dramaturgy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dramaturgy) wrote2007-04-30 09:19 am
dramaturgy) wrote2007-04-30 09:19 am
Thursday/Friday - Arrival! Delphi!
Okay, Thursday was travel day. Which means that it was also exhaustion day. Yes. Flying exhausts teh Liz. Especially her arms. </lame joke>
I left very early on Thursday morning. I walked to a bus stop, and then a little bit further because there was no bus coming and I was getting nervous. I walked to San Marco where I caught a bus to the train station, and from there I took a taxi to the airport and then flew to Athens. So except for boat, I pretty much used every mode of transportation available to me. Except for train. Although there was a train station involved, so I think it counts.
I took one picture at the airport.
The hotel I stayed at, the Athens Golden City Hotel, was quite beautiful. The staff was all, "HI HOW ARE YOU?! WE = GLAD YOU'RE HERE! :D :D :D" without being overbearing about it. It was nice. And there was wifi. Which was even nicer.
The only thing that my room lacked was, shall we say, a view. I literally laughed until I had tears in my eyes.
So as all the people who read my real LJ know, I did absolutely nothing Thursday night except sit on my bed, write my Venice post, and eat Chee-tos. But they were delicious Chee-tos. It was a really nice break from things like Dante and reading about how great Alberti thought Alberti was, the ultimate Renaissance man. I sat and did nothing - nothing of consequence to the real world, anyway. But on Friday morning, it was time to go! GO TO DELPHI! :D
Except we had a little trouble getting started.
That's what the traffic looked like on Friday. Apparently it was especially bad, according to the tour guide, but after living in London for two months and then Florence for one more, traffic doesn't faze me anymore. Annoy, yes. Faze, no.
Ruins! In the CITY! I am never going to get over Europe.
This particular shop is very forward about what they sell. Or some random graffitist is very demanding. "RAWR GIVE ME PORN."
This is the "center" of Orthodox churchery in Athens. It's not the cathedral of the city, but it's big and important all the same. It's beautiful, quite different from all these Catholic churches that I'm seeing these days. Not that they aren't beautiful too. It's just something different, and different is beautiful.
So despite the fact that I spent a lot of the tour days on a bus, there was beautiful scenery and I got to see it all, and interact with it a fair bit. :) Like in Wales, I took a lot of pictures through the bus window.
We went through this village that had this one little road through the middle of it, and I'm honestly surprised that they could fit tour buses through there. There were more than a few occasions where I could have reached out the window (hypothetically speaking, since these windows didn't open but to be an emergency exit) and touched a building, or a passing truck. It's a good thing I wasn't driving, that's all I'll say about it.
And then. THEN WE GOT TO DELPHI.
At Delphi there was an oracle in a huge temple dedicated to Apollo. The oracle would go sit in a room in the basement of the temple, inhale vapors that filtered into the room through a hole, and be asked questions and give very vague answers. Now, we know from crystals that were found in the hole that the vapor was ether, so no wonder she was giving wonky answers. For instance, when Croesus asked if he could provoke a war with Persia, his answer was something like, "Provoking a war will bring about the destruction of a great empire." Not the best answer and not odds I'd play, but Croesus really wanted to pick a fight with the Persians I guess. He gambled and needless to say lost. Moron.
Anyway, yes. Delphi. At Delphi there came to be tons of statues dedicated to this god and/or goddess in thanks for this or that, and sacrifices were given, that sort of thing. There were also treasury houses, a theatre, a gymnasium (and apparently the word "naked" comes from the same word as "gymnasium", since the Greeks did all their sports naked. I dunno, I'd buy it), and a place for shops since people couldn't always bring animals for sacrifice with them. It's treacherous terrain - not that Greeks came by land, of course. They came by sea. But they still had to climb the mountain to the Oracle. Also, the people who asked the questions of course never spoke to the oracle directly. The priests of Apollo asked directly, and also gave the answer. So in effect, they sort of got to filter what people heard from the oracle. (To think Croesus might've lost because they got one word wrong!)
I took a lot of pictures at Delphi, I'll just put that out there. It's gorgeous. You just look out and wham, there's Greece in all it's glory.
