Debbielynn, thank you for you sweet words! I remember following your trip reports for your visits to Greece and enjoying them thoroughly. Thanks for the good wishes for our upcoming trip - the “almost time to go” period is nerve wracking with making sure everything is in place!

geetika, Delphi is an amazing site! Both the site and museum! And the sense of history is very much alive, I think.

shelemm, it was too windy for us to go outside on the terrace to eat at To Patriko Mas so I missed the huge tree! I love the image I have of it! I was glad we stayed in Delphi instead of one of the neighboring towns and I was very pleased with the Nidimos Hotel.

billbarr, thank you, it’s nice to see you here! I’m glad this has brought back good memories for you.

I hope to get some pix up tomorrow!

Progol, I enjoyed reading about your visit to Delphi, and the hotel you stayed in sounds wonderful. I visited Delphi in the 1970's so I only have a very vague memory of the site. I do remember that it was not crowded at all.

When do you leave for Japan? We leave tomorrow for Australia and New Zealand. Not sure how much time I will have to check in so if you don't hear from me, that's why. And I know you will have a wonderful time in Japan!

KarenWoo, We leave in a week for Taiwan and Japan and I'm more than a little overwhelmed with all the moving pieces!
((((Let me gripe now about Turkish Airlines, who have somehow lost my seats on one of our legs and of course, I'm waiting to hear back from them....grrr...I only bought these tickets 9 months ago and last confirmed my seats on Sept 18! But their the biz class seats (hardly cheap - just cheaper) is the best deal - but yikes, not in the mood to deal with this now. )))))

Have a fabulous time on your trip! It sounds amazing! It's definitely one we're thinking about so I am really looking forward to your report!!

Archeological Site of Delphi


Sacred Way, which led up to the Temple of Apollo, was lined with monuments and treasuries


Along the Sacred Way


Touching the Omphalos, the navel of the world. According to the Greek myth, Zeus released 2 eagles, one from the last, the other from the west, they met at the future site of Delphi. The meeting point awas marked by the stone, the omphalos


Omphalos


Walking up toward the temple








Athenian Treasury




Approaching the Temple of Apollo.




Temple of Apollo. The Delphic Oracle was said to deliver prophecies from within the temple and was housed in a chamber in the rear.


Temple of Apollo, on a clear day! Taken by my friend, @xyz123! Thank you for sharing your pix!


Temple of Apollo


Temple of Apollo


Looking up toward the ancient theatre, the largest structure of the Temple of Apollo. It housed a total of 5000 spectators. At the time we were there, work was being done on the steps leading up and beyond the theater.


At the time we were there, work was being done on the steps leading up and beyond the theater.


This is the classic shot that my dear friend, @xyz123 took on her recent trip to Greece! You can see the view clearly down to the valley - a spectacular vista! Thank you, @xyz123!!

The Lovely Tholos of Athena Pronaia

Across the road and a few steps further from the entrance to the main archeological site of Delphi is the Tholos of Athena Pronaia. This is a circular building built in 380BC and is the first part of the sanctuary seen before a visitor arrives at the Temple of Apollo. The name Pronaia means "before the temple". Before a visitor could ask the oracle anything, they had to offer a sacrifice at the Athena Pronaia.

Delphi - Hotel views and the walk to the archeological site


Our grand balcony at the Nidimos Hotel! We really did have some great balconies on this trip, but this one was the best!


View from hotel


View from hotel - to the right of the photo is the highly recommended restaurant, To Patriko Mas. Not a big walk at all from the hotel!


View from the hotel


Sunset view with hazy skies!


Walking toward the site -- we passed these steps by! We did not walk down!


A charming group of local high school students! Their English was a whole lot better than my Greek!




If you look carefully, you can see the Tholos of Athena Pronaia in the upper left quadrant of the photo, just to the right of the cypress tree standing in that corner

Delphi Archeological Museum
And what a museum it is! Happily, it's not too big! But the items are truly choice (or "cherce", if you're from some parts of NYC!) Even for us, getting tired by the minute, this was a museum worth spending some time in.


