The sun rose over the deserted island of Delos and it reminded me of the birth of Apollo – the god of light and reason. We landed on the tiny island in our tenders and we were the first ones there. The sanctuary of Apollo and Artemis was the meeting place of all the Ionian Greeks in antiquity. First developed by the Naxians, then the Parians – the Athenians eventually took over and the Delian League became the Athenian League. The treasury was transported to Athens – making the construction of the Periklean Acropolis after the Persian Wars possible. Ruins of market places, roads and buildings that lined the sacred way led to the sanctuary. The oldest temple of the site – the Oikos of the Naxians – was next to a colossal statue of Apollo that acted as a beacon to the pilgrims that visited the site in ancient times. We stood in awe in front of the Lion Terrace where 16 lions overlooked the sacred lake where Leto, the mother of the famous twins delivered her babies under a sacred palm tree.
The museum artifacts reminded us that the island between the 4th century BC and the 1st century BC had a population of 30.000 people. An international port – a world trade center exempt from duty – was eventually destroyed by Mithridates. Nobody lived on the island again after the massacre and the remains reminded relatively untouched.
Our discovery walk led us to the oldest residential quarter where huge, two-storied houses with central courtyards and beautiful mosaic floors impressed us. Each house had its own cistern to collect rain water and make life possible on this very rocky and dry island of the Cyclades.
After lunch on the Sea Cloud we all relaxed on the decks watching our unbelievable crew set sail for another destination. We felt like ancient pilgrims who had just visited this sacred place and now back in the hands of Poseidon and Aiolos – we were back on our voyage of discovery.
