Itea & Dephi
We disembarked at the blue harbor of Itea and went by bus through the Amfissa olive groves, formerly the site of the hippodrome of the Pythian games, and up Mt. Parnassos to the ancient site of Delphi. Our guide Effi transported us back to the times of Ancient Greece when Zeus marked the navel of the earth with the omphalos (a huge cone-shaped stone) and Apollo tricked lost sailors from Crete into building his sanctuary temple here. Ancient myths came to life as we sat in the 4th century BC theater and read the inscriptions on the reconstructed walls of the Athenian treasury. This was where all would come to seek the answer from the Delphic oracle. The seer (the Pythia) was traditionally a woman over 50 (supposedly impervious to the temptations of the opposite sex) who would inhale the site's mysterious and intoxicating fumes that allowed her to see the future. Despite the increasing heat of the Mediterranean sun some of the more hearty pushed further up the hill to the stadium in the spirit of the Pythian games of the past, while others opted for a frappé in the museum cafe. The museum is a veritable treasure trove including a frieze from the Siphnian treasury depicting scenes from the Trojan War and a statue of Emperor Hadrian's beloved Antios. The most magnificent of all had to be the bronze sculpture of the charioteer, an fine example of the so-called “severe style”. We returned to the ship for lunch and after a brief rest, our knowledgeable guide Effi gave us an overview of the centuries of Greek history. Then the ship dropped anchor for an unscheduled, but welcome swim. The next sight was the world's longest suspension bridge, named for Harilaos Trikoupis, the Greek prime minister at the completion of the Korinth Canal. We then headed out from Patras towards Ithaka, homeland of Homer's Odysseus.
We disembarked at the blue harbor of Itea and went by bus through the Amfissa olive groves, formerly the site of the hippodrome of the Pythian games, and up Mt. Parnassos to the ancient site of Delphi. Our guide Effi transported us back to the times of Ancient Greece when Zeus marked the navel of the earth with the omphalos (a huge cone-shaped stone) and Apollo tricked lost sailors from Crete into building his sanctuary temple here. Ancient myths came to life as we sat in the 4th century BC theater and read the inscriptions on the reconstructed walls of the Athenian treasury. This was where all would come to seek the answer from the Delphic oracle. The seer (the Pythia) was traditionally a woman over 50 (supposedly impervious to the temptations of the opposite sex) who would inhale the site's mysterious and intoxicating fumes that allowed her to see the future. Despite the increasing heat of the Mediterranean sun some of the more hearty pushed further up the hill to the stadium in the spirit of the Pythian games of the past, while others opted for a frappé in the museum cafe. The museum is a veritable treasure trove including a frieze from the Siphnian treasury depicting scenes from the Trojan War and a statue of Emperor Hadrian's beloved Antios. The most magnificent of all had to be the bronze sculpture of the charioteer, an fine example of the so-called “severe style”. We returned to the ship for lunch and after a brief rest, our knowledgeable guide Effi gave us an overview of the centuries of Greek history. Then the ship dropped anchor for an unscheduled, but welcome swim. The next sight was the world's longest suspension bridge, named for Harilaos Trikoupis, the Greek prime minister at the completion of the Korinth Canal. We then headed out from Patras towards Ithaka, homeland of Homer's Odysseus.
