Greece- Athens and Delphi

Hey Guys! 

After a rather long break from international travel, we left Canada for the first time since March 2020. It's crazy to think about it that way. Where does the time go? Other than having a baby and renovating a house, right?! 

This time, we had picked Greece and Italy for the month of November 2022. Neither of us had been to Greece before, and the last time I was in Italy was 2009. Needless to say, I had probably forgotten a lot of what I saw the first time.  

What I wanted to see this time around was history- particularly of our Western civilization. Of course, I was also incredibly excited for the food. Our plan was to spend about 1 1/2 weeks in Greece, before heading to Sardinia to see Karo and Jaime (our traveling buddies from South America), and then finishing off the trip with mainland Italy. 

We are also expecting our second child in March of 2023, making me about 5 months pregnant at the start of our trip. Looking back, this could have been quite the tall order to travel across the world with a toddler and a pregnant lady. However, as you will see from the next few blogs, we lucked out and had a fantastic time. So, let's look at some pictures! 

Our first stop was to Athens. Although completely jet-lagged, we ventured up to the Acropolis on our first morning. The Acropolis is a large hill in Central Athens that has long been the focal point of the city. It was here that the ancients erected their beautiful temples to honor the gods, most importantly Athena, the protector of Athens. The Acropolis remained a highlight for me throughout the entire trip. It is just such an amazing archeological and historical site. The Parthenon is the largest and most famous structure on the Acropolis. It was built between 447 and 432 BC, making it almost 2500 years old. However, the hill site has been inhabited from the 13th Century BC, when a local Mycenean ruler built a fortifying wall around his residence. The city of Athens is even older, it is thought it has been continuously inhabited for 5000 years. This depth of history never ceases to amaze me, and we kept encountering it time and again as we moved around Greece and Italy. 

Posing in front of the Parthenon

We visited the Acropolis Museum in the afternoon, which is right 'across the street.' As you can see from the picture, you have a great view of the Acropolis from the top floor of the museum. It was so well laid out, you could appreciate all of the sculpture and other treasures found up on the Acropolis, placed safely inside the museum. 

Speaking of treasures, these are the sculpted maidens that make up the "Porch of the Caryatids." There were originally 6 maidens that held up the porch of the Erectheion- one of the most sacred temples on the Acropolis. 

The next day, we ventured into the Ancient Agora of Athens. This was the heart of day-to-day life in ancient Athens. This is where everyone gathered to talk about politics, religion, philosophy and to exchange ideas. It was the site of their government, with temples and a marketplace. It was such an amazing experience for me, to be able to walk among the stones (not much of its former grandeur remains) and imagine the early days of democracy. Jared and Seth are standing in front of one of the best-preserved sites of the Agora- the Temple of Hephaestus. 

Our Air BnB was in a great location, and we were very close to Filopappou Hill. It is just a little smaller than the hill of the Acropolis, so you still got great views from the top. Seth also enjoyed the time to wander around and be free. He could only be cooped up in the backpack for so much time each day. 

On our last day in Athens, we visited the National Archeological Museum. If you are only going to visit one museum in Athens, this would be my pick. Of course, I would want to do more! However, when you have a toddler, you have to pick and choose. This place had everything; from the Mycenean pottery that dates back to the 16th Century, to the Egyptian collection of mummies and room upon room of ancient Greek sculpture. We could have spent the entire day there. That obviously wasn't going to happen with Seth around, he needed to get OUT of the backpack, so we let him outside to do this:

Running through the pigeons! One of Seth's favourite activities while on our Europe trip. There was no shortage of open squares full of them. I had to get over my disdain for pigeons because my son loves them so very much. 

We left Athens in our rental car and drove north, heading for Delphi. To the ancient Greeks, this was their most sacred place, the centre of their world. According to legend, Zeus released two eagles at opposite ends of the world, and this is the site where they met. A dragon named Python was slain here by the god Apollo, and to commemorate the event the ancients built a temple here dedicated to him. The thing that most people associate with Delphi is the oracle, as people travelled from far and wide to hear her predictions. She operated out of the Temple of Apollo, in the inner sanctum. It was from here that she made her predictions of the future. Alexander the Great came here to hear whether he would be victorious in his military conquests. 

This is all that remains today of the once imposing Temple of Apollo. 

Here is the Sphinx of Naxos, which used to stand on a 10 m pillar outside of the Temple of Apollo. What really impressed me about the site was the fact that people had travelled from so far away with such extravagant gifts to offer to the temple. It was said that the predictions of the oracle were quite ambiguous, so it wasn't always easy to know exactly what the oracle was saying. For example, if someone came asking for advice over whether to invade their neighbors, the oracle might reply: "A great empire will fall." Yet, it wasn't ever clear which empire was going to fall. 

This was Seth's highlight of Delphi, meeting the stray dogs and cats. 

My original plan was to do all of Greece in one blog, but I am now realizing how very silly that would be. Why not stretch out the fun? Next blog will cover Meteora and Santorini. If you've never heard of either of those places, you are in for a treat. Until Next Time!