The Sphinx of Naxos, dedicated by the city of Naxos, a wealthy island in its prime time between 575BC & 560BC


The Sphinx of Naxos


The Sphinx of Naxos


Frieze from the Siphnian Treasury


Frieze from the Siphnian Treasury


Frieze from the Siphnian Treasury


The Kouroi of Delphi, male statues produced at Argos between 610 BC & 580 BC


The Silver Bull of Delphi is the first large-scale statue made all from forged metal. This was found crumpled in a depository of the Delphic Sanctuary.


The Silver Bull of Delphi - close up


Statue of Agaius of Pharsala. It's not much later than the Kouroi but much more advanced!


Omphalos


A philosopher, thought to be Plutarch or Plato


Charioteer of Delphi, one of the finest specimens of 5th century bronze sculpture


Charioteer of Delphi


Charioteer of Delphi with tourists

Looks like we stayed in the same room at the Nidimos Hotel. I was channeling your good vibes.

Thanks for sharing the photos from the Delphi Museum. That chariot driver looks very serious. And that crumpled bull shows that one's man's trash is another's treasure.... one man's magazine is another man's poison.... or something like that.

Clearly we both have good taste- I see we stayed in the same hotel in Kastraki and, of course, have the classic shot!

An aside, since I don�t post in the lounge�.
Dealing with a lost seat assignment from Turkish Airlines for our trip to Taipei, even though I confirmed all the seats 2 1/2 weeks ago and now there are no seats left in biz.. This is turning into everyone�s travel nightmare. We have no seats and customer service is, well, not helpful at all. It�s �in process� - and has been for the last 2 days, when I checked to make sure everything was okay and then spent the next 2 days calling and following up. So far, no luck.

Meteora!

Well, we're about to embark on our next trip so I'll try to finish this up as best as possible!

And now, we're finally off to Meteora!

I had wanted to go to Meteora for a long time but was worried that M, who gets tired from the long drive, would find it hard. Our original plan had us flying out of Thessaloniki, so it made sense to visit Meteora, but due to flight changes, we ended up having to return to Athens for our departing flight. And now we had a long drive just to go to Meteora. Would it be worth it?

Without my notes, it's hard to remember exactly what we did, but I do remember that the had to 1) go in the direction of Lamia and 2) since the highway was completed, the drive from Delphi to Meteora should be much quicker than it had once been and is a pretty straightforward shot. However, somewhere around Lamia, we got very confused and kept going round and round, getting on and off the highway, finding ourselves going in the wrong direction. Eventually we got it right but it was a good 30 minutes of getting lost in a place that looked like it should've been easier than it was!


Leaving Delphi and on our way to Meteora - direction unknown!


Leaving Delphi - A Lovely vista

Made it to Meteora!
Yes, it’s truly awe-inspiring to be here! As we get closer to our destination, the remarkable rock formations appear and M says to me, "You did good". Whew! So it WAS worth it and a relief to hear him say that!


From the highway, before the turnoff to Kastraki

We arrive at the very charming Hotel Doupiani and settled in for a short while. We took a superior double room with a terrace and an amazing view of the landscape in front of us. This has now become a very popular place by Fodorites and I will be another one to post many of the same or similar photos from the hotel! It was well-run and managed with lovely staff and the buffet breakfast was excellent! The hotel is located in the small town of Kastraki, one of two towns where most tourists stay while visiting Meteora. It’s the (much) smaller of the 2 towns and has a wonderful small town flavor.

Hotel Doupiani - first view from the hotel

The first view from the balcony -- it is really astounding to stand there and see this in front of us!

Meteora Drive
So, to recap, Meteora is a remarkable site, a series of monasteries that were built on top of these huge rock outcroppings. Beginning in the 11th century and over the next several hundred years, hermits and monks built 24 monasteries on top of the rocks. Now only 6 are still functioning and can be visited, though most require some effort to walk up.

After arriving on Sunday afternoon, we drove to the Holy Monastery of St. Stephen, the only monastery that’s easy to access. Just driving around and taking in this truly awesome landscape and seeing the occasional monasteries on top of these tall rocks was breathtaking.

