We were picked up for our tour of Delphi and Meteora at just after 8 a.m. and transferred via a taxi to our bus. Our guide was Ianni who was very well-informed and gave us many facts which he repeated in case we forgot all the way out of Athens and on the way to Delphi. We passed the mountains surrounding the city and the lakes which supplied the water to Athens. We also passed by the city of Thebes famous for Oedipus, fields of olives, pistachios and cotton, much light industry which forms the 4th pillar of the Greek economy after tourism, shipping and agriculture. Ianni also gave us useful information about the ancient myths and history which prepared us for our visit to Delphi. He told us of the 9 muses (Insert names here). He also advised that the term ‘antiquity’ means the period up to 476 AD when Rome was sacked by the Visigoths.
Soon we arrived at Delphi after a great drive up very winding roads into the mountains , (note: Greece is 75% mountains, one of the most mountainous countries in Europe), with precipitous drops on the outward side and spectacular scenery. Ianni led us up the paths and into the site of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. He explained about the way in which the Pythia was chosen and what her function was. She was elected by the priests and she then became the Oracle. Pilgrims came and ritually bathed then bought an animal to sacrifice. They then proceeded into a chamber with a dividing wall, behind which the Pythia sat on a tripod. The pilgrim could not see the Pythia and there was fumes rising, purportedly from a fissure in the earth. The Pythika chewed on laurel leaves and was in a trance. The pilgrim would ask a question of the Pythia and she would answer in a language not understandable by ordinary mortals and which had to be translated by the priest. As the Pythia’s answer to all questions was ambiguous, she was always right. If, for example he asked whether his pregnant wife would give birth to a boy or a girl, she would say “Boy not Girl”, leaving out the punctuation so that you had to guess if she meant ‘boy not, girl’, or ‘boy not girl’. If a General asked whether if he went to war would he win, the Pythia would say that if he went to war one army would be victorious and the other defeated. For those today this seemed to be the original ‘smoke and mirrors’. Apparently, Aesop, (of fables fame), was too curious and went underneath the temple and found out that the fumes were coming from a boiler just under the floor of the temple. He told the pilgrims that he thought they were being swindled and for his troubles he was thrown from a nearby crag to his death. The Delphi site is very impressive with a wonderful Greek theater and many other buildings. At one time there were 3,000 statues and many buildings but most have been looted and have now fallen down.
After our visit to the site of the Temple of Apollo, we left on a bus for the nearby town to change buses at the local hotel. We joined a new group of tourists from various countries which were part of a longer tour. Many had run in the Athens marathon on Sunday 31st October. Then we left our original group to return to Athens and we proceeded on the long drive to Kalabaka and Meteora. We stopped for lunch on the way and tested the Goody’s burger which, it was claimed, was better than McDonalds. It was certainly good but the jury is still out on this one. We also stopped at the site of the battle of Thermopylae where there is a large statue of Leonidas and trees commemorating the 300 Spartans killed by the Persians. Regrettably, the Spartans were betrayed by one of their own.
We arrived at Kalabaka after dark and were dropped at our hotels. We had elected for a ‘tourist class’ hotel and it was certainly not very impressive but adequate. We took a walk into the small town of Kalabaka which seems to be thriving. Dinner was supplied and we soon went to sleep.
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