We finally arrived at Delphi, the site of the oracle, that voice of prophecy that echoes through so much of Greek mythology.  We met our local guide, who I recognized from our previous trip--she is rather a celebrity, the force behind much of the expansion and recovery of this site for the public (she has even been in a History channel show about Delphi).  Wish I remembered her name...Someone?


She led us through the lower levels of the temple sites, before letting us explore on our own.  As before, she talked about how difficult the choices archaeologists have to make here--to reveal one layer of culture, often means burrowing through other layers.  So some of what is here has been opened for us.  But the whole valley had, at various times, been part of the oracle's complex.

Here, a bit of one of the 'treasuries,' the place where a region/king would donate/display his donations.


And here, the stone currently placed to represent the omphalos, the navel, the center of the world....


Here, our guide shows us a book of overlays, to help try to envision what this might have looked like, once upon a time--including all the colorful paint the Greeks used on what they considered too-plain marble.


Some views down on the temple of Apollo, and the valley beyond...






Here a theater in honor of Dionysus, curious since Dionysus and Apollo can sometimes be seen as opposites...



Me...

and Michelle...

Some of the columns they have restored...

A block of stone.  But notice the number.  Pretty much every rock here has been numbered and accounted for, as the pros continue to piece it all together.


And here a cypress tree, also associated with Apollo, through the tale of Cyparissus...

A curious rock wall, pieced together, so many thousands of years ago, without mortar, just cleverly fitted...

An accidental juxtaposition, of column and tree, showing, perhaps, what the columns first represented...


and here the stone, near the entrance to the temples, where by legend perched the Delphic Sibyl...

Finally, a tree that refuses to go away.  Always life.

later, bob