Rob & Jane's Magical Journey to Delphi

The roads that wind through the mountains are petrifyingly narrow - at the best of times. And when you add in the style of driving here.........well.........you get the picture. These roads wind up and through the mountains, with hairpin turns (and I DON'T use the term lightly) every mile or two. Once in a while, the side of the mountain would seemingly swallow up the edge of the road, leaving us a view of nothing but a 3,000 foot drop to the valley. I pressed my face to the window, but could see NO road, NO shoulder, NO kidding! After saying a silent prayer of thanks for Tassos, our skilled driver, it was time to admire...the view, the mountains, life in general. A ride like that will do that to you. I could go on and about this leg of our journey, but I won't. We will never forget it, I assure you.

We arrived at Delphi a few hours later and sat down to a quick lunch - time to start sight-seeing. Delphi will be a two day stop, so after a long journey we visited the lower Sanctuary of Athena. The ruins were truly spectacular and with the mountains as a backdrop it was an awesome sight.

Following the visit was a short stop in beautiful Arachova for some shopping. This was not souvenir shopping. Our guide, Effie, informed us that here we would find the place to purchase unique jewellry - with four great stores side by side. Or, if we preferred, a marvellous store selling beautiful local products; leather goods, hand-made carpets, tapestries, tablecloths, you-name-it. We had been planning on buying a nice ring for Jane but the first stop for the group was the leather store. There begins one of the more humorous stories of our journey...

The store had some of the most amazing leather, rugs, etc. that we had seen. For example, Sonia tried on a beautiful mink coat priced at 1,500,000 drachmas. That equates to $7,500 US, so she put it right back on the rack - clever girl...right. It should be said, that a discount of 10-20%, depending on the purchase, would be given to the tour group. Not bad, huh?

Well, of course the salesman was impressed with the fact that Jane and I were the first ones to greet him in his own language, so he was eager to shower us with his attention. As luck - or fate - would have it Jane decided to heed his advice and try on a coat. This was no ordinary leather coat, mind you, it was made from antelope and fox. It came in many colours, the pelts were imported, and local craftsmen took over from there. With the entire group voicing their preferences as to colour, we finally decided on green. This is one mighty fine coat and everyone agreed that it looked terrific on her. Jane raved about it's comfort and warmth. It should also be noted that the temperature was about 50oF (we were at an altitude of 960m and it was very windy). The story's not so funny so far, huh?

Perhaps it was the thin mountain air, or the fact that you could virtually reach up and touch the clouds that were rolling in (really), but both Jane and I were suddenly consumed by a case of brain-lock. After negotiating a price, which we quickly converted in our empty heads to Canadian currency, we could not even think of passing up this bargain. What a deal! Since our deal involved cash, the cousin of the proprietor was summoned to drive me to the nearest bank. Two withdrawls later (idiot!) I returned.

After paying and walking out, Jane realized that we had converted the exchange rate incorrectly, and for a terrifying few seconds had no idea how much money we just handed over. Why so pale, hon? Well, we just payed three times the price we thought. Fortunately, a vacation bonus and an ample sense of humour were with us. We decided to share our story with the others, and for the rest of the day I was the brunt of many jokes. All in good fun - it livened up the day. Everyone loved the coat on Jane and it will always remind us both of one of the most memorable days we've ever experienced.

Moving on....after dinner at our hotel...Sonia, George, Colleen, Tony and Marie joined us in a search for Metaxa (mmm, good!). The new friends that we've made on this trip have really added to the experience. What a bunch! During our quest, we stumbled upon an Antiques shop crammed with the most incredible and odd assortment of items ever seen in one place by any of us. What a treasure trove - we could have poked around all night - but we were on a mission! So after about half an hour, off we went. It was indeed an unforgettable store, and we will return someday I promise. We found an empty taverna where we spent a very enjoyable hour or two drinking local Metaxa. While exchanging addresses, we all complained about our own governments' ineptitude, Bill and Monica, Kosovo, in other words... serious stuff. After our league of nations debate, it was now quite late. We left the taverna and slowly staggered up the steep hill, turned left and even more slowly continued up a second hill, twice the size.

By then, Tony and I were lagging behind, and he shared one of his many humorous thoughts with me. This one had to do with him approaching the centre stone at the theatre of Epidaurus - only realizing the significance of his location after realizing he needed to pass wind. He commented that he knew how a fish felt, wanting to avoid a standing ovation from the hundreds in the stands. I nearly wet myself listening to his story and found it even more difficult to climb the hill. What a character, what a night.

Our last day as a complete group. Sonya, George, Colleen & Tony have one more day after this, so it's just Marie left with us after lunch. We revisit Delphi, the museum and the Temple of Apollo, and it is magnificent. Words cannot portray the magnitude of this place. Pictures do, and I have writer's cramp, so I must move on.


After a long climb, we reach the ancient stadium. You can feel this history, it is so well preserved. While there, the fun gang with us, we are swarmed by young Italian & Greek girls shouting "HELLO"! We aren't really sure what the heck is going on, but it is good for the ego. Nonetheless, we tell them George is a greek movie star, and scamper out of there quickly.

Many pictures later, it is time to leave Delphi, but in body only - never in mind. We head back to the hotel, after our last meal as a group, and board another bus for the return trip to Athens. We hope to meet up with our new friends in Athens on Sunday night for dinner. Bye guys, we miss you already. Our new bus is a one day tour group and it is dull in comparison. We immediatly take over our usual seats at the back, and take in the views.

On the way back to Athens, the bus stops in Arachova (coat town). We've been there and done that, so we (Jane, Marie, and myself), in the allotted 20 minutes, decide to "do" the famous 300 steps. Only one problem - it's at least half a mile away.

"Right", says the new tour guide, "only time to take a picture - if we hurry". "Right", says I, "we'll see about that". We speed walk to the steps, at which point Marie and I begin our ascent. I toss my smoke, and off we go. A (very long) short time later, Jane is a dot taking our picture from below. We conquer the final step together, turn, and run back down. We speed walk (read: hussle our butts) back to the bus, only to beat the tour guide by five minutes. I light a smoke and make her wait.

Hours later, we're back in Athens. It's just us now, so we go for dinner. Due to a nasty storm, we are unable to book our planned one day island cruise. It's saved us about $200, so we go for a nice dinner where they cook Jane's fish at the table.

Two hours later, my hand is numb, Jane's in bed, and the bartender stops selling me ouzo. Goodnight.

Note: Best day so far, we've done so much in four days that it feels like we've been here for weeks. Our fun gang is the main reason that this tour was so great. Effie, our tour guide, told me that I was her favourite, so I planted a kiss on her cheek. I know what she will dream tonight!

For more of our Magical Journey to Greece and other travel tales, visit www.GreeceJournals.com.