Delphi

Early on the morning of my second full day, I boarded a bus for Delphi, the site of the Temple of Zeus[*] where the Oracle gave her prophecies to the ancient Greeks. The Oracle's chamber (probably filled with hallucinatory smoke) was right in the middle.



Our guide on this part of the tour was rather disappointing. (Luckily we had a different guide for the trip to Meteora.) She was a bit disorganized and not very clear on her instructions. We stood around waiting for a long time while she made arrangements for our entrance.

Part of the tour group was on a day trip and would return to Athens that afternoon. The rest of us were continuing on to Meteora. And it was only those on the day trip that were allowed to visit the Delphi Museum after touring the site of the ruins.

The most frustrating thing was that the guide kept pointing out things at the Temple of Zeus and telling us we could see it in the museum - and then we weren't allowed to go there. Grrr! (As the timing worked out, if we hadn't wasted so much time waiting for the guide, we would have had enough time for a short visit to the museum before boarding the bus to continue.)

After leaving Delphi, we had another long bus ride Kalambaka, where we spent the night near Meteora. Along the way, we made a stop at a memorial to what I believe was a decisive battle in the Peloponnesian War. (I don't have any more details. It was more a place to stretch our legs than to really learn anything.)

After settling in at the hotel, I went exploring with three other women in the group. We discovered one of the most unusual things I saw on the entire trip. These dioramas were set into the sidewalk. You have to bend over and look through thick glass (or more likely plastic) to see them.