Greece 3: Revisiting Acrocorinth, then on to Delphi, the center of the world- A long post

        I said goodbye to my hosts in Nafplio and left for Delphi.  On the way, I stopped again at Acrocorinth.  This time it was open.  After passing a few people near the entrance, I had the whole top of the mountain to myself.  I spent a good hour walking around to see the walls and structures that stretched across the whole mountain.  At one point, every step of mine elicited a jump from every grasshopper in the vicinity.  At times this numbered near thirty jumping insects were steps.  I had to close my mouth at one point, just to make sure none launched themselves into the wrong direction.

    The driving in Greece is not particularly fun.  No one even attempts to come close to the speed limit, often driving even forty kilometers over it.  Therefore, while I attempted to follow the signs, people are driving at vastly different speeds than each other, and often pass one another whether there are dashed lined in the center or not.  There are tons of road kill on the road, likely due to this reckless driving.  On this day alone, I saw some sort of rodent, a fox, and two domestic cats dead on the road, something I had never seen before.  I looked up "driving in Greece," online, and the Greeks have some of the highest accident rates in Europe.  This did not surprise me.

    Just before reaching Delphi, I stopped at the archaeological site of Oracle Trophonius.  Reviews online were good, but this stop ended up being a mistake.  The gps took me through narrow roads in a town that wound through a mountain.  I stopped at a parking lot, as the gps wanted me to drive through a local gated swimming pool.  I followed the instructions online, which indicated to follow the river.  I did so, but it simply led to a path through an extremely windy canyon.  Everything was graffitied over.

    On the very short walk back, I recognized the picture used on google maps.  There were some fountains into the river, with some large holes in the nearby wall.  There was some trash at this end of the river, so I tried to take a photo that didn't include it.

    Children were using the river as a swimming pool and jumping in from the sides.  It was certainly hot enough to do so.  Navigating out of the city was incredibly precarious, as the gps kept trying to take me through roads that were one way, in the wrong direction.  I had to climb up incredibly steep and narrow roads and then back down others.  The small car that I am driving does not handle steep inclines or declines well.  At one point I encountered a delivery truck, completely blocking the path.  This was made more difficult because I was on a steep incline.  Luckily, they noticed me and moved a few minutes later down the street.  There was no way to back up(or slide down backwards) safely, and I was honestly nervous about going from a full stop into acceleration while in such a weak engine.  In the end, I made it without any mishaps, but it was nerve wracking.

    Just a short while later, I started ascending into the mountains and drove along cliffsides.  I passed a stunningly beautiful town that hung on the cliffs, that looked similar to how the tiered towns on the beaches of Italy looked.  There was a clocktower at the center.  It would have made for a lovely picture, but there was nowhere to stop.  While driving through this town, with yet another narrow road, a huge bus turn onto my street.  There was nothing I could do but cling to the right side of the road and stop completely.  The driver hesitantly passed me and as the bus went farther past me, the narrower the gap between them and I became.  It was only a handful of inches, yet they cleared me.  Just beyond this town was the next town, Delphi.

    The hotel was very, very nice.  By this point, I was exhausted.  I first tried a restaurant with high ratings and then a cafe with the same.  Both were reported to be open, yet were closed.  On my third try, I was successful.  I was one of only two patrons in the entire establishment, which would continue to be a common theme on this trip.  

    I picked a corner with a view, where two windows were opened about a foot wide.  The waitress, likely thinking that she was doing me a favor, decided to open up the one in front of me by five feet.  I felt less safe and I dare not look to see what kind of structure was holding up this balcony.  Here I decided to try moussaka, which is on every menu I see.  I was hoping they would have a vegetarian version like the first place I had tried, but they did not.  I wasn't particularly impressed by the dish.  It is like a worse version of lasagna.  The only coffee they had was greek coffee.  I asked the guy what it was like and he responded, "Well, do you want to try something new?"  I said sure.  When he returned with the coffee, he stood there, waiting to hear my reaction.  I said it was good, and the previously grumpy man showed a smile and looked incredibly pleased.  I wasn't crazy about the coffee.  Plus, as it is apparently made, it has tons of coffee grind at the bottom that I assume you are not supposed to drink.  If you are, well, I won't.

    Later at night, I walked across the street to a cafe to try some baklava.  It was like a tiered pastry cake with stickiness and nuts.  While it was good, it was a huge pain to eat, as I couldn't just cut slices with a fork.  Even cutting with a knife was hard.

    The next morning I woke up to scraping along my ceiling, from 7:00 AM onward.  The dining room which served breakfast must have been above me.  Late morning I walked with a backpack to the archaeological sites of Delphi.  Delphi was reportedly thought to be the center of the world by the Greeks.  You can even find the stone marking this center, in the museum, said to be thrown by Zeus.  I didn't know to look for it at the time, and I was rushing through due to all of the people, so I never saw it.  Delphi was home to the most powerful oracle of ancient Greece, and was one of the most powerful women in the classical world.

    I was able to walk on a path right from town, that was along either side of the road.  I first walked to the far end, to investigate the Athena Pronaia Temple.  Everyone was heading out as I walked down, so I had it all to myself.  The ruins were mostly single large crumbled stone on the ground, with the exception of a circle and a single arch.

    I tried to stop at the Castalia Spring, but it seemed to be closed, so I continued on to the main Delphi site, which hosted a whole set of ruins, one after the other, as you climbed up a mountain side.  When I research places to visit, I try to find things that I think will interest me, while trying not to read too much into it, as to not ruin the surprise.  I actually had no idea that this town was on a cliffside at all.  

    I first stopped to get a drink at a vending machine, and while drinking, noticed that there were some kittens on the other side of the ticket stand, with bowls for food and water.  I made sure to return here later with the appropriate lens for photos.

    

    As I walked down, I decided to change the lens to one for close up, as indicated by this last picture of a flower that I couldn't quite get into focus because of the wind and my impatience.  Well, this made me more aware of how everything looked close up, and once I was two thirds back down the mountain, I noticed that some of the stones used to build walls and buildings had tons of writing on them.

    I also was the only one sitting on the ground eagerly watching a group of ants go after what looked like a food concoction thrown onto the ground.

    Just a few minutes down the road was the Delphi Museum, which shared a ticket with the ruins.  Along the way there was a fence, and every few steps was a molted husk of a large beatle.

    The museum was medium to small in size.  There was a short line to enter, because they were only allowing so many people at a time.  Once inside, they only let a certain number of people in each room.  It was hot inside, and with a decent amount of people, I sped through.

    Afterwards, I walked back to the town, had dinner in an empty restaurant, and then later returned to the cafe again at night.  This time, when I "thanked" him in Greek, he corrected me.  Somehow between Nafplio and here, I had swapped two of the words.  I was telling him "you're welcome" rather than "thank you."  We spoke a bit and he told me that I would see more trees and greenery going north and that there would be less tourists than I have seen so far(which has been very few) and that I would like it.  He shared that he has a few friends in the United States.  I tipped him extra for helping correct me.

    These last two pictures are of a last insect I found on the way back to town.