We were there in mid-May, so it was becoming busy, but not overwhelmingly so. There was a small line to enter the monastery and 1 or 2 bus tour groups, but the line moved quickly and we were able to enjoy the experience. I brought a skirt to wear as this was required for women. I did take photos inside (I misunderstood and thought only one room was not allowed ) and only later did I discover that photos were not allowed anywhere inside. But since I have them, I hope no one is offended if I post them.
Holy Monastery of St. StephenFrom the website Meteora dot com:
“The 14th century St. Stephen monastery is the closest monastery in Meteora to the main town of Kalabaka, and so the easiest to visit. St. Stephen monastery was founded by St. Antoninus Cantacuzene, who is thought to be a son of the Serb ruler Nicephorus II of Epirus, in 1400. The Katholikon at the monastery is dedicated to St. Charalambos who’s head it contains, as it is believed to prevent illnesses. Much of the monastery was destroyed during World War Two and the Greek civil war that followed. The monastery is run by Nuns…”

Meteora Drive
Of course, the above doesn't really give you the flavor of the region, as you see these buildings sitting on top of these incredible rocks. This one might say it all:


Words just can't capture it!

Meteora drive, continued...

A walk around Katraki
The small town of Kastraki (means "small castle") was a lovely place to stay. We took a couple of walks - it won't take long to get the flavor of the town, but it really does have a nice "small town" flavor. We never made it to the larger Kalambaka, so I can't compare, but I enjoyed our time here.

More hotel views...

Unfortunately, M got sick that first night we were there and wasn't up to traveling around the next day. I was glad we saw what we did and I was also glad that we had such a lovely terrace and view to relax on. The hotel staff were very kind during our visit, checking on our needs while we were there. While M. rested, I took a walk around the town but otherwise stayed in or around the hotel. So I managed to get lots of variations on the view from the hotel!!

Looking both ways from the terrace!


That same amazing shot, but just a little bit closer


And a wider variation!


Evening is glorious


Morning at the hotel


Morning view, looking toward the mountains


Breakfast view!


Terrace view


Hotel front


Hotel property

Stopping in Kamena Vourla
The next day, there was no way we were going to be able to manage any touring, so as soon as we were packed up and ready to go, we left Meteora to begin our journey back south. I was very glad that we made it to Meteora at all; much as I was disappointed that we didn't have a second day to explore, we really did get a wonderful feeling of the area and were happy that we visited. It was very worth the trip!

On our way back to the Athens area, we stayed one night in Kamena Vourla, a town known for its hot springs. Founded in the mid-20s when a chemist discovered radon, it was thought to have wonderful healing properties. By the 30s, hotels were built up and, over the years, well known people have visited for the spas. But today, it’s definitely off season and it felt more like a ghost town! It gets good reviews on travel sites but we didn't stay in a resort but in a small hotel, back from the water. We were the only ones at our hotel and it was a bit odd. An odd experience -- the hotel owners had invited us to have lunch with them -- a lovely grilled fish meal -- but when we left, they billed us for it, having never mentioned it when they "invited" us to join them.

We did enjoy a pleasant walk along the waterfront and I imagine it's lively during the season, but it was definitely just a stopover. Then again, we weren't quite up to much touring by this time.

Kamena Vourla - A quiet stopover


The architecture!


Along the sea


Along the sea


This is probably hopping in the season!


Along the sea


Our only company along the walk!


view from our hotel


Another hazy sunset!

I haven�t chimed in for awhile but I�ve been following along and enjoying the trip with you.

Greece finale
For our last night in Greece, I discovered the highly recommended Avra Hotel in Rafina, a charming port town just outside of Athens and a 20-25 minute drive to the airport -- and the hotel provides a low cost shuttle! And dropping the car was as easy as could be - Swift Car rentals had me park in the hotel lot and had the key to the hotel reception. That was it. We were done!

Avra Hotel is a very comfortable business-style hotel overlooking the water, and after a little rest, we took a stroll, eating at one of the many restaurants lining the port. It was a wonderful last meal in this beautiful part of the world. Breakfast was excellent, and the shuttle was a relaxed ride through yet more stunning countryside!

Our destination today was Milan Malpensa, and we stayed near the airport at the Cardano Hotel Malpensa. It was fine for our last night, and by now, we were both under the weather, so I couldn't tell you much more about the place than the room was perfectly adequate for our needs.

And yes, add us to the many who ended up with covid on their European adventure this year! It definitely seems to be making the rounds again.