At one point, it became Christian, which is what all these crosses are do hanging around. Once Rome came to be in charge, Delphi suffered to varying degrees. Those two aren't really connected much. Hadrian apparently loved this place, though. Greeks love Hadrian, all I ever heard about him were praises being sung. LOL ROMANS.
This row is where the shops used to be. The columns were the outer part of a portico, while the shops were built into the side of the mountain.
I knew my mommy would want pictures of the plant life. x_x
This is the navel stone. Supposedly, Zeus threw this stone down to the earth to show that Delphi was the center of the universe. (And where else can a god of light dwell and have a sanctuary but at the center of the universe? ... That's strangely heliocentric in a very weird way.)
The temple of Apollo.
This is the treasure house of Athens. Parts have been reconstructed and you can tell which parts they are. I have mixed feelings on that. But anyway, Athens had a big treasure house because they were a rich city-state and pretty damn important. In the museum of Delphi, they have a block taken from the building that has the earliest notation of music on it. It is only vaguely related to modern notation, I assure you. Also, the names of freed slaves are inscribed on it, which is pretty cool. An act of liberty, if you will.
These columns? I would just like to say that they were huge. And believe me, huge is the only appropriate word.
Heh. Hey bitches. :]
There was another tour guide talking about how those two holes in the ground are where the oracle was. I could have sworn mine said that they didn't find the room, but if they didn't find the room I'm not sure how they found the ether crystals. So I probably just misheard.
Trashcan cleverly disguised to appear as though it were part of the original architecture.
AHAHAHA LOOK IT'S A THEATRE :D :D :D :D I WAS SO EXCITED. AM EXCITED.
Hi again. :P
The temple of Apollo in its entirety from above.
Okay, great story behind this little pin. I was up at the theatre, waiting to take my pictures because there was this other tour group trying to take a group photo. So I was trying to be a considerate tourist by just staying out of the way and being patient, and they kept saying, "We're almost done! We're almost done!" Despite the fact that they weren't. Whatever, I was totally patient and in a great mood because... well, why wouldn't I be? And their guide reaches into the depths of his bag and hands me this pin, "For [my] wait." Hey, whatever, I collect pins and having a good story to go with it outside of "I saw it in Hot Topic and thought it looked cool" is also great.
There is the 2000 year old column that I touched. Oh hell, I gave it a hand job. And there's the sign that says not to touch it.
A clearer shot of the navel stone.
The portico again, on the way down.
A sphinx - this is now in the museum.
Bronze age stuff, woo!
The twins. These are prime examples of kouroi, blah blah blah. They think these are two twins who dragged the cart that carried their mother to the temple of Hera when the oxen hadn't returned to the field. Then they laid down to sleep and never woke up. Which I guess goes to show what not to do.
A statue of Artemis - one in a set of three of Artemis, Apollo, and their mother Leto.
This is the stone that had the musical notation on it.
The charioteer, perhaps the most famous bit from Delphi. Now, not only did I get to do a great "Everywhere I go... his eyes keep following me..." movement a la Kaylee, but something else interesting: his second toe is longer than his big one. Which is not something you see every day, but apparently, like, all Greek statues are this way. It's weird, because my second toe is longer than my first. Which you all really needed to know.
Lunch was at this great little restaurant where I had something that couldn't have been very good for me but was delicious, and the most delicious baklava ever. It was a little awkward at first because at the table the two couples kept whispering to one another and I just sort of sat there metaphorically twiddling my thumbs, and then - and I am so proud of myself for this - I just broke the ice by asking the older couple where they were from, since I heard them speaking with English accents. Turns out they're from Ipswitch and the guy had been raised in London, so SURPRISE I had just been in London! and the girl from the other couple was working in the hospital in Ealing for a year for med school. After that we all had very pleasant conversation and such.
I was exhausted after that, and we headed back to Athens since it was about 4 PM - it was a very late lunch. We ran into traffic again on the way in, surprise, surprise. That wouldn't have been nearly so annoying if the kid in front of me hadn't kept making random exploding noises for, I am not even joking, forty or so minute straight. I was ready to strangle him.
