Day 13

Temple of Apollo

The village of Delphi does not wake up before 7:30. Only one modern hotel has coffee at 7 am and it is a busy place. The visit to the Temple of Apollo/Oracle of Delphi was very warm even at 8:30. There are a lot of stairs and irregular stone pathways, some lovely old pine and cypress trees offering much-appreciated respite from the sun and some shy birds singing lovely melodies. Many areas at this site were roped off. Imagining an active community based on today’s site aspect is a challenge. The view from the upper end looking toward the valley is spectacular and there appears to be another set of ruins not too far below. The archeological museum is next to the site and has artifacts going back as far as the 3rd century BC.

One intriguing exhibit shows intricate gold jewelry depicting delicate flowers along with carved ivory in the form of feet, toes and hands which they used for statues. Walking back to modern Delphi I noticed a hawk enjoying the thermals. I just learned that the sea view from my balcony is the Crisaean Gulf.

I am having lunch at Vakhos  restaurant again because the food is wonderful and the view is outstanding. Their briam dish has bread, tomatoes, onion, eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, carrots and leek with feta and herbs. I will have to experiment and somehow recreate this dish. The restaurant also serves a complimentary baklava log, very moist and tasty.

After lunch I am staying in the cool of my hotel room. I pulled out my quilling supplies for the first time on this journey, made a few adjustments on previous pieces that are suffering from the rough handling of travel, and constructed one new piece.

Venturing out for dinner, I found Elia restaurant where I ate the most delightful and beautiful multi-colored quinoa salad topped with a rose prepared from pickled beet slices. I am hoping to recreate this dish with avocado cream, grilled veggies chopped fine and a citrus dressing. I am really enjoying the food in Delphi.

I catch a bus to Athens tomorrow and fly to Corfu for a meditation and yoga retreat – with beach time, yay! It’s hard to believe that after nearly two weeks of traveling I have only seen glimpses of water. I can’t wait to dip my feet in at the earliest possible moment.