Delphi

I took a day trip with a tour company. It's about 2 to 3 hours drive out of Athens. We were served lunch in a restaurant in a town on the way, perhaps even the modern town of Delphi. I remember sharing a table with a taciturn young British couple. It was a pretty decent and tasty lunch I recall, with meat, gravy, veges, and mash.

Delphi is on a spur of Mount Parnassus, and believed by the Greeks to be the centre of the earth. (A month or so later I would visit its namesake in Paris, Montparnasse.) This is what's left of the Athenian Treasury.

What's left of the Temple of Apollo.

In the Colossus of Maroussi, Henry Miller waxed eloquent about Delphi, and this was part of the reason I wanted to visit the site. Certainly the splendid location makes one feel like having visited a special place.

The three standing columns were restored, and this Tholos, Sanctuary of Athena Pronoia is a favourite with photographers.

A splash of colour.

The Delphi Archaeological Museum is nearby. A search shows that this would be the Sphinx of Naxos.

So many Greek names, e.g. Delphi, Apollo, Athena, Naxos, are recognisable because they have permeated European culture.

The return to Athens was uneventful and I packed my bags to leave the next day.