Tuesday, June 15, 2010

All Roads Lead to Delphi











We visited the most beautiful place that I have ever been on earth - Delphi, Greece.

It's spelled various ways - Delphi, Delfi, Delfoi - referred to in the region of Fokida - no matter - all of those ways spell "A W E S O M E".

Our lodging was fabulous - Hotel Varona, overlooking olive groves and the harbor in the distance.

Delphi sits at the base of Mount Parnassus - you've read about it in Greek Mythology. Mount Parnassus was used in various important Greek battles to trap the enemy between the water and the mountain itself.

The town is charming, the townspeople friendly and accomodating, the sites incredible, and the food is just downright yummy.

Apollo's main oracle is located in Delphi - right down the road from where we stayed, shopped, and ate. If anyone wished to know something about their life, he/she journeyed to Delphi to the Oracle and would ask the priest or priestess the question, and they, in turn, would ask Apollo. Apollo wouldn't always just give the answer - at times he would equivocate. Meaning, he would tell SOME of the truth, just not ALL of the truth. Sometimes he would just tell the tidbit of a prophecy of someone's life and wait for them to return and give another tidbit.

Athena had a temple here also and quite a bit of it is still standing.

We visited an awesome Greek restaurant last night and had various traditional Greek dishes. I had pork souvlaki. Souvlaki is "skewered meat" and is marinated and herbed. I had another bit of a yougurt and cucumber mixture - delicious! And home-made fried potatoes and bread. The flies joined us for dinner, as they have each meal here in Greece, and I promptly scared all of us by shooing a fly and knocking the glass Coke bottle off of the table and shattering it into a million pieces. The flies didn't come back after that. :)

We met fabulous shop owners and bought some fabulous olive oil, honey, olive oil soap, and my new favorite drink - a sparkling orange drink. It comes in different packages, but I love it!!

That's all for now friends, Jerusalem awaits me tomorrow. Wish me luck!

3 comments:

  1. What an ingenious tactic of getting rid of the flies! Your students are going to love your stories for years to come.

    ReplyDelete
  2. what a great thing to see and to add to files for your students. Glad you're having so much fun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You've had the complete gamut of experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly! How fabulous, and your sense of humor is the perfect addition. You are in my prayers, and now on to Jerusalem. You must be full of emotions about that experience. Donna B.

    ReplyDelete

January 2020 Hello Everyone!!!