Olympia to Delphi: They knew we were coming

It’s important to keep Siri and Miss Waze on their toes! Neither thinks we have a good sense of direction but I think they have gotten used to us looking for the nearest beach. Neither has been a starlet with directions as they sometimes tell us to to turn left over a cliff. I told Brant I think they are trying to kill us so they don’t have to navigate for us anymore.

Yet another beautiful beach at Sandhill. Comes complete with bars for getting a cold beer and sand bars for drinking the cold beer. Alas, too early for the cold beer so we headed on to lunch once again. Interestingly the menus seems very, very similar at each restaurant. Mousaka, pastichio, gyros, souvlaki and pita everywhere. Fortunately the menus are very large. And Brant has sorted out which is the best beer…Alpha or Fix.

Well, if the ruins you are going to are the center of the world (per the Greek Gods) and the home of the gods and you start at beach level, prepare for a steep climb to a beautiful place.

Same routine but a classier place, tiny elevator, dump luggage, admire view, set off for ruins. We definitely saved the best ruins for last in my opinion. As we slowly walked back down the frequently slippery big steps we could hear strains of music as the sun was setting. At the base in the agora was a chamber orchestra/ Greek tragedy being performed. We kept walking slower and slower so we could hear it (for free). When we got to the bottom (in the agora) a woman was quickly going up to the last of us hikers. I thought she was telling us to leave quickly, but no —-she was telling us that we could quietly exit then come back in and circle to the back to see the last of the performance. (This was in Greek but a nearby guide noticed we were puzzled and came and told us). I loved noticing the huge smiles on a couple college age students (French I think) who quickly took her up on the offer and joyfully watched—-music majors I bet.

It really was beautiful especially in the setting. For some reason one of the performers with her beautiful voice brought tears to my eyes. It was hard not to think a woman like me many many years ago (but shorter with no rights at all) may have been sitting on the rock bench by the agora listening to some ancient sort of instrument played (remember we did those museums fast) while worrying about her son’s poor performance in the wrestling championship and thinking what dinner she could fix to help him feel better about it. Interestingly there were the most American folks here of all the places since we left Athens. (Still US folks—or Canadian seemed to be less than 5 percent of the visitors.)

A nice dinner, BFGB in AM, and off we go! Next stop Kalambaka….

Would we come back: Definitely for a performance we were interested in seeing. There is also skiing nearby—not surprising given the elevation. I think the ruins with a coating of snow would be beautiful.