Delphi. The town? Not so hot. The site? Wonderful. There is plenty to feast one's eyes upon here. From the tholos at the sanctuary of Athena to Apollo's gargantuan temple, the site has a sort of mystique surrounding it. But sadly, as is the case with so many sites of great antiquity, a lot of imagination is required to picture it as it once was. Delphi,for those who don't know, was the spot where "the Delphic Oracle" presided. Simply put, a female of tragically young age was relegated to a career of inhaling semi-toxic fumes seeping from the earth (and possibly ingesting laurel leaves, for hallucinogenic effect I believe). This unsurprisingly put her in a, shall we say, inebriated state, in which she then babbbled incoherently to priests whom then "interpreted" the divine message to whomsoever inquired. Essentially, a conduit for the the deity of Apollo. Inquiries ranged from when, or upon whom to wage war, who to marry, legal and financial advice,etc. etc. A modern day analogy would be a psychic, except with a whole lot less theatrics, travel, and potentially lethal noxious fumes. (Unless your psychic happens to have an addiction to glade) Coincidentally we met up with a tour group from St. Olaf in Minnesota. Small world, as they say, repeatedly. Oh, and I saw the biggest cockroach in my life thus far in our hotel room. Awesome. We have spent far too much time in Delphi, and are currently enroute to the village of Larissa, from where we transfer buses to Kalabaka, and then breath-taking Meteroa, a group of monasteries perched high upon clifftops. More on this tommorrow. We are surrounded by mountains, dappled with evergreens and ancient olive groves. Kalinikta.
