Saturday, June 30, 2012

Road to Delphi

On that last day in Greece, a few of us did the early bus and took off for Delphi, the site of the ancient oracle.  To be true to my developing-new profession, here's a map, with swell red marks I drew around a few key cities:


So, we took off from Athens, heading sort of NW.  It's about a 3-hour bus ride each way.  We stopped for a mid-morning snack, including spinach pie...



various pastries (I expected sweet, but these were cheese, and perhaps ham), and fortunately, neither Turkish nor Greek coffee-sludge, but a straight double expresso...



While some went straight for the baklava...



and Ericka and Steve found their namesake ice cream...



And here, a familiar logo...



But soon, back on the road, through fields not too different from Missouri, and then passing the now-small town of Thebes.  No picture from that, but let's remember our Greek drama, especially the play, Oedipus Rex.  In that tale, the King of Thebes abandoned his infact son, Oedipus, because of a prophecy from the oracle at Delphi.  The son, not eaten by wolves, was raised in Corinth, unaware he was adopted.  As a young man, he heard a whisper of this, and went to Delphi, from Corinth, to consult the oracle.  He met and unknowingly killed his father somewhere on the road between Delphi and Thebes.  Ok, look back at that map above.  The rest is gruesome mythology, and a swell theory by Freud.

Meanwhile, we slowly drove into the mountains, with the bits of modern tech decorating them...





and the clouds that would greet us, and drizzle a little later...


and then through a tiny village, where we didn't get to stop and sample the local cheese, but got to cringe as our huge tour bus edged past another huge bus, with oh, at least one whole inch to spare.





And next, Delphi...

later, bob

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