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May 25, 2005

The bus ride to Delphi was tortuous. We had three hours before a late Greek lunch, and it was nearly more than my bladder could take. We stopped at a seafood restaurant for lunch, but it was so expensive that I stuck with Greek salad. I've been eating a ton since we started this bus tour.

Once again lunch knocked me out and I napped most of the rest of the way to Delphi. This city is on top of a mountain, so the view is truly spectacular.

We actually arrived fairly early, so we had some time to walk around town. Becky stayed behind. Margaret wasn't interested in the shops, so we walked along the roads all around. We saw a lovely church and endedup up at a little park. We had some laughs playing on the kids' toys and talking about being engaged and getting married.

Our hotel was actually what we paid for, but still quite roomy, aside from the shower, which was even smaller than the one at home.

Dinner was similar to the night before. We had eggplant and cheese for a first course. I'm really starting to like eggplant, actually. Maybe I'll start cooking it at home. The main course was cabbage salad, fried rice, and pot roast. Dessert was vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce.

I tried to call Mom from the phone room downstairs, since the one in our room didn't let us call out. This time it worked, but I got her answering machine. Margaret and Becky went down to shop. I went up to the room to shower, but had to root through Margaret's bag to get our shared toiletries. When I finished, I planned out one of our days at Athens.

By that time the girls had returned. We mixed the lemon Fanta we'd bought in town with some of the Ouzo, and it was actually quite good. We've decided to try a different kind of soda each night.

Ironically, I slept lightly and had to get up several times.

We rose later today than yesterday. Breakfast again featured sweet breads, rolls, ham, cheese, hard boiled eggs, sour cream, and orange juice. I tried to eat a little less than yesterday morning.

Afterward we started off to Delphi. First we visited the archaelogical site, following the Sacred Way up the hill. THe area in general is actually called the Sanctuary of Apollo. First we saw the Agora, the shopping area. Then we saw the treasuires where various cities stored their offerings. The reconstructed pale building fromthe photos is one example. The next level has the Temple of Apollo, with the large columns and ramped entrances. Up again we saw the stadium, which, though well preserved, is not as nice as the one at Epidaurus, because it's smaller and you can't climb into the bleachers. At the top we saw the stadium, and Margaret and I had another race. I won again, and was cheered by a rather large crowd of tourists. It was a bit embarassing. I told Eva I won the Pythian games, but she reminded me that women aren't allowed to compete.

It started raining just as we finished, so we made it to the museum only slightly damp. Like the one in Olympia, it showed art from the site. This included bronze pieces and pottery. The best ones, though, were the friezes from the buildings. The statues of the dancing nymphs, the sphinx, and the charioteer were my favorites.

We got back from a sales pitch at a leather and woven goods store. Now we're picking up a whole boatload of people joining us for Meteora. But the rest of today is just travelling.