Photo: The charioteer, Delphi. This is a bronze statue from 474BC. The amazing part is that it has ceramic eyes and eyelashes. He seems to look at you.
Day 38: Delphi to Meteora
The day started with a short drive to the Delphi Museum. The
museum houses the many artifacts found during the excavation of the Delphi
site, and includes many impressive pieces, mostly from 600 - 400BC. The
archeological site itself was again very interesting, but again, without a
guide would have just been a pile of rocks. The location of the site in the
mountains amazed me. Why here in such an unforgiving environment? The effort
that these ancient people went to in the name of politics and religion is
incredible.
Also in Delphi was an olive tree believed to be between 600
and 1000 years old – and still bearing fruit. Apparently olive trees can live
indefinitely as long as they’re not burnt, and continue bearing fruit for their
whole life. It took a chain of 7 people with outstretched arms to encircle the
tree.
After we left Delphi we had a longish drive to Meteora, with
a few stops, including a stop at a site commemorating the Trojan wars which
just happened to have a geocache hidden.
The roads through the mountains in Greece are spectacular. Greece is a
much more mountainous country than I was expecting with many hillside villages.
As we approached Meteora we crossed a wide plain – the flattest area we’ve seen
so far, then the rocks of Meteora rose in front of us. I can’t wait to get
amongst it tomorrow when we visit the monasteries.
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