Athens Day 2

Day 2 was a trip to Delphi, where the oracle of Apollo lived and relayed his prophecies to the people. It is now a UNESCO archaeological site.

The bus ride was about 3.5 hours from Athens. What I can say about the bus system is that it is very unsystematic. There is a ticket booth selling the tickets, but you can also board the bus without tickets and get them from the conductor halfway through your ride. Our bus ended up with more passengers than there were seats. Luckily we bought our tickets with seat numbers on it (13.60 euros one way). I can't imagine standing or sitting on the stairways for 3.5 hours. Sakit buntut nanti.

The layout of Delphi.

There were so many beautiful costumes on display.

Yes. I was quite silly to wear skirt that day. M who knew that Delphi was located on a higher altitude at the slopes of Mount Parnassus and didn't tell me about it. The weather wasn't great that day. It kept on raining and the fog was thick on our way to the archaeological site.

We're as high as the clouds

Our first stop was the Delphi Museum as we wanted to gain some knowledge about the place before exploring the real thing.

I must confess that I didn't know any of this while I was there. My motto is 'experience first, understand later' (just joking).

I was quite puzzled why we were not allowed to pose next to it for photo. I guess it is a sign of respect. This is the Sphinx of Naxos, a mythical monster with the head of a woman, the breast of a bird and the body of a lion. It was given to the oracle of Delphi as a gift.

Omphalos - the center of the earth. This piece could only be viewed by priests and priestess who had access to the temple of Apollo during that time. I think I would have died of curiosity if I had lived and knew about it then.

Cult statue of Antinoos, a youth of extraordinary beauty and beloved companion of the Emperor Hadrian. Sadly, he drowned in the Nile before he reached adulthood. It is one of the most beautiful and well preserved statues.

Famous bronze statue at the museum. For a detailed description of it, please visit this site.

So, after trying to absorb all that 'knowledge' that we learnt from the museum, off we went to see the real thing.

The treasury of Athens - the place where all my life savings are stored.

The temple of Apollo

I think the Temple of Apollo is where you go to see the oracle for advice. If you had the chance to ask that once in a lifetime question, what will it be?

The ancient theatre of Delphi

There are 35 rows and it can accommodate 5000 spectators.

I would say that the stage is quite small. I guess the advantage will be that all the spectators will be able to see from their seats.

We were climbing uphill and it rained at least twice along the way. Finally, at the top, we reached the stadium.

After snapping a few pictures, we made our way down.

Final shot before we went for lunch....

Let me say it again. Definitely the final shot before we went for lunch. M and F wanted to be in the picture as well.

Phew, that was a lot of history to take in. Let's change topic and talk about something which interests me - food.

As usual, a basket of bread.

Pork souvlaki. A traditional Greek kebab. It was really tender and juicy.

I must say that I forgot what I'd ordered that day. I think it was Gyros. I remember not understand what was the translation and I still cannot figure out what meat it was. I'm getting old.

Gemista. This is a vegetarian dish. It is oven roasted tomatoes and peppers stuffed with rice and herbs. Very delicious. Too bad I'm allergic to bell peppers. Why???

Garbage? Oh....gabbage. Wait, what is gabbage? Maybe it's cabbage. I think you know why none of us ordered that.

Waiting for the 4pm bus to take us back to Athens.

After the 3.5 hours bus ride, all of us were hungry. So, this day was the day when I felt like I was eating all the time. Such luxury.

We went to this family owned restaurant where there was live singing and guitar playing to entertain us throughout.

Melitzanosalata - Aubergine salad. The first time when I thought that aubergines tasted quite nice.

Taramosalata - Fish roe salad. Very strong fishy smell and taste, quite salty, but I liked it.

Tomato soup

Grilled squid

Stewed lamb. Very tender. I think they must have stewed it for the whole day.

Chicken with mushroom sauce

Spaghetti bolognese

Tired but happy people

We went to Syntagma square after dinner to visit the shopping area.

Again, we were hungry and we saw this road side stall selling pretzels. M and F bought the one on the top left which had chocolate in the middle of it and another one which had chocolate filling. So delicious.

We walked around Athens at night, visited the Parliment, Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We came back to the sites on the last day to visit them in the daytime.

Kapnikarea church at night. Acropolis can even be seen from here.

Watch out for Athens Day 3 - Poseidon's temple in Sounion and of course, more food.