Once upon a time, I (Isabella Logotheti, student of the University of Athens) met Sue Zhang
(student of the University of Beijing) ...
Particularly it was in the summer of 2004, during the Olympic Games of Athens,
when we met each other in a bus. Both of us where volunteers; Sue at the SP.S
at the OAKA stadium and I was a volunteer in Athens center helping the tourists.
We soon got to like each other a lot and hanged out together during our free time.
I was impressed by Sue's interest in Greek (particularly ancient Greek) civilization
and promised to accompany her at the excursions she intended to have after the end
of her 2-week volunteer program.
Acropolis, Delphi, Olympia and Epidaurus where the places she was especially
interested in.
For me this was a chance to visit places I had never been
(and I am honestly ashamed saying that), like Delphi, and places I went with my
classmates and teachers of the elementary school long time ago
(hard to remember them...).
We decided to book an organized one day tour to Delphi
(about which is I am going to inform you here).
We were not alone in our try to explore ancient world's "omfalos" (navel)...
but with 18 people form all over the world, eager like us to visit the famous Delphi.
The tour included an English speaking guide; our guide was called Yiannis and
proved to be very experienced.
At about 8.30 in the morning our trip to Delphi began. Delphi is ca 135 km
away from Athens (view the map) and we needed less than 3 hours
(we also had a 20 minutes break at a café on our way to Delphi) to get there.
While on the high way our guide explained to us a lot of things, not only about Delphi,
which was the purpose of this excursion, but also about the place the bus went through;
for instance he informed us that we went through a fertile zone that 100 years ago
was a lake, called Kopais, which a British company has drained to offer fertile fields.
We have learned a lot
about Thebes, Livadia, Arahova and other places our bus went through.
When we reached the Archeological site of Delphi every one was excited-we have heard
and read so much about it. Firstly we visited the museum of Delphi,
which was recently renovated and contained very interesting exhibits like
the Bronze Charioteer and the Three Dancing Girls. The Archeological site,
that we visited afterwards, was better than I have expected.
Although we had to climb up the mountain, which made me often complain to Sue,
who was, by the way, hanging on the lips of our guide. He was very kind and helpful
and carried also maps and photographs that made the sight-seeing even more interesting.
I was filled with awe as I stood in front of the temple of Apollo,
impressed by the theatre of Delphi and thrilled as I realized that the only things
that were heard were the sound of the summer breeze, the birds and the light footsteps
on the path of the other visitors of the archeological site...
all these created a nostalgic atmosphere of the grandeur that I never got to know but
seemed very familiar
This is the mystery of Delphi, the atmosphere the sacred ruins create...
This is also the reason I decided to create this website, to inform everyone curious
or the possible visitors of Delphi, as much as I can,
about this beautiful and 100% worth visiting site.