Thursday
Recovering from a not so good sleep night we had a leisurely breakfast and departure from Diakofto with a decision not to take the roundtrip train ride through the gorge. The scenery was supposed to be beautiful from the vantage point of the tracks running along the river but the drive was good enough for us. Gotta be moving on.


Heading to Delphi. Driving along the Corinthian Sea we drove to Patra to cross the bridge where the Patraoidos Sea meets the Corinthian. The bridge was impressive and was one of the best pieces of modern architecture and engineering we had seen in Greece. Continuing our drive on the other side of the Corinthian we stopped in a couple of beautiful little seaports. Lots of fish farming was scattered along the way.


Arriving in Delphi is a treat. It is high in the mountains, many hairpin curves and spectacular sights of the water and little villages. We are getting accustomed to these sights but keep on stopping for more pictures.  


Deciding to drive beyond Delphi and the tourist crush we went a few kilometer beyond the ruins to find accommodations in Arachova which serves both Delphi visitors and the ski crowd in the winter. We locked in quickly on the Arachova Inn. Rooms over a Shell gasoline station, cheap, adequate but real noisy from main street traffic with showers that resembled a low rimmed washtub without a curtain. Group rule established. Pre-inspections required for noise, working air conditioning and good showers. Hotel shopping is permissible.


Delphi is impressive. Considered the center of the world by ancient Greeks, this place has been in use for 3,000 years. Greeks came to Delphi to seek advice from an oracle (usually a woman deemed to have been given the powers of prophecy from the god Apollo. We sought advice on how best to find the best hotel. Maybe it worked down the road.


The Delphi ruins and museum are impressive. Built high on the mountain and cascading over the side, it was a hike for the ancients Greeks to get here and an inspiring sight when they did. The Temple of Apollo, the theatre and the athletic stadium were among the many ruins you could view. As a footnote, the Greeks have not adapted our rule of the American Disabilities Act. Most of the ruins with the exception of Olympia required some rigorous step climbing. These places are not handicap friendly.


Back in Arachova for our usual evening overindulgence of food, which followed overindulgence at breakfast and lunch many places were closed for the season but we locked in on the same place that had served us an excellent lunch. While this was a top quality restaurant a little review of the menu might be interesting. The Greek menus we have been exposed to thus far have been a bit limited. Lots of bread is put out in front of us to be dipped in olive oil and vinegar. The menu choice, the Greek salad has been our standby shared by all with several other salads experimented with. We quickly figured out that sharing a one or two salads and a couple of entrees was more food than we normally ate. Souvlaki (lamb, pork or chicken on a stick), moussaka, pastisto, spagetti, stewed lamb, goat, chicken or pork, gyros, and a few other things made up the menu. Many times the menu didn't matter, it was what they had in the kitchen. However, all that said, our "weigh out" at the end of this trip is going to be a sad experience and require a few weeks of constrained calories.


The main street of Arachova was not quite. But we are beginning to harden up on this sleep thing and managed to have a good evening.