Looking at Rocks

We had a leisurely start and cruised down to Delphi via a tasty bakery in the modern part of town. The main part of the remains are the Sacred Precinct so we went into these first. Alex had been reading up on the site so was able to guide us through it which brought a lot more glamour and excitement to the rocks than there would otherwise have been. There would have been fantastic displays of wealth in open fronted structues by important cities either side of the winding path that leads you up the side of the hill it was built on. These were crammed with statues, both marble and gold plated: spoils of war- shields, swords, helmets: vases and plates in gold and ceramic. The effect as you ascended must have been incredibly impressive and intimedating, the buildings getting mroe impressive the higher you got. One solid white marble treasury of Athens' still stands, presumably repaired, about half way up. The eighteen foot high columns and whiteness of the marble are impressive even today. The main temple at the top is probably where the oracle spoke from, interpreting the drugged mutterings of sacred women, breathing in the fumes from a crack in the mountain. Many of the foundations remian and a few columns have been reconstructed to give an idea of the scale. There is also an impresive 'Polygonal Wall' made of blocks with more than six faces of unequal lengths, each carved perfectly to fit those aound it. This is still standing, despite all that has befallen Delphi, including earthquakes.

Above this is a theatre, and a little further up the hill a stadium. The latter two were remodelled by the romans. The second site, about five minutes walk away has the gymnasium and a collection of other lesser temples. As I said, Alex's words brought it alive for me and he went to look around the museum afterwards while I had an enjoyable time wrting postcards. He said that inside were all the statues and remining treasures that once adorned the site and we both thought it a real shame that some of these or even replicas or other representations of them were not placed in situe as it would really bring the the place to life. Many of the stone blocks, especially in the gymnasium have just been placed in rows in the area thay assume the building they have come from was. I feel the whole site has so much more potential that has been realised- I'm not an expert and have no firm suggestions but I wasn't as excited as I had anticipated by what I saw. It was in an impressive setting though and the views down the valley beautiful.

We had a very pleasent afternoon when we got back later, sitting in the sun reading and exploiting the site's free wii while our washing dried.