Delphi, Greece and Surrounding Area

Saturday

Our trip to Delphi began on a Saturday at 8:30a.  Not the best way to start a trip but I was still excited nonetheless.  I had a speech at our first stop so I spent the bus ride being nervous and practicing.  We arrived first at the Temple of Artemis at Aulis where I made my speech.

Then we were off to Thebes where we heard more speeches, got clay ponies, and saw some gates.

Our next stop was Cadmea of Thebes.  It was such a cute town with some sort of sports tournament in the works so there was music playing and everyone was having a great time.

Then we were off to the Temple of Zeus atop a huge mountain (that our bus took us up) and overlooking Levadia where we would be spending the night.  It was such an incredible view.

We made it back down the mountain and into Levadia to go to our hotel and unpack the bus.  We stayed at Hotel Levadia and it was the best hotel ever.  They just did some renovations and our room was amazing.  The shower was incredible and there was a square toilet.

We met up after unpacking and the group went down to the Herkyna springs and the Trophonius Oracle site.  This was yet another amazing site.  So beautiful.  As soon as I saw it, I knew that that would be where we would be venturing at night.

It was a relaxing night after a hectic day.  I went back down to the springs which were as nice as I thought they would be at night, and I ate dinner at the best restaurant where you could hear the water flowing down the stream the whole time.  It was great.  The next day was an early wake up and the day was packed!

Sunday

The view from our room in the morning was amazing, and the breakfast was as amazing as the hotel.   They day was off to an amazing start until our first stop.

Our first stop was the Distomo Historical Museum.  On this abroad trip I have become used to seeing ancient ruins and not really thinking about the people- until this.  This was not an ancient museum but one of the time of World War II and consisted of the saddest videos of people who survived German invaders.  Thank god it was in Greek.

After that depressing morning I listened to some cheer-up music on the bus, and then we were off to Osios Loukas Byzantine monastery.  It was quite pretty.

Next stop was Delphi.  We would be there for the rest of the trip so I was excited.  Once we arrived we went straight to the site and checked out the lower archaeological site.   It was quite amazing.

After checking out some of Delphi, we arrived at the Hotel Acropole where we would be spending the next 2 nights.  It was a cute hotel with orange curtains so I was happy.

The evening was spent relaxing, watching another beautiful sunset, and resting up before my speech the next day!

Monday

We spent the next day at the site of Delphi and the museum.  The site was awesome.  We got to go up the sacred way and stop every five seconds for a lecture – I actually really enjoyed it.

After visiting the archaeological site we went to the museum where I gave my speech on these guys – Kleobis and Biton.

We saw a few other things but were going back to the museum the next day.  After that we had a couple hours of rest before another set of Pythian games for our stupid City-States class.  It ended up being pretty fun, and I got to video the whole thing instead of participating so I was happy.

That evening a few of us hung out and played some card games and had a good time.

Tuesday

We started our last day early – yet again.  We went back to the museum and saw some great stuff there.

On the way out there was a display of children art from a school in Athens that was (hate to say it) adorable, so I snagged a few photos of that.

Then we went to a ski town of Arachova.  We had a nice lunch with a wonderful view – one of my favorite meals I’ve had.

Our second to last stop before returning home was Chaeroneia where we saw a giant cat and a museum.

Lastly, we went to Orchomenos and went to the Church of Skripou, which was still in use by the town today.  It was quite beautiful.

Overall our trip to Delphi was one of my favorite class trips.  I got a lot of rest and saw a bunch of amazing things.  Another great inception trip – check.