Looking toward the temple of Athena
The Tholos at Delphi
Us again
One of many sculptures just lying around
Fighting in the Delphi Theatre
In order to save time, we flew back to the mainland. A ferry would have taken quite a while, especially since we were late in the season. We picked up a car at the airport, and immediately headed out of Athens for Delphi. We'd rearranged our schedule a bit so as to be able to visit Meteora, and this meant we were just passing through Delphi. We arrived a little late. We had time to see the site, but only just - we had to dash to the lower temple to Athena and then to the top of the hill to see the stadium.
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Looking toward the temple of Athena |
The Tholos at Delphi |
Us again |
One of many sculptures just lying around |
Fighting in the Delphi Theatre |
Delphi also has a very nice museum. Typically rich people or cities would bring offerings to the Oracle and the gods, either before a prophecy request, or in thanks for one that was fulfilled. Many cities had small treasury buildings there to show off all the gifts they had given. All of the fancy ones were plundered long ago, but even the leftovers are remarkable.
 Sphinx at the Delphi museum |
 Fight scene frieze |
 Intricate carvings from an offering pit |
 Antinous |
 Model of ancient Delphi |
From Delphi, we went on to Thermopylae, where Leonidas and the Spartans fought the Persians. The hot springs are still there, and we took a quick soak, even though it was the middle of the night. The Gulf of Malia has shrunk though, so it's more of an open field than a narrow pass.
 Monument to Leonidas at Thermopylae |
 Beautiful sunrise |
The next stop was Meteora, a place of unusual geological formations which became the refuge for some hermit monks, and later many large monasteries (built in the 14th to 16th century). They are built on high pinnacles of rock, originally accessible only via ladders and basket elevators. The intact monasteries are still inhabited, and you can tour parts of many them.
 Monastery of the Holy Trinity |
 Monastery of Rousanou, St. Nicholas in background |
 Closeup of the architecture |
 Monastary of Varlaam |
 Varlaam from the other side |
 Looking out at the scenery |
 A fun place to wander at Meteora |
The largest monastery is Great Meteoron, and is the single most interesting to wander around in (although the Holy Trinity has the most interesting grounds). Many of the old rooms are well preserved, and have furniture, so you get a sense of what the place might have been like. The pictures below are from Great Meteoron.
 The kitchen |
 The refectory |
 The wine cellar |
 Skulls of the monks |
 The net elevator room |
The vast majority of the tourists are bussed in. We'd stayed nearby*, so had the run of the place in the morning. By noon it was very crowded. In the afternoon, we decided to explore some sights on our own. We thought we might have spotted the cleft in one of the rocks inhabited by the original hermits, back in the 11th century. After consulting a map, we were able to find a trail that got us to the right place. It was probably a 3- or 4-story tall fissure in the rocks, and you could see places where rock had been cut out to allow for platforms. At the highest points, you could even see some wooden beam and lattices. Those monks must have been good rock climbers. From the cleft, we could see something across the valley that we hadn't noticed before, a set of ruins for a monastery (I have yet to figure out what it was called). Depending on when the monastery was abandoned, it might or might not have a set of stairs up. We decided to try and reach it - no path this time. As we were climbing up the hill, we heard a noise, like an animal moving in the underbrush, maybe a dog or goat. But we couldn't see anything. After narrowing down the location, it turned out to be a group of turtles. We probably saw about 15 or so turtles in the area, moving slowly but noisily through the brush on this steep hill. After some rock scrambling and bushwacking, we made it to the base of the rock the monastery was on. Sadly, no stairs or any means of getting up there. We did find a hollowed out cave at the base of the rock. Way at the back of the cave was a register of some kind. I'm not sure if it was a geocache or something similar, as no entries besides our were in english. On the way back, still high in the steep hills, we ran into a flock of goats and some goatherders, who I got the impression were a little surprised or amused to see us.
* "We'd stayed nearby" is slightly misleading. It was nearby, sure, but I wouldn't call it "staying." That night was actually our worst accommodation of the trip, and on the heels of the best (in Santorini). What was this horrible bed&breakfast in which we had such uncomfortable sleep? Our car! --Danny
 Where the hermits lived |
 Ruined monastery across the valley |
 Looking up at the ruins |
 A mysterious cave |
 Hungry goats |
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