Day 20 Athens to Delphi

We left the camp by 7.30am to try and miss rush hour traffic in Athens. Luckily, we had an easy route out of the city, and were reasonably quickly on our way to Delphi. It took a couple of hours driving through the hills to get to the wonderful ruins of Delphi – in olden times, many thousands of years ago, an Oracle (sage type wise woman) used to give readings to people, and many a battle was started or not, based on the Gods favouring or not favouring the current visitor to the Oracle. The ruins were on a steep hillside, and much was hard to recognise, but of special significance was the writing engraved on the rock walls, telling legends of the time.

The museum in Delphi was very well laid out, and showed how various artefacts were discovered. The relief work in marble off the temples, the gold from burial chambers, and a very rare bronze charioteer and his horses (well, parts of, like a hoof here and there) – were things that stood out for me. Hayden and Richard were very interested in the bronze helmets from the time, and a huge sphinx, also from one of the temples.

From Delphi, we drove down and down the winding hills, headed for Stilida, on the coast, were we were camping for the night. The day got very hot – up to 27 degrees, and when we arrived at the camping, Sarah and Hayden decided to go for a swim. It was pretty chilly in the water, but the gravelly beach was a nice safe swimming spot. Richard even decided to brave it, but was much slower than the children getting in.