GALAXIDI & DELPHI (final stop in Greece)

Galaxidi is a pretty, little, non-touristy town on a southern tip of mainland Greece.  Some say Galaxidi feels like an island.  For years it was isolated and only accessible by boat from Itea.  Now there is highway access, but it is a lengthy, twisty, hairpin road through the mountains to get there.

Due to geography, there are two small ports here, the newer one lined with restaurants and a more active marina with boats from away and the older one on a peaceful Malecon lined with neoclassical mansions that once belonged to sea captains and the prominent shipping families of Greece and whose port protects small, open, wooden boats of local fishers and families.  This port is known locally as Hirolakas (Widow's Port), remembering the women who waited (sometimes to no avail) for their man to come from the sea. Many of the big homes seem closed up, perhaps used as summer vacation homes by the younger generations of the old families.

Our accommodation is an older place on the western reaches of Galaxidi (not in town).  From our second-floor balcony, we have a great view of the sea and can easily walk to a beach that's completely devoid of commercial activity.  

A slightly longer walk towards town takes us to a restaurant on the beach that lets you use their beach-front loungers all day for the purchase of an occasional, reasonably priced beer.  The music here is excellent and at just the right volume, the food menu very limited, but one of the best burgers I've ever eaten.  

From the beach there is a small island and what looks like a church on it.  We never really see anyone there.

Between us and the restaurant on another stretch of beach is a wagon that sells beer, pop, sandwiches, coffee, breakfast, etc almost at grocery store prices.  On the weekend a little community of campers pops up here.  People sleeping in their trucks, on cots in the open air, in hammocks ... apparently to enjoy the beach.  We don't see any toilets or running water here ... so try to not think about that.

This motel/apartment building that we stay in is run by a very nice man who has a small room in the building.  We had tried to get a room through Booking.com but their site wasn't working so we call him directly.  He gives us an even better deal than on the web and wants no money until we leave.  When its time to go we discover he takes only cash and trusts us to leave without paying to go to town and get cash and bring it back to him!!!  Many of the apartments are taken long term.  Its a quiet, peaceful, well-run place.

The first morning we're just getting up and hear what we now recognize as bells around the necks of sheep and sure enough, cutting across the bottom of our property from somewhere through the olive groves to the left comes a shepherd, his dog and small flock.

As we drive to town for groceries we quickly learn that siesta here is from 2 PM until 6 or 6:30 PM, then everything is open till 10.  Ah, a later trip into town and lunch out as there's no food in the apartment.

The beaches here are small, smooth stones, not sand and you need to watch where you put your feet getting in and out as sea urchins are clinging to some of the rocks.  But the sea is calm and warm.  A great place to be.

On the last day here, we walk into town along the highway route that we drive...then decide to see if we can find a way home along the beach.

At the quiet end of the busier port with restaurants someone has created a small island that is a duck feeding station and on the sidewalk is a big dish with fresh water for the ducks to drink.  They take advantage of this hospitality.  

Across from this port on a point of land is what looks like a provincial park if we were back home.  There are trees, walking/bicycling paths and we can see natural little coves with a few people in each, swimming, relaxing and picnic-ing. If we're back in town with the car will check it out.

Just one of many restaurants

This looks like a nice place to hike, bike or swim in one of the little beaches

The collage below shows both ends of the new port:

                                        Come take a walk along the waterfront with us:

  We round the corner of the port and come to a busy place on the water.  Lots of families, eating, lounging and playing.  It and the beach restaurant out by where we are walking seem to be the two busy places in town.

Beyond this busy place there starts the nice wide Malecon of the old port, appropriate for the stately houses here.  We meet only one other person.

 We stop for a beer in an old place right on the water that used to be a mill grinding olives for oil.  The owner is just coming back from a swim with her mom and opens up for us, the only customers.  Paul engages her in a conversation about politics in Greece and we end up talking for some time.

The Malecon ends beyond this place.  A brief walk on a local road, then back to the beach along a dirt path.  Again, we meet no one.  

