I'm writing yesterday's blog from the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus while waiting for the beginning of the performance of Medea. It's dusk and beautiful and hard to remember yesterday in Delfi, but I'll try. More on Epidaurus tomorrow. We began yesterday on the ship. Our bags had been picked up the night before and we were instructed to meet the rental car rep at 8:45 outside the Passenger Terminal. At 8:00 we were told we had to vacate the ship, so we went into the terminal, gathered up our luggage and waited and waited and waited. By 9:00 we were getting a little concerned. A kindly tour guide asked us what we were waiting for. After we explained, he offered to call the car company. He found out that our rep had been unable to enter to port because of the taxi strike and had been trying to call us. I found him double parked (he IS Greek) on the boulevard outside the port. He was afraid to enter the port because the taxi strikers had threatened him the day before and remembered him when he tried to enter again. They had actually kicked his car. We decided they wouldn't bother me, so I signed all the papers and returned to pick up the others without incident. Ron had the great idea to keep the rental car until our departure to avoid a problem getting to the airport if the taxi strike were extended indefinitely, which we did...so we will be coming home on time, that is, if the taxi drivers don't block entry to the airport. We all agreed that the right to striks is fundmental, but the right to disrupt other lives is not.
We finally hit the autoroute and found ourselves in the relatively cool mountain air of Delfi a couple of hours later, tired but happy. After lunch and a little rest, Marilyn and I, the intrepid travellers, headed for the museum and ruins of the ancient site, one of the most sacred in all of Greece. The site was dedicated to the sun god Apollo. Whenever the Greeks (and the Persians and Romans from time to time) had an important delimma, they would send someone to Delfi to consult the oracle. The oracle was the Pythia who sat on a tripod over an opening presumed to be the navel of the earth. She inhaled the fumes which were emitted, uttered some incomprehsensible phrases, and the priests turned those utterings into a somewhat enigmatic answer to the question...thus, the origin of "pithy." As an example of the kind of answers given, the Athenians asked the Oracle what they should do about the approaching Persians and were told they should seek the protection of their wooden walls. Someone decided that "wooden walls"referred to their ships, so they desserted the city, which was burned (along with all those who thought the Oracle meant for them to hide in the Acropolis), and the Athenians lived on to fight another day and drive the Persians out. Everything depends on the correct interpretation.
The site itself is perched high on a shelf on Mt. Parnassos, which is also home to the Muses. The rocky peak could pass for Colorado. The ancient archeological site consists of a row of Treasury buildings which held the offerings of the various Greek cities, a shelf with the Temple to Apollo, and a shelf with the amphitheatre. It's yet another temple that was destroyed by earthquake. The major possession in the museum is an incredibly complete and beautiful bronze statue known at the charioteer. It still takes my breath away to see in person all of the works of art I have spent the last few years displaying to students via PowerPoint.
The evening was spent on a cool terrace in the little town. Early to bed and ready for a long drive tomorrow back to Nafpoli.
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