Visiting the Delphic Oracle (Day 1)

After about 3 hours on the bus and one journey through the town of Arahova, which has the narrowest streets I have ever seen two tour busses pass on, we arrived in Delphi. You come around a curve in the road and all of a sudden, the ruins are right in front of you. It's an incredible moment, and one I'm very glad I didn't sleep through. The 40 of us schlepped our stuff down to the hotel, worked out room arrangements (I stayed with Kelly, Aubrey, and Katie), set down our stuff, and immediately headed for the balconies. There were at least 15 or 20 of us hanging out the balconies admiring the view and trying to figure out where everyone else's rooms were. After a few minutes, we decided to head out in search of food, since most of us were starving. After wandering through all 3 streets in the town, we decided to try a place called Gigantes (the Greek word for broad/butter beans) that had been mentioned in one of our guidebooks. Unfortunately, the selection was rather limited. I'm not sure if it was because of the time of day or the fact that it was off-season, but of the 50 items on the menu, the owner told us he only had about 10. I had a Greek salad and most of the other girls got souvlaki (the Greek version of a kebab).

We finished our lunch and watched a bit of Greek TV, trying to guess what was going on based on the pictures and emotions of the newscasters. Occasionally, I would hear a word I recognized, which was still very exciting at that point. Eventually, we decided to head back towards the hotel. It seemed like a good idea, but about 30 seconds after we'd left the restaurant, the wind picked up. It was so strong at one point that even though I was lifting my feet up and setting them down again, I wasn't actually moving forwards -- I actually went backwards a little bit! Suddenly thankful for the many tourist-trap stores which lined the street, we began ducking into them and looking around while we waited for the wind to momentarily subside. I did end up buying a few things, but most of the items struck me as either cheesy -- how many cartoon magnets do you really need? or overpriced -- 15 euro ($22) for a little jar of honey from Delphi. There was some beautiful dichromatic glass jewelry in the stores, which I spent a lot of time admiring, as well as amber and silver jewelry -- two things Greece is famous for. I have to say, my favorite stop along the way was the convenience store/movie rental place/internet cafe we ducked into where I spotted this poster. I had to take a picture!

After settling into our room, trying to figure out the tv, and debating whether to nap, we decided to try to find the sweetshop listed in one of the guidebooks as being famous for its honey sweets and coffee. I didn't try the coffee, but I did order my first piece of baklava in Greece and it was delicious. They used almonds and walnuts and sprinkled a ton of cinnamon on top. It was a little too syrupy for my tastes, but that didn't stop me from eating every bite of it. Some of the girls ordered hot chocolate, which came in Loony Tune mugs. We just sat around talking and playing Never Have I Ever and a variation of Two Truths and a Lie for at least an hour or two. Oddly, the next thing I have a memory of doing is going to dinner, but there must have been something in between these two -- it's starting to sound like all we did in Delphi was eat! I think perhaps we all decided to take naps and that some shopping occurred as well.

Once it had reached a time that resembled an appropriate hour for Greeks to eat dinner (8:30 or so), the four of us met up with the girls who were staying in another room (Amanda, Sara, and Chloe) and asked for a dinner recommendation that wouldn't be too expensive at the front desk. The woman named a couple of places, but also mentioned that she didn't really know what prices would be like, as there are two sets -- those for locals and those for tourists. In a town as touristy as Delphi, this made sense, but it didn't stop me from being a little disillusioned -- although it did seem to explain why all the prices are hand-written, not printed. We decided to try finding a taverna that she had mentioned and that was mentioned in multiple guidebooks. After climbing up 3 intense flights of steps in the wind, we found it and walked in. There was only one other group there and I started to get a bit worried. However, my fears were completely misplaced. Everything we ordered was incredible. We got banana peppers stuffed with cheese and herbs to share as a table, and I ordered lamb with lemon sauce as my main. It was very tender and filling, although I did find room to have some of Aubrey's spaghetti as well. The Greeks like to put cinnamon in their tomato sauces, which is a tactic I think I'll be adopting in my cooking -- it sounds a little strange, but is actually delicious. Now I just have to find a place to get Gravieta cheese in the US! We got the rose house wine, which was the only part of the meal that disappointed me. I'm not sure if I just don't like rose wines or if it was a bad one, or if it didn't match well with my food. We all ate pretty slowly and spent a lot of time chatting. It's so relaxing to go out to dinner and know you can take as much time as you like over your meal and no one will rush you out of there, although sometimes it gets annoying not to be able to get more water for 25 minutes because the waiters don't come to the table unless you flag them down. Eventually, we decided we wanted dessert. I was debating whether to get anything or not, and decided I wanted to try another Greek dessert. At this point, my talent for picking items the restaurant doesn't have resurrected itself, and I ended up going with chocolate cake instead. It was, as was the rest of the meal, excellent -- not too sweet or frosting-y, and a much lighter chocolate flavor than I'm used to in the US. I would almost say it was closer to red velvet than chocolate. So good! I still can't get over how reasonably priced many of these tavernas are -- all of the food added up to about 12euro, or less than $20, and I left full and with my tastebuds tingling. We called it a night and headed back to the hotel, planning on waking up early the next morning to visit the ruins and museum in the morning and going to visit Itea, a nearby seaside town, in the afternoon.