But, that's an unpleasant thought. :D More scenery from the way home:
That's actually a monument to the Greek resistance during WWII.
I left very early on Thursday morning. I walked to a bus stop, and then a little bit further because there was no bus coming and I was getting nervous. I walked to San Marco where I caught a bus to the train station, and from there I took a taxi to the airport and then flew to Athens. So except for boat, I pretty much used every mode of transportation available to me. Except for train. Although there was a train station involved, so I think it counts.
I took one picture at the airport.
The hotel I stayed at, the Athens Golden City Hotel, was quite beautiful. The staff was all, "HI HOW ARE YOU?! WE = GLAD YOU'RE HERE! :D :D :D" without being overbearing about it. It was nice. And there was wifi. Which was even nicer.
The only thing that my room lacked was, shall we say, a view. I literally laughed until I had tears in my eyes.
So as all the people who read my real LJ know, I did absolutely nothing Thursday night except sit on my bed, write my Venice post, and eat Chee-tos. But they were delicious Chee-tos. It was a really nice break from things like Dante and reading about how great Alberti thought Alberti was, the ultimate Renaissance man. I sat and did nothing - nothing of consequence to the real world, anyway. But on Friday morning, it was time to go! GO TO DELPHI! :D
Except we had a little trouble getting started.
That's what the traffic looked like on Friday. Apparently it was especially bad, according to the tour guide, but after living in London for two months and then Florence for one more, traffic doesn't faze me anymore. Annoy, yes. Faze, no.
Ruins! In the CITY! I am never going to get over Europe.
This particular shop is very forward about what they sell. Or some random graffitist is very demanding. "RAWR GIVE ME PORN."
This is the "center" of Orthodox churchery in Athens. It's not the cathedral of the city, but it's big and important all the same. It's beautiful, quite different from all these Catholic churches that I'm seeing these days. Not that they aren't beautiful too. It's just something different, and different is beautiful.
So despite the fact that I spent a lot of the tour days on a bus, there was beautiful scenery and I got to see it all, and interact with it a fair bit. :) Like in Wales, I took a lot of pictures through the bus window.
We went through this village that had this one little road through the middle of it, and I'm honestly surprised that they could fit tour buses through there. There were more than a few occasions where I could have reached out the window (hypothetically speaking, since these windows didn't open but to be an emergency exit) and touched a building, or a passing truck. It's a good thing I wasn't driving, that's all I'll say about it.
And then. THEN WE GOT TO DELPHI.
At Delphi there was an oracle in a huge temple dedicated to Apollo. The oracle would go sit in a room in the basement of the temple, inhale vapors that filtered into the room through a hole, and be asked questions and give very vague answers. Now, we know from crystals that were found in the hole that the vapor was ether, so no wonder she was giving wonky answers. For instance, when Croesus asked if he could provoke a war with Persia, his answer was something like, "Provoking a war will bring about the destruction of a great empire." Not the best answer and not odds I'd play, but Croesus really wanted to pick a fight with the Persians I guess. He gambled and needless to say lost. Moron.
Anyway, yes. Delphi. At Delphi there came to be tons of statues dedicated to this god and/or goddess in thanks for this or that, and sacrifices were given, that sort of thing. There were also treasury houses, a theatre, a gymnasium (and apparently the word "naked" comes from the same word as "gymnasium", since the Greeks did all their sports naked. I dunno, I'd buy it), and a place for shops since people couldn't always bring animals for sacrifice with them. It's treacherous terrain - not that Greeks came by land, of course. They came by sea. But they still had to climb the mountain to the Oracle. Also, the people who asked the questions of course never spoke to the oracle directly. The priests of Apollo asked directly, and also gave the answer. So in effect, they sort of got to filter what people heard from the oracle. (To think Croesus might've lost because they got one word wrong!)
I took a lot of pictures at Delphi, I'll just put that out there. It's gorgeous. You just look out and wham, there's Greece in all it's glory.
At one point, it became Christian, which is what all these crosses are do hanging around. Once Rome came to be in charge, Delphi suffered to varying degrees. Those two aren't really connected much. Hadrian apparently loved this place, though. Greeks love Hadrian, all I ever heard about him were praises being sung. LOL ROMANS.
