A morning alone

Adrian goes spectating on his own. Rowena run down from work and in need of a holiday. Buk skips off in his element to a stage set in a bauxite mine in the early hours of the morning. It’s one of the highlights of the holiday for him and I am glad that the spare wheel is not there hampering it!

I surf the internet, buy tickets for the Olympics (mens 1500m final 4 x 100 m swimming finals and the closing ceremony.)

I walk the length of the down, drinking in the view of cypress and olive trees which sweep down to the Gulf. I sit on the roadside listening to the goats. Their bells are home fashioned of different thicknesses and types of metal, so they create a melody as they search for something to eat, the occasional bleat punctuating their tunes. Our family used to have a goat farm so it’s special to me to be with goats again.

I got to the town visitor centre and look at a model of the ancient town. According to mythology, Zeus released two eagles at opposite ends of the world and they met here at Delphi. Like the eagles, Adrian and I rendez vous on the road outside our hotel!

We set out to explore the ruins of ancient Delphi – a sanctuary dedicated to the god Apollo. The oracle at Delphi was considered to be Apollo’s mouthpiece and was the most powerful oracle in Greece as a result. When the oracle was consulted over matters of war, it was showered with treasures by the victors and soon became coveted for these treasures.

The museum was being renovated so there was not a lot on display. We couldn’t find the omphalos – the cone that marked the actual centre of the world where the eagles met, but there was a remarkable life size bronze charioteer from approximately 470 BC.

We had only an hour before closing time to take in the ruins, which meant that some of the site caretakers chased us up to the stadium and down again! The Theatre and the columns of the temple of Apollo were breathtaking in size and stature – despite the years.