Where is the place that you have always wanted to go but that seemed unimaginably remote and inaccessible? For me, that place was Delphi. This is amusing as in Ancient Greek times Delphi was named the 'navel of the world' as it was absolutely at the centre of their known world. It was lost to modern civilisation until the nineteenth century when French archaeologists set about knocking down the ramshackle village built on top of it to excavate it. This led to riots by the Greeks who were understandably upset about this happening to their homes.
The strange prophecies of the Delphic oracle are a fabulous example of ancient doublespeak such as telling Croesus, when he inquired whether he should fight the Persians: 'if you cross the river a great Empire will fall'. He did, and lost, thereby losing his empire. In retrospect the Pythia (the name given to the priestess) was a very shrewd woman.
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| In beautiful surroundings it was wonderful to see my son making friends with the other kids from the coach |
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| Christina, our guide, was spellbinding |
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| The Athenian treasury |
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| One of the navels of the world |
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| A laurel wreath carved into the Athenian treasury to show their Olympic success |
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| The Athenian treasury |
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| The theatre at Delphi |
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| Another navel |
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| The bronze charioteer, an incredible ancient survival |
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| The tholos |
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