delphi, greece

we took a bus ride about 4-5 hours north west of athens to a place called 'delphi' where in about 600bc the greeks would come each month to see an old lady called the oracle. the oracle would breath fumes from the mountain, chant some mumblings and the priests would interpret them as prophecies.

this is the view from our cheap hotel room in delphi! not bad huh? this is the gulf of corinth and delphi is half way up mount parnassosand. we didn't even book ahead! this room makes up for the terrible small rooms we get later on in our holiday. i also have a hi res version but it will take a bit to download.

since delphi is on the side of a mountain the side streets are very steep. most of them have these weird slanty steps where you have to weave from side to side.

a couple of kilometres from the shops and hotels of 'modern' delphi is the site of 'ancient' delphi. since it is on the side of the mountain over a gulf it has quite a spectacular view.

many people would come to see the oracle. it was apparently quite an event. so along with the temples and altars there was entertainment for the masses! here is the theatre with the main temple behind it on the right. must have been quite a day out. see the oracle and maybe catch some theatre?

up the hill a bit more is a stadium. it was probably about ten times as long as you can see here. they were preparing for a concert so the other end was covered with lights and speakers and stuff so no photos looking that way :( at the time this stadium was being used there was another rival set of games over in olympia. apparently the 'olympic' games became more popular than the 'delphian' games and the games at delphi were dropped. who knows, maybe if things had been a little different we would have had the delphian games in sydney last year.

also at delphi is a really old gymnasium! though not much is left. there are the remains of all sorts of weird little rooms, pits and lanes. who knows what they did there though.

this temple is called 'tholos' in the sanctuary of athena (another athena tribute). the three pillars have been partially rebuilt (you can see the different colours). would have been even more impressive in it's day.

at the sanctuary of athena is another amazing case of "ancient rubble". in some ways being able to get real close to carved blocks and touch them was the most exciting aspect of these old sites.

while we were at delphi we were also lucky enough to get a glimpse of doctor who! he must have been planning to stop the invasion of ancient delphi by the daleks but the tardis got the time wrong, again. he never did get the time controls fixed did he?

finally while we were leaving we found out the biggest benefit on staying the night in delphi. the attack of the athens day trippers!! we left the site at about the same time it would have taken the bus to come from athens. there were about 5 people on the site while we were there. on our way our we saw about 5 bus loads of people coming in!

others things to looks at!
next stop, rome, italy
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