When the normal day started, we loaded the bus for the Delphi Archaeological site.
There are so many interesting things about Greek and Roman ruins. Not only have they been covered for centuries, but they have great stories behind them. On our tour of the Delphi archaeological cite today, our tour guide did a great job of telling not only the history of the place, but also the story behind their culture. She was full of old myths and legends from the time. Grandpa gave instructions to ignore all the lies and interpret everything myself.
The Oracle of Delphi was the ancient center of the world. In short, there was a fault line running under this city that released fumes into the Oracle. Pythias were women chosen to be the mediators between the people and Apollo. It was religious and miraculous. Really, she would just have hallucinations from the doped up air she was breathing and then an "interpreter" would tell the people what she meant. the prophecies were like fortune cookies, the answers always had room for interpretation.
There was also a museum that housed some of the found artifacts to help preserve them. My favorite was the bronze statue of a chariot racer. It was in pretty good condition and the eyes were still there, which is very rare. Most of the time, ancient artifacts are all just broken stone, so I always like seeing pieces that still have some decoration on them.
Most of what we saw were classified as archaic, meaning from the 6th century B.C. If you ever see a statue with what looks like a forced smile, its archaic.
When people came from far away to have their prophecies told, they brought offerings along with them, so Delphi had a lot of treasures that couldn't be found in Greece
Another plus about Delphi is that the stray cats were super cute and friendly! They just crawled all over Scarlet and me! I almost stuck one in my purse to bring it back, but didn't think Mr. Z would appreciate that.
When we got back to the boat, it was picture time! Everyone had 15 minutes to get on their best outfit and meet outside the boat for a group picture. It was the fastest group picture session I have ever been a part of. Then again most of my group pictures are with my sorority sisters, so just standing for 2 pictures would not be acceptable for them.
Before the ship took off for Piraeus, there was about 45 minutes of time to kill, Scarlet and I checked out the engine room which was just really loud, and then jumped in the water for a swim. There were some people from the crew out there already so we had an America vs India race. America won.
I spent the rest of the afternoon on the deck drying off in the sun and eventually just falling asleep. Of course I woke up in time to watch the Athena go through the Corinth Canal. This canal cut 266 miles off our route to Piraeus, and only 70 ft wide. So most modern ships are too big for it, not us!
Looks like we are heading straight for land right?
Surprise!
Tonight Scarlet was not pleased about the desert selection. She discretely called our waiter, Glenn, over to explain the problem. Before we knew what was happening, Scarlet was brought a bowl of chocolate ice cream doused in caramel. I have to say, she did miss out on some great Greek cake.
Our entertainment tonight was a "Lounge Show." This is what it was called on our itineraries and that was all we knew about it. When everyone was sitting in the lobby, Rok and Ivan started handing out parts. Like in a movie. We were going to put on a play! Most everyone was actually part of the play rather than watching it, but that made it more fun. Grandpa was chosen to play the Sun, Scarlet was the Old Tree, and I was the Princess - how fitting!
There were 6 acts or so. I was taken from my castle one night by 3 robbers, tied to a tree, Scarlet, in the middle of the woods (where three butterflies and three wild boars were hanging out), and eventually rescued by my prince and taken home.
Jokes were told, games were played, and everyone had a great time.
No comments:
Post a Comment