Best of Greece and 7 Day Aegean Cruise
Day Six – 16 Sept 2009
Weather – Sunny, hot, 29 (We wanted to be as naked as an Olympic wrestler)
Wake up call at the Delphi Palace was a knock on the door. That was a first for me.
I put my luggage out and went to breakfast with all my gear as I wanted to get some pictures with the sun rising to our back. Breakfast was not as bad as the Olympia Palace. It had boiled eggs and croissants.
I went out on the terrace to take some pictures of the gorgeous view and my camera started to act up. The lens stopped talking to the camera. Nothing I could do would solve the problem and I later learned the lens was toast.
So, I hauled out my trusty point and shoot and used that for the day. Something to be said for taking two cameras on tour.
We boarded the bus and drove to the Delphi museum. The museum was set up so that you could go in a circle and it wasn’t possible for a guide to just pick and choose a few rooms. Some of the statues were impressive.
I loved the expression of the woman behind this well endowed statue. 🙂
The tour took an hour and we had a little free time before proceeding to the site. Since the climb was long and steep, some choose to stay at the cafe until we returned.
We walked to the base of the site and began the climb.
It was a combination of stairs and gravel paths that were level and sloped. In the heat, it was a challenging climb, and the tour only covered a third of the entire site that was situated on the edge of a very steep hill.
Joanna showed us the intact treasury building.
As well as the ruins of the temple.
And the theatre.
After about forty minutes, we were free to explore for another forty minutes. It was enough time to get up to the stadium for those with the stamina. I only went to the top of the theatre to get a great picture of the site from that perspective.
On my descent, what sounded like gunshots rang out to the left. The rock police started whistling and running in that direction. Apparently, a piece of rock from the mountain above had let go and shattered just on the other side of the theatre.
Glad I went left at that last fork in the path.
We all found shade at the base of the site and waited for Nikos to pick us up. I spent the time getting pictures of cats.
We picked up those who stayed behind at the cafe and drove to the town next to the Ionian Sea below Delphi for lunch.
The restaurant was located on the street with the seating across the street next to the sea.
It was a beautiful setting and a great meal. I had souvlaki and then ran off to find an ATM and a Coke. After I boarded the bus, I made the mistake of opening the Coke. I don’t know why (it wasn’t shook at all) but it blew and got Coke all over me and the floor below my seat. I managed to clean it up before Nikos saw it.
We left just after two for the four hour drive to Kalambaka. The scenery was beautiful and the multiple switchbacks are not for the faint of heart.
You can look down a long way on the edge of some of those roads. An hour and a half into the trip, we stopped to visit the memorial to Leonidas and the battle of Thermopylae.
There was an impressive bronze statue of the naked king (which attracted every woman with a camera from every bus there) and a separate memorial for the seven hundred Thespians who joined the Spartans.
The pass that they protected wasn’t accessible since the plain that exists today used to be part of the sea, so we were actually below the pass.
Earthquake activity caused the plain to drain of water.
We continued towards Kalambaka with a half hour bathroom break at a roadside stop that we’d visit tomorrow for lunch. We climbed over another mountain then came across the huge plain where Meteora lies. It took us more than an hour to cross it.
Our hotel for the night not a palace.
It was another Amalia hotel and it was wonderful. The room and bathroom was spacious. It had a TV, hair dryer, shampoo and other bath stuff. There was no robe, safe or iron. Internet was supposed to be 2 Euro for ten minutes and 4 Euro for thirty minutes, but my login page said I had 30 hours!!!
Okay. I was not complaining. (I told the front desk and they just shrugged and said enjoy).
After I got my luggage, I changed and joined the others for a quick swim. The pools in Greece were never heated, which wasn’t surprising. In thirty degree heat, you want to swim in cold water. It was very refreshing.
At 7:45, we went down to a very busy buffet. The selection was, by far, the best of any hotel on this trip. There was several salads, pasta, chicken, lamb, beef, gyros, rice and more. Dessert also included ice cream with sauce. I over ate!
Since the hotel was located outside the town, there was nowhere to go, so it was a good night to reorganize the luggage and get caught up on emails and that. Tomorrow we would visit the monasteries in the morning and then return to Athens. We expected to get in around six with the farewell dinner scheduled to start an hour after our arrival.
Luckily, we didn’t have anything scheduled for Friday morning before departing for the cruise as I had to track down a new lens for my camera. <grumble>
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