Most of the few seafront homes are ordinary, but a couple are very luxurious.  Bougainvillea spills out of many yards, other than that (and the sea), the landscape reminds us of Grand Forks - dry, semi-arid, pine trees (along with the olive groves).  We make it back home all along the sea, relaxed and ready to go to the beach.

You may be able to tell that we liked Galaxidi ... rambling on about this quiet, little place.  It's worth a stay if you are in this part of Greece.

In the middle of our, Galaxidi stay, we drive 25 minutes to Delphi, leaving early as we know the ruins are on Mount Parnassus and there is some climbing to do before it gets too hot.

Many people day trip to Delphi from Athens.  There is the small town of Delphi and accommodation near the site which also seems busy. We are early enough to beat most of the tour buses and are glad that they are returning to Athens and not coming down to Galaxidi.

Ancient Greeks considered Delphi to be the centre of the world.  Delphi may have been a religious sanctuary for the god Apollo, but was most famous for Pythia, Priestess of Apollo and the oracle who gave predictions to both individuals and 'governments'.  Go here to read some of the predictions made by the oracle: Prophecies of Pythia over hundreds of years.

And of course, Delphi is one of the sacred sites where the pan-Hellenic games were held.

A single admission ticket gets you into the site and the archaeological museum.

There are many different structures at the ancient Delphi archaeological site.  Here are just a few of them:

Near the entrance, there are many so-called Treasuries.  These were often built by city-states to commemorate victories, or to thank the Oracle who was presumed to have influenced the outcome of a victory.  One of the treasuries held the tithes to Apollo for various victories.  The tithe was a tenth of the spoils of battle.  One of the treasuries has been reconstructed:

The museum holds many examples of some of the riches found on the site:

Those seated in the theatre here had spectacular views of the whole Delphi sanctuary and the valley below:

We are standing at the theatre looking into the valley below and notice how immense the olive grove that we drove through to get here is.  In the photo below, all that's green and not a cypress tree is olive trees.

The stadium at Delphi could seat 6,500.  The track was 177 meters long and 25.5 meters wide.  The arches in the top left photo below are the starting gates.  Photo bottom left of seating.  The seats with the backrests were reserved for the judges.

Here is the Tholos of the sanctuary of Athena Pronea.  The tholos was just one building in the sanctuary.  It is an architectural feature widely used in the classical world.  Three of its columns have been reconstructed.  There were 20 columns around the circular platform in ancient times.  Follow this link to learn more about the Sanctuary and the Tholos:  Sanctuary of Athena Pronea at Delphi

There is a huge wall on the site.  Many of its stones are inscribed with the contracts of slaves who were dedicated to the service of Apollo.  One thousand contracts have been recorded.

This marble omphalos, according to myth marked the centre of the earth, the point where two eagles released by Zeus from two opposite ends of the earth eventually met.

Random photos from the site:

Of the ancient sites that we've visited this trip, Delphi may have had the most interesting archaeological museum, although they have all been pretty amazing.  Here are a few random photos from the museum:

In the photo above, the Greek Sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of a lion and the wings of a bird.  She is treacherous and merciless.  Those who cannot answer its riddle are killed and eaten by this ravenous monster.

This beautiful statue is of a charioteer.  Apparently, they were usually young men from the upper classes.

It seems right that the last blog post on Greece is on Ancient Delphi.

Now we head off to new lands and a completely different country...Macedonia.  

There has long been some animosity between the country of Macedonia and Greece over a "naming" dispute.  A northern area of Greece is a geographic and administrative region called Macedonia.  Until the dispute was settled in Greece's favour, Greece was acting to block admission of the country of Macedonia into the European Union.  Last year the country of Macedonia came to an agreement with Greece that its name would be the Republic of North Macedonia.  Its a year later, the Republic is not yet in the EU; Greece has just held elections and has a new right-leaning leader who may not proceed with supporting Macedonia's entry into the EU.

It may be prudent to avoid discussions revolving around Greece or politics while we are in the Republic of North Macedonia.