Delphi visit

Delphi is a very important place in Greece’s history and was considered the center of the world during the ancient times. Pythia, the oracle, was located there and people from around the ancient world would come to consult with her before making major decisions. I had visited Delphi over 30 years ago and went back this year. What I liked the most about Delphi during my first visit was how the various monuments blend with the landscape and how unassuming the area is relative to its importance. One of the challenges with visiting Delphi in the summer is that there is little protection from the sun so it is best to tour the area as early in the morning as possible. Delphi is a bit over two hours from Athens and we were able to make it there by 10:30am which was not as early as we would have liked given the expected high temperature for the day was in the mid 90s which is pretty typical during July. We spent about an hour and a half there which is as much as we could under the conditions.

The area was very differently structured than the way I remembered from my last visit. There is a gated area for which you need to reserve tickets for with a specific time for entrance. We got the tickets the night before for entrance between 11am and noon but they let us in early because the place was not very crowded. The gated area had a lot of steps and was structured. You pretty much had to go along a pre-established path with lots of stairs. That was contrary to my recollection from my previous visits and disturbed the feeling of the monuments blending well with the environment.

Another surprise and contrary to my recollection was that two of the most important monuments were outside the gated area and access to them was not controlled at all. The first was the Castalian spring which was used for cleansing by the oracle before she shared her wisdom and by the participants in the various events. The second is what is called Tholos which is a structure that was built around 400 BC and is the prettiest structure at Delphi in my opinion and the one that is commemorated in most postcards about Delphi. I’m not sure why it is separate from the main Delphi area (the gated area). As a result I think most tours do not include it in their visits which was to our benefit. We ended up having Tholos pretty much to ourselves. The structure that attracted the most interest within the gated area was the stadium. It was at the highest elevation within the gated area and well preserved. ancient theater is also well preserved

After finishing our visit at Delphi (we skipped a visit to the museum since we are not particularly fond of museums), we had time to make a visit to a nearby town called Galaxidi. Galaxidi is a picturesque town by the sea about 40 minutes from Delphi. I had been there before more than thirty years ago and remembered it fondly. It looked pretty much as I remembered it although with a few more restaurants and it looked slightly bigger. Galaxidi is similar to a typical Greek town by the water with a small port, bunch of boats, and a walking area by the port with lots of restaurants. The town has maintained a pretty consistent architectural character which is what makes it unique and picturesque. It is a good place to have lunch after visiting Delphi. We ate at a restaurant called Ab oVo. The food was pretty good and a bit more interesting than what typical Greek tavernas have. The place was recommended to me by a local I casually met and had a conversation with. The restaurant owner was his daughter (he was a bit biased in his recommendation) but I checked the Google Maps reviews and they were excellent. The food lived up to the reviews. We would have liked to spend more time in Galaxidi but unfortunately it was too hot and the walk was not particularly enjoyable. We picked up some ice cream and headed back to Athens. The whole trip ended up being a 12 hour affair with close to 6 hours of that on the road. It was pretty enjoyable overall and we didn’t feel we missed too much productive time being stuck in the car because a big part of that was during the really hot parts of the day that prevent you from being outdoors anyway.