Delphi

I went to Delphi on what was possibly one of the worst tours I have ever taken (and most expensive). Our guide was so amateur; she had me thinking I could do better. The tour was done through the hostel in Athens and after much debate I decided to do it (even though my friends had opted otherwise). Once she started reading from a piece of paper pulled off the net and began handing out similar materials, I knew we were in trouble. She knew jack shit. But that’s just the beginning...

Part of the reason I went on the tour was due to a rather attractive English girl that was urging me to come along. Big mistake. On the two hour bus down, I soon realized that she is possibly one of the stupidest people I’ve ever met- and she was a high school teacher (big surprise, eh?). I tried so hard to find some substance, but all I got was Facebook and social anecdotes. She couldn’t even talk about music, all she listened to was the stuff her friends put on her ipod. Sorry, I’m a little bitter because she would not stop asking me to take pictures of sights, namely with ‘Her’ in them. Jebus H… and here I am being led by my other brain until halfway through the tour we are SO far behind that we get lost for nearly an hour. I had tried to stay calm and prayed we wouldn’t miss the friggin’ bus as she wants to go to the museum instead of waiting around by the entrance for our group… initially I refused, and then conceded. Ultimately, we missed a huge portion of our tour –namely, the Sanctuary of Athena- and I was horribly disillusioned. I will never forget you, stupid English girl.

Delphi was still cool. I loved all the ruins: the temple of Apollo, the theatre of Dionysus and the old gymnasium. The ‘Sacred Way’ leads up to the site of the old oracle and apparently there’s a fault right under the city where they say fumes came up to intoxicate the oracle (among other ingested drugs and chemicals). This beautiful, holy city lies out in the middle of nowhere but dictated so much of the politics and religion during these ancient times.

On a random note- one of the coolest things I saw at Delphi was two house cats getting it on. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve never seen that. Dogs: of course. Animal planet: all kinds of stuff. But plain old ordinary house cats? Never…