It took us pretty much a whole day to get to Greece. In this case a two hour drive to Gatwick, a three and a half hour flight to Athens, and a two hour taxi ride to Delphi, broken up by many hours in airports. We arrived at 11.30pm (Greek time) and took a while to get settled and to sleep; it was 9.30am before we made it down to breakfast.
It was hot but not too unpleasant, with some cloud cover and an occasional breeze.
 a view towards the gulf of Corinth |
 the site sprawls up the hill |
 honeycomb stonework |
 the Sanctuary of Apollo |
 a splendid view from the theatre |
 there were beetles, crickets + lizards |
We walked to the Sanctuary of Apollo, the main archaeological site (1.3km from our hotel) and spent over three hours there, taking our time walking up to the stadium (another km or so) and back, looking at plants and insects as well as the ruins. The theatre and stadium are in fine condition — the theatre was used for a performance in 1930, and one could still imagine running a race or being a spectator in the stadium — but even the much flimsier remnants had a mystery to them.
After looking around the site we had some bread rolls, all that was available, and then looked around the museum, which was recently built and showcases the friezes and statuary recovered from the site and elsewhere around Delphi.
After walking back to our hotel and recovering there, we had the idea of going to visit the Temple of Athena Pronaia. Failing to get hold of a taxi, we started walking there and got half-way before realising Helen wasn't going to cope with the 4km there and back without having dinner. So Camilla went on to look at the temple while I took Helen to dinner.
 playing Rat-a-Tat-Cat on our balcony (we also took Sleeping Queens) |
 waiting for dinner |
On our last morning in Delphi, I got in a brisk early morning walk to the Temple of Athena Pronaia, which I had all to myself apart from the caretaker, the first coachload of tourists arriving just as I was leaving, and got back to our hotel before Helen or Camilla had woken up. Perhaps because it was May rather than July or August, Delphi was surprisingly quiet and uncrowded, and the archaeological site and museum were busy but not totally packed.
 the tholos at the temple of Athena Pronaia |
 the main street in Delphi |
The bus trip from Delphi to Athens took over three hours, and for a while it looked like we weren't going to get seats, but in the end it worked out ok, and Helen managed sitting on our laps: I read Neil Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants to her; Camilla played I Spy with her. And in Athens we got a taxi to our hotel with no problems.
After settling in we went off to explore the Agora site, then had dinner in one of the nearby restaurants, wandered through the Monastiraki market, and ate gelato in the little square outside the metro station.
 ancient drainage |
 the ancient agora beneath the acropolis |
 in the stoa of Attalos |
 Monastiraki |
Helen went to sleep late and woke up early, getting less than nine hours sleep, so a long day on the Acropolis was looking fraught. And indeed we had a mini-tantrum a hundred metres after we set off, but after that she was fine, walking up to the Acropolis, around it, back down to a restaurant, to and around the Acropolis Museum, and back to our hotel. Highlights included finding space under a little tree in the middle of the Acropolis, so we could sit in the shade and look around, and eating lunch (our most expensive meal so far, but worth it) in a restaurant with a view of the Acropolis and Parthenon, which Helen and Camilla sketched.
 the top of the Acropolis (our tree is middle right) |
|
 the Parthenon from lunch |
 drawn from life |
We had a rest back in our hotel then, getting into the local way of life, we went out for dinner around 8pm and after that ate icecream outside watching the floodlight Acropolis.
 from Filopapou Hill |
 path marking on Filopapou Hill |
It was right next to our hotel, so we visited the Herakleidon Museum, which had a nice little exhibition on ancient Chinese technology. After a morning tea snack, we caught the metro to the National Archaeological Museum. This has some lovely stuff, and we managed to see most of the highlights. (These include the remains of the Antikythera mechanism, and one of the displays referenced an Allan Bromley paper.) We had a late lunch in a nice little cafe in a slightly dingy area south of the Museum.
 walking to the museum |
 a Kore |
After that the plan was to go to Plaka and have a look around there, but it was hot and Helen was tired. So Camilla took her back to the hotel in a taxi, while I walked to Syntagma Square -- a giant roundabout with expensive clothing stores and McDonalds and suchlike -- visited the Cathedral, wandered through Plaka, came back past the library of Hadrian and the Roman Agora (didn't have time to go in), and through Monastiraki to our hotel.
 Plaka |
 Plaka |
We had an earlyish but not too early start — our flights had been chosen to avoid that — and, apart from our taxi needing to stop for a minute so we could all get out and the driver could "reboot" the car, we had an uneventful flight home. On the way home Helen drew an "Easyjet Fish".
