This day has had such repercussions for our trip as well as "darkening" our physche that I've broken my usual pattern of writing the days in chronological order. The day started with a wonderful trip to the beautiful delphi and ended with us feeling bereft and adrift in a strange land...and in between there's quite a bit of pathos. This is the first part - the beauty.
George, Marika's husband, had organised for us to go on a 1-day bus trip to Delphi at no cost to us. Delphi was one of my "ohh I so wish we could go there but can't due to the time and distance"
locations. Delphi (incase you're a bit light on with regard to greek classics and mythology) is the "navel" of the world - discovered when Zeus set one eagle flying east and one flying west. Where they met - Delphi - was the centre of the universe. It was also the home for nearly 11 centuries of the Delphi oracle - really a priestess or 2, attached to a temple of Apollo (he has aspects for Light, Music, Archery, and Divination, amongst other attributes). The Delphi orcale was incredibly powerful both politically and financially - consulted by great kings, statemens, and warriors, and given offerings of equal status. So its a great archeological site; even though it was looted at least 4 times.
So, we joined a 1-day package tour. Whisking in early into Syntagma (kind of the centre of new
Athrns) for the 8:45 start. These bus tours are strange things. On one hand you get given a bunch of information from someone in the know and don't have to worry about navigation etc., but on the other hand you're on a pre-determined path through time and space - we'll meet outside the museum at 1:35, the bus will depart at 2:15 (actual times of part of the tour) so that there's little scope to make the trip "your own" experience - you run the real risk of having a movie-watching-like-experience - everyone sees the same thing with the same focus.
The kids soon bored of the spiel on the bus - particularly as it was done in English, followed by the French version. However I got a real kick out of seeing the physical context of the story of Marathon (you drive past it and it is a large water catchment area) - the race and the battle; as well as driving path mother Thebes - built on top of ancient Thebes one of the mighty old kindgoms - while once again hearing the legend of Oedipus.
As a side note I'll say that there were a few aussie apirs on the bus; including the most obnoxious example of an Australian I can recall meeting. Think of the classic "Ugly American Tourist" put put a passive-aggressive aussie spin on it - sneering, whining, making snide comments about Greeks bearing gifts - and you get the picture of this 50 year old guy and his sidekick.
From the ugly to the beautiful, and Delphi is certainly that. Set in an extremely mountainous
region of steep cliffs, hillsides scattered with pines and sweeping gorges it creates a sense of awe even today (with dozens of tourist buses parked in the carpark) - imagine what it must have been like 2 millenia ago. Like other archeological sites it consists of a few foundation level buildings, another 1 or two with partial walls or a few partial columns (like the temple of Apollo) and 1 or two reconstructed buildings; plus a museum. Like the Acropolis it has one of the half circular tiered theatres, and even a full size classic athletics arena - very impressive. However the thing that made the greatest impression on me was the physical environs - I really wished I could have had an afternoon (indeed a week) to sit quietly and listen to the birds, or climb a 
hillside. However, despite it being a full day tour - we only had about 2 hours at the site. Disappointing.
After a relatively simple lunch that was part of the package it was the long drive back to town. It became a real question of endurance as we neared Athens and entered the traffic jams - both kids were dying for a loo (its the major theme of this entire trip - I know there's a "new" form of travel where you pick destinations at random; e.g., opening a book - we could do something similar just by navigating/orienteering from dunny to dunny for Grant).
George, Marika's husband, had organised for us to go on a 1-day bus trip to Delphi at no cost to us. Delphi was one of my "ohh I so wish we could go there but can't due to the time and distance"
locations. Delphi (incase you're a bit light on with regard to greek classics and mythology) is the "navel" of the world - discovered when Zeus set one eagle flying east and one flying west. Where they met - Delphi - was the centre of the universe. It was also the home for nearly 11 centuries of the Delphi oracle - really a priestess or 2, attached to a temple of Apollo (he has aspects for Light, Music, Archery, and Divination, amongst other attributes). The Delphi orcale was incredibly powerful both politically and financially - consulted by great kings, statemens, and warriors, and given offerings of equal status. So its a great archeological site; even though it was looted at least 4 times.So, we joined a 1-day package tour. Whisking in early into Syntagma (kind of the centre of new
Athrns) for the 8:45 start. These bus tours are strange things. On one hand you get given a bunch of information from someone in the know and don't have to worry about navigation etc., but on the other hand you're on a pre-determined path through time and space - we'll meet outside the museum at 1:35, the bus will depart at 2:15 (actual times of part of the tour) so that there's little scope to make the trip "your own" experience - you run the real risk of having a movie-watching-like-experience - everyone sees the same thing with the same focus.The kids soon bored of the spiel on the bus - particularly as it was done in English, followed by the French version. However I got a real kick out of seeing the physical context of the story of Marathon (you drive past it and it is a large water catchment area) - the race and the battle; as well as driving path mother Thebes - built on top of ancient Thebes one of the mighty old kindgoms - while once again hearing the legend of Oedipus.
As a side note I'll say that there were a few aussie apirs on the bus; including the most obnoxious example of an Australian I can recall meeting. Think of the classic "Ugly American Tourist" put put a passive-aggressive aussie spin on it - sneering, whining, making snide comments about Greeks bearing gifts - and you get the picture of this 50 year old guy and his sidekick.
From the ugly to the beautiful, and Delphi is certainly that. Set in an extremely mountainous
region of steep cliffs, hillsides scattered with pines and sweeping gorges it creates a sense of awe even today (with dozens of tourist buses parked in the carpark) - imagine what it must have been like 2 millenia ago. Like other archeological sites it consists of a few foundation level buildings, another 1 or two with partial walls or a few partial columns (like the temple of Apollo) and 1 or two reconstructed buildings; plus a museum. Like the Acropolis it has one of the half circular tiered theatres, and even a full size classic athletics arena - very impressive. However the thing that made the greatest impression on me was the physical environs - I really wished I could have had an afternoon (indeed a week) to sit quietly and listen to the birds, or climb a 
hillside. However, despite it being a full day tour - we only had about 2 hours at the site. Disappointing.After a relatively simple lunch that was part of the package it was the long drive back to town. It became a real question of endurance as we neared Athens and entered the traffic jams - both kids were dying for a loo (its the major theme of this entire trip - I know there's a "new" form of travel where you pick destinations at random; e.g., opening a book - we could do something similar just by navigating/orienteering from dunny to dunny for Grant).
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