Delphi Temple:
Oracle Bones and Apollonic Visions

photo IMG_2811_zps1659c107.jpg — Site of the former Apollonic Temple at Delphi.

The Delphic Oracle and Temple of Apollo is, to my mind, perhaps the second most famous remnant of Ancient Greek civilization (behind the Parthenon, of course!)

photo IMG_2794_zps9e01e52f.jpg — Oracle Bones.

OF course, then, I connived a way to get out and see it during the first week I spent in Athens on my way into Greece. I wont get into the gritty, but suffice to say its far enough from Athens that it makes a possible but perhaps not desirable daytrip.

photo IMG_2705_zpse8172086.jpg — Little Livadia on the way to Delphi.

In fact, as my bus stopped for a solid 11 minutes in the village of Levadia on the return trip to Athens, I foudn myself sorely tempted to quit the bus and linger for a few days exploring a smaller side of Greek village life. Lucky for me (and you, if you enjoy photography around here!) I got quite a lot of that later on in Crete.

The Delphi sight itself, though? Beautiful, and well worth exploring for anybody interested in history or mythology. My college fraternity (Ra-Ra TKE!)’s mythical founder was Apollo as well, so I’ve always had some sort of weird identification issues with that particular Greek God. Well, and we’re both ruggedly handsome.

photo IMG_2838_zps7829e7aa.jpg — Coliseum view.

After wandering up and through the ruins of the Delphic temple complex, my little tour group headed inside the attached museum to learn all about the Oracle of Delphi. Like how, for example, she would inhale the smoke of a locally grown plant and then fall to the floor and dream dreams of communion with the gods. Ahem.

photo IMG_2902_zpse7e7b3d6.jpg — New Delphi Museum.

There were also a bunch of statues and stuff.

photo IMG_2876_zps2f5aa2c5.jpg — Frieze view.

Was it cool? Absolutely. Was it worth the trip? As a daytrip, only if you have cash to blow on an organized tour and don’t mind being a bit rushed at the site while spending several hours on a bus each way. Much better I think to go as a one or two night trip to stay in some of the villages nearby too. Just, uh, watch out for those local herbs.

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As mentioned, I made the Athens Delphi Day Trip to take photographs for GetYourGuide. If you don’t have time for an overnight trip to the area and can stomach the cost and time spent on busses, this might be a good option for you.