In yesterday’s post we mentioned that in the early days of the oracle, the goddess Gaia was the one communicating the messages, and that in later years it was Apollo who spoke to the people. There is actually a story in Greek mythology that explains the change. Gaia, the earth goddess, established the oracle and sent her daughter, Python, the serpent, to protect it. Python became enemies with the god Apollo, son of the great Zeus. Apollo rode up the mountain to Delphi on a dolphin’s back (Delphi means dolphin in Greek) and slew Python. Apollo began a tradition called the Pythian Games to celebrate his victory over Python. Contestants from all areas of Greece gathered in Delphi every four years to face off, in hopes of winning the sacred prize of a crown of laurel (bay leaves).

We have our doubts as to whether all of the information in that story is historically accurate, but we can say that that the Pythian Games were definitely real. Historians believe they began in the 6th century BC, and that they were the pre-cursor to the Olympic Games. The tradition of the Pythian Games continued until the city of Delphi was essentially closed by the Roman/Byzantine emperor. When the Olympic Games began, they were held in different years than the Pythian Games. Being as they were both on a four year cycle, there was never a conflict.

The Pythian Games initially started out as a musical competition. Later poetry, acting, and painting were added. These contests were held in the theater pictured yesterday. Eventually sports were also added, as was chariot races. Some of the sporting competitions were held in the stadium mentioned yesterday, some in the gymnasium we were about to enter into today. Just like the Olympics today, the Pythian Games were a huge deal in their day. While there wasn’t a monetary prize, winning the laurel wreath carried tremendous prestige. Cities supported their representatives with full force. Tons of spectators went to Delphi to watch the games, bringing a lot of wealth into the city. For several weeks before and after the games (and of course, during), there was a pan-Hellenic cease fire so that people could travel safely to Delphi and back. There were huge festivals and ceremonial rituals that went on for several days before the games actually began.

We walked over to the ruins, passing by two ancient drinking fountains, one from the early classical era and one from the Roman age. Delphi is on a river, and they channeled the river water into the fountains. It doesn’t look so good for drinking out of these days. We looked down at the gymnasium. Yup. It looks like the field at every school gym. It is a large, mostly flat area, complete with an oval dirt track. Beyond the oval track is a straight stretch of track, probably for contests like the high jump. The rest of the flat ground has groupings of stone blocks neatly laid out, presumably the remains of assorted gym accoutrements.

Below the gymnasium is an area that houses the temple of Athena and the treasuries. The temple of Athena is probably (more…)

We boarded the tour bus at 0830 near our hotel. Traffic was slow getting out of Athens. The city all looks pretty much the same until you get to the outskirts of town. On the outskirts, you see big stores with parking lots, industrial buildings, and the typical three and four floor apartment complexes actually have space between them. A little farther out of town, there was some farmland in between the apartment buildings and industrial buildings, and pretty soon, the buildings faded away and it was all farmland. The area we were driving through is relatively flat, which is a surprise, because Greece has very little flat land. Greece is one of the most mountainous countries in all of Europe. We could see large mountains in the distance to our left.

One of Greece’s main industries is farming. They are the largest cotton exporter in the EU. They also grow a lot of wheat, olives, olive oil, honey, corn and assorted produce. The area we were driving through had a lot of cotton and wheat fields. We passed a couple of lakes, one man made and one natural. The tour guide, Irini, explained to us that a large portion of this flat land we were driving through was once marshland that had been drained to make more farmland.

We passed the city of Thebes, which is famous for (more…)

Today the road in front of the parliament building was blocked off, and no pedestrians were allowed on that side of the street. There were zillions of police all around the building, some redirecting traffic, most just sitting there. Apparently, they were expecting a president of an Asian county’s arrival, so security was tight.

We checked into our hotel near Syntagma square, and then John took us on a walking tour of Athens. We headed west to (more…)

Our first stop was in the town of Aghia. Koralia’s mother has a gift shop there, and Koralia’s grandmother lives above the shop. We quickly visited the shop, and then went upstairs to meet the grandmother. She is another incredibly sweet, generous person who loves to feed people. As soon as introductions were completed, we were served enormously large pieces of a dessert made with apricots, water and cornstarch. It was awesome.

Then came (more…)

It was finally time to pay attention to our poor, neglected boat. Between the beating she took in all the rough seas over the last few months, the constant hard running, the extra salty Red Sea, and the combination of extreme dust and no rain throughout the Middle East, Kosmos was in desperate need of some TLC in every single area. This is the ideal place to do it. Right now, the climate is temperate, making it easy to work outside and in the engine room (no, no air conditioning in the engine room. Actually, it gets hotter in the engine room when the air conditioning is on due to the generator). Bugs also aren’t much of a problem. The boat is securely tied and the water in the marina is flat, so we can do all the things you can’t do when it is rolly. There is a sufficiently stocked boat store literally at the edge of the marina, so it is easy to run and get that one little thing you need to finish a job. There is internet here, so we can look up on-line resources to help make the job easier. There is an oil drop off station here in the marina. We have our own hose connection with great water pressure. There is staff around to offer you pointers in the right direction for help and supplies. It just doesn’t get much better than where we are right now.

Once we got back, we (more…)

When we arrived, we were shocked at the spread on the table awaiting us. And even more shocked to find out there was more food that wouldn’t fit on the table! After quick introductions to Koralia’s parents, sister and uncle, we were ushered to the table and told to start eating.

There was a salad made of lettuce and cucumber in a red wine vinaigrette. You actually don’t see much lettuce in Greece. Traditional Greek salads consist of tomato, cucumber, bell pepper (capsicum) and onion topped with a block of feta cheese, oregano, olive oil and olives. Of course, a traditional salad was on the table. There were also dolmades, which are a traditional appetizer of stuffed grape leaves. Usually the leaves are stuffed with seasoned rice. They were quite yummy.

They also served escargot. Christi had never had escargot before, and (more…)

This morning Costas took John and us to visit the Monastery of Atali, devoted to John the Baptist, on the hills above the town of Bali. The Greek word “monasterion” means “place for doing something alone”. In the Greek Orthodox religion, monastaries are a community of either men or women who devote themselves to serving God and choose to live apart from the secular community. They are the original commune, where everyone lives and works together in service to God. They are generally built in out of the way places.

The exact date the Monastery of Atali was established is unknown, but it was during the Byzantine period. The monastery was renovated in 1635, under the Venetians. In the mid 1800’s, it was partially destroyed by the Turks and all of the monks were murdered. The monastery continued to exist quietly in its partially destroyed condition until 1941, when the last of the monks died. It sat vacant for 40 years, where it was looted and the forces of nature continued to erode the buildings. In 1983, Father Anthimos and the Department of Byzantine Antiquities began restoring it.

As we pulled up to the monastery, we were impressed by the beautiful, lush gardens. A few low, stone buildings were barely visible behind the array of trees and bushes.

The garden completely covers the grounds. It is quiet and serene, and with all the foliage surrounding you, and as you walk around, you definitely feels as if (more…)

When we were finally done, we got Kosmos situated so we could be gone a couple of days and we headed to Bali (not to be confused with Bali, Indonesia) along the main highway. The drive is beautiful. About a third of the road is inland, the other two thirds along the water. The highway is well maintained, with good signs. Crete is mountainous, with very little flat land anywhere that we could see. The road winds up and down the mountains, so you get incredible vistas from mountain peaks and close ups of the foliage in the troughs.

The vast majority of cars on the road are (more…)