This row is where the shops used to be. The columns were the outer part of a portico, while the shops were built into the side of the mountain.
I knew my mommy would want pictures of the plant life. x_x
This is the navel stone. Supposedly, Zeus threw this stone down to the earth to show that Delphi was the center of the universe. (And where else can a god of light dwell and have a sanctuary but at the center of the universe? ... That's strangely heliocentric in a very weird way.)
The temple of Apollo.
This is the treasure house of Athens. Parts have been reconstructed and you can tell which parts they are. I have mixed feelings on that. But anyway, Athens had a big treasure house because they were a rich city-state and pretty damn important. In the museum of Delphi, they have a block taken from the building that has the earliest notation of music on it. It is only vaguely related to modern notation, I assure you. Also, the names of freed slaves are inscribed on it, which is pretty cool. An act of liberty, if you will.
These columns? I would just like to say that they were huge. And believe me, huge is the only appropriate word.
Heh. Hey bitches. :]
There was another tour guide talking about how those two holes in the ground are where the oracle was. I could have sworn mine said that they didn't find the room, but if they didn't find the room I'm not sure how they found the ether crystals. So I probably just misheard.
Trashcan cleverly disguised to appear as though it were part of the original architecture.
AHAHAHA LOOK IT'S A THEATRE :D :D :D :D I WAS SO EXCITED. AM EXCITED.
Hi again. :P
The temple of Apollo in its entirety from above.
Okay, great story behind this little pin. I was up at the theatre, waiting to take my pictures because there was this other tour group trying to take a group photo. So I was trying to be a considerate tourist by just staying out of the way and being patient, and they kept saying, "We're almost done! We're almost done!" Despite the fact that they weren't. Whatever, I was totally patient and in a great mood because... well, why wouldn't I be? And their guide reaches into the depths of his bag and hands me this pin, "For [my] wait." Hey, whatever, I collect pins and having a good story to go with it outside of "I saw it in Hot Topic and thought it looked cool" is also great.
There is the 2000 year old column that I touched. Oh hell, I gave it a hand job. And there's the sign that says not to touch it.
A clearer shot of the navel stone.
The portico again, on the way down.
A sphinx - this is now in the museum.
Bronze age stuff, woo!
The twins. These are prime examples of kouroi, blah blah blah. They think these are two twins who dragged the cart that carried their mother to the temple of Hera when the oxen hadn't returned to the field. Then they laid down to sleep and never woke up. Which I guess goes to show what not to do.
A statue of Artemis - one in a set of three of Artemis, Apollo, and their mother Leto.
This is the stone that had the musical notation on it.
The charioteer, perhaps the most famous bit from Delphi. Now, not only did I get to do a great "Everywhere I go... his eyes keep following me..." movement a la Kaylee, but something else interesting: his second toe is longer than his big one. Which is not something you see every day, but apparently, like, all Greek statues are this way. It's weird, because my second toe is longer than my first. Which you all really needed to know.
Lunch was at this great little restaurant where I had something that couldn't have been very good for me but was delicious, and the most delicious baklava ever. It was a little awkward at first because at the table the two couples kept whispering to one another and I just sort of sat there metaphorically twiddling my thumbs, and then - and I am so proud of myself for this - I just broke the ice by asking the older couple where they were from, since I heard them speaking with English accents. Turns out they're from Ipswitch and the guy had been raised in London, so SURPRISE I had just been in London! and the girl from the other couple was working in the hospital in Ealing for a year for med school. After that we all had very pleasant conversation and such.
I was exhausted after that, and we headed back to Athens since it was about 4 PM - it was a very late lunch. We ran into traffic again on the way in, surprise, surprise. That wouldn't have been nearly so annoying if the kid in front of me hadn't kept making random exploding noises for, I am not even joking, forty or so minute straight. I was ready to strangle him.
But, that's an unpleasant thought. :D More scenery from the way home:
That's actually a monument to the Greek resistance during WWII.
no subject
I absolutely love all the pictures you're taking. They're gorgeous, and they all seem to be taken in places I'd love to go but have never gotten a chance to visit! Thank you so much for sharing, srsly.