After the bus was delayed by a group of people deciding to hold an impromptu protest in the middle of the road it would have been easy to arrive in the wrong frame of mind. But I didn't have a chance, Delphi charmed me right away. I'm a sucker for views and location, and Delphi had them both. The Ancient Greeks essentially believed that Delphi was where Heaven met the Earth, and while not many would say the same today, it's easy to see why so many thought it was such a special place.
The ancient site itself is situated high up on the side of a mountain with stunning views down and across the valley, and to be honest, the trip was almost worth it just for that. There was a purity in the air missing from Athens and everything just felt so serene. The site itself was slightly different, being rather full of people, or at least, it was at the bottom. Being on a hill side the site is a bit of a climb in places, and most people congregated at the bottom, stopping at the ancient theatre and not venturing up to the Roman stadium. I commentated on this on my DC entry, but I still can't understand why people go to a place and then don't take the opportunity to see it all - they must miss so much, but never realise it. I guess that's why I dislike organised tours because you never find out what you're not being shown.
Oddly, everything was written in Greek and French, which wasn't that useful for mono-linguists such as myself, but made sense seeing how most of the other people there were indeed French, or German (and I guess they were as baffled as me). Unlike the Acropolis there isn't much evidence of reconstruction, and in fact, one of the most striking things I saw was a little model of how the site would look fully restored. It's only when you see something like that that you realise just how ruined the place actually is, but that almost makes you appreciate what's left even more. It never ceased to amaze me just how far advanced Greek civilisation was in building these places when they did, and I can only wonder how different things could have been today had the rate of development continued unabated.
I usually have a policy of not visiting museums and galleries. It's a little blunt in application and I probably should venture into more, but I usually find them to be a little sterile and I much prefer the outdoors, but I made an exception in Greece. It didn't really pay off at the Archaeological Museum in Athens, but it did at the museum at Delphi. It was much less grandiose than the one in Athens and let the exhibits themselves do the talking. One of the only times I've wished that I had more time to look around a museum.
In the end, the little over four hours I had proved to be enough time to see most things without having to rush too much, but I didn't get to see the town of modern Delphi which seemed unnaturally sleepy for such an important place.
The Oracle might not have been in when I called, but Delphi is certainly somewhere that it's safe to say has left me with a lasting impression.
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