17th June 1984 - A day around Delphi

Sunday 17^th June Well, I went down the road to the museum but it was closed (opening time should be 9.00 on a Sunday). The Pythian Sanctuary was also closed. This is because today is election day (at last! I wish it had been three weeks ago) and all such sites are shut. But the Gymnasium and the Sanctuary of Athena were open so I went down there, taking a picture of the Tholos, of course. [It was actually the election for the European Parliament, in which the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, won ten out of 24 Greek seats, NewDemocracy (ND) won 9, and the Communist Party (KKE) won three. Wikipedia thinks it’s important to have these results, you see.]

 My guidebook mentions a walk to the cave of Sybaris, which begins down the road on a dirt/concrete/gravel road. I went to the entrance of this, met a German couple going on the same route and went back to the village to buy some food, seeing that the supermarket was open. Then back down the hill to start the walk, another bendy road down the slope of the mountain that it’s situated on. Lots of old olive trees, of course. The road goes over the aqueduct that carries water eastwards to Athens, I suppose.

   I caught up with the Germans near a building and a fast-flowing watercourse, and they showed me a map drawn by their hotelier. They suggested I go toward Arachova. (They were going over the mountain to Desfina.) So on the way to the turn-off, we met a snake who hissed a lot and made ready to strike but went away when we did. We parted and I went along the road, of a poorer quality, but it never looked like it was getting anywhere, so I crossed over the aqueduct again and had lunch, cutting my thumb opening a tin of meat. Bled a bit. [I still have the scar, of course.] I continued back towards Delphi, and near where my road joined the one I was on when I started, I saw some old vaults, empty, and one had carvings of deer and sheep/goats. I don’t think they’re from the Christian era, but perhaps this is the site of the ancients’ cemetery.

Google tilted view of Delphi, with my walk routes.

    At the top of the road I got a lift from some Americans to the museum carpark and walked back to town. At the hostel I wrote a postcard and letter home, had shower.