Day 3 Delphi, the Plaka and an excursus on desserts

This morning we were up bright and early as we made our way to Delphi. We made a brief stop on the way at what might be Greece's rival to Buckys. We enjoyed a midmorning coffee break on the porch of this Greek version of a Texas favorite!

Do you remember the “Oracles of Delphi” from your Greek mythology days? The temple of Apollo was at Delphi. It is said that Apollo resided in Delphi for nine months of the year and then for three months left. During his absence, Dionysus (the god of wine) was said to take up residence! The oracles of Delphi were priestesses who uttered prophesies that were said to inspire Apollo and others. Their prophesies however, were never a straight forward answer to the questions that anyone posed.


The picture to the left is a model of what the sanctuary, temple and treasure houses of Delphi were said to look like. The picture on the right are the ruins as they look today. Priests and priestesses offered sacrifices to the god Apollo, young men came to this place of the gods and practiced their athletic skills and others came for the plays performed at the theatre. The picture to the left is a bronze statue of a charioteer found in the excavations that have occurred at Delphi. The picture on the right is a close up of the detail of the back of the statues head. Great detail work was done by the artists as their renditions were not for humans but to be pleasing to the gods! In fact, this statue has eyelashes made of bronze, long eyelashes - those lashes made some of us envious, but I'm not naming names!

It seems no matter where Paul may have journeyed in Greece, he encountered cults of numerous gods and goddesses. However, he did not let this deter him in his mission to preach the good news of Christ. He was steadfast in his belief and the faith of Christ who had led him to this place.

Once back in Athens, we had dinner and then headed for “the Plaka” located near the foot of the acropolis. Its narrow cobble stone streets take you back to an earlier time. Shops, restaurants and ruins line the streets. We’ve all bought some fun Greek items and eaten tasty Greek food. Most of the time…

Except perhaps, for the traditional Greek dessert we had last night with dinner. We’re still not sure what it was, but whatever it was we’ve certainly laughed a great deal about it. We thought it was some kind of wonderful chocolate dessert. We readied our spoons and dug in only to discover a gritty, dry concoction that not one of us could swallow! We tried to ask about it and the answer we always got was… “Oh, it is a traditional Greek dessert! Did you like it?” We never could answer because we were laughing so hard. We’ll work on figuring out the name before we come home so you can be sure NOT to try it!

Tomorrow we’re headed for a cruise of the Greek Isles including the island of Patmos and a stop at Ephesus. No wi-fi on the ship so it may be a few days before I’m back blogging, unless I can find an internet café.

Until then, we all send you our greetings. Peace be with you!

Suzy