Sunday, October 16 - Delphi, Greece

Today we left Athens for the Peloponnese, with plans to drive around toward the south and see some of the archaeological sites. To do this we rented a car, which would be dropped off at the hotel. Unfortunately, neither of us remembered exactly what time the rental person would be showing up, so we checked out and installed ourselves in the hotel lobby beginning at about 11:00 and it turned out that we had a couple hours' wait. No big deal, though - the hotel has a wireless internet connection. Not a bad way to pass the time.

Made it out of Athens in one piece. It was kind of scary there for a minute; there were a couple of roundabouts to negotiate and it seems that, in Greece, the approach to right-of-way is something along the lines of "whoever makes the first move has the right of way." That sounds typical, but in practice it gets a little weird, especially when traffic starts merging in from out of nowhere. Guess we just have to be a little more assertive.

At any rate, we drove west for a while, then turned south off the main highway toward a bridge that would get us across to the Peloponnese (it's kind of an island, but I don't know if they actually call it that). Thibes was along the way, and we stopped there hoping to have lunch. We walked up a sort of promenade-type area with a bunch of restaurants, and stopped in at one that had a number of people eating on the patio. At that point, the waiter informed us that the place was a seafood restaurant, and that we would probably be happier at the place across the promenade. Although neither of us had any particular problem with seafood, we figured there must have been SOME reason this had been recommended, so we dutifully walked over to the second restaurant, where we were told the place was closed. By this point - and also having noticed some of the stares we got as we walked up the promenade - it was becoming rapidly apparent that we weren't exactly being welcomed, so after grabbing a brown-bag sandwich at a shop up the road, we moved on.

Before long, we were driving along a mountainside that overlooked the Gulf of Corinth. The scenery had changed from suburban areas and industrial buildings to farms and little towns, and the vistas from the road were often spectacular. By about six or so we had arrived at our destination, a sleepy mountain town called Delphi. Fortunately, the first place we stopped (having seen it in a guidebook), the Hotel Pan, had rooms available. So we checked into a charming little suite with a GREAT view of the valley, and, off in the distance, the gulf. Just to top it off, a full moon was peeking out over the mountains as the sun set, so we grabbed our cameras and headed out to take a few pictures before dinner. Later, after a great dinner of pork kebab and a tomato risotto, we headed off to bed. The only noise is coming from bells on a handful of goats grazing on the hillside below, so I don't think we'll have any problems getting to sleep tonight.

Cheers,
Leanne