaps the gods really won't want me to proceed? Am a little spooked by this, I ...

... Don't. So decide to press on to Delphi, now we on this road. Most spectacular approach into heartland of Greece: massive mountains on all sides! Huge perspectives; staggering roads.<br>As we head up to the ancient seat of worship and myth, sun legendarily breaks through!<br>Find magnificent camping - views down to Gulf of Corinth. The ancients called this the 'navel of the world': you can see why.<br>Museum a must; well-presented artefacts &amp ...

<br><br>KAMENA VOURLA <br><br>We are prohibited by the police to go home.<br><br>Although we left Thasos island early in the morning, we are delaying because we are told that Evia has flooded and it is in a state of an emergency.<br><br>We have come here to Kamera Vourla where I am writing this, and Yianni is on the phone with the police. In the beginning &#8211 ...

... heading north and west for the three-hour ride to Delphi. Although I had seen a History Channel special or two on Delphi and its Oracle and read about the Oracle in Greek mythology (as with many other sites on this greater trip) nothing is like visiting a site such as this in person. <br><br>Upon arriving at a small storefront serving as the bus station, I meandered through one of the seven small but main streets ...

... back side of the hotel and our balcony looks out across the valley and down to the small town on the Caspian Sea where a cruise ship is docked. How lucky we are to be here. Out for lunch first and then we walk along the rim to the ruins entrance. This is the sanctuary of Apollo, this was the religious and spiritual centre of the ancient Greek world and thought to be the centre (navel) of the earth. The first settlement here was from the 14th to the ...

... Slaves were permitted to have their own cottage industries and keep the profits, and in this way they could buy their freedom and have a permanent record of that freedom carved into the stone. Indy mentioned that the road of stone we were walking on had once been full of inscriptions, too. When archaeologists see flat paving stones made of marble, they are guaranteed to pry them up and find inscriptions on the other surfaces ...

... it was slim pickins on that front though, because my choices were basically 3 different channels with basically the same news broadcasts, then Simpsons in Dutch (hilarious), horrible American re-runs dubbed over into various languages, al jazeera, or some cheesy old eighties movies, most of which were in other languages. I eventually passed out in my wooonderfully comfortable bed, then awoke the next morning (late) and ran off to the ...

The following morning, bright and early, we were driven from our bunks for the several-hour bus ride along the western coast of the peninsula. We were told not to worry if we missed anything along the road because we had to come back this way again in order to cross the bridge. <br> <br>The Sanctuary of Olympia existed as a religious and athletic centre for over 1000 years, finally fading from prominence in the 1st century AD. It is, of course, the home ...

... the site to take place, the entire village had to be moved down the mountain. Near this area you can also see the largest olive grove in Greece (it's huge, it goes on for miles), and a channel that brings water from this area to the Athens area. The channel is interesting because it's just like a little man made river with no top on it or anything. From Delphi we went to a village called Kalambaka to spend the night. It was a couple hours away. We stayed in a nice hotel; however ...