I am the world's slowest visitor to museums and archaeological sites, as will be attested by anyone who has waited for me. So I am a little concerned that the site and museum are only open from 8.30 til 3. I buy my ticket at 8.31 and walk up the sacred way through the donated treasuries and plinths of plundered statues to the temple of Apollo. He ran the famous oracle although he probably supplanted an earth goddess very early in history.
The site is well-labelled and it is also possible to sneak to less frequented spots to feel the spirit of the place and imagine how it would have looked when all those plinths and columns still bore their statues and golden tripods. It also allows the wildlife to shine, from butterflies to redstarts and nuthatches. Redstarts in particular seem to love ancient ruins, presumably for the insects lurking in crevices in the stone walls.
One of the features here is the polygonal wall of huge, irregularly-shaped rocks fitted neatly together to leave few larders for birds. The redstarts are hopping about the more collapsed walls.
The amphitheatre seated 5000, which isn't the largest; but it seems to extend into the mountain, which rises above the seats all around. And behind the small stage, in the distance, rise more mountains. It must have been awe-inspiring to watch a performance.
What remains standing, and the guiding info, give a good feel for how everything fitted together when this was a point of pilgrimage for the ancient world. But the museum fills the gaps with amazing reconstructions of the temple facades, the triglyphs and metopes. They favoured complex battle scenes, famous mythical melees between gods and heroes and amazons or giants. Most of the amazing offerings have long been looted, or re-assigned by the Romany empire. A few have survived by accident, enough to amaze. The votive offerings from the 8th to 6th centuries BC are particularly stunning. Another gem is the bowl with Apollo multi-tasking - pouring a libation while playing the cithera. And ancient music notation! The representation of a religious ode carved into stone in 128 BC. My favourite piece is probably the life sized statue of a silver bull, 2.3m long. The staggering extravagance of this seems to have been typical of the offerings, which of course is why so many are long gone.
After the museum I head for the temples of Athena just down the road, surrounded by olive trees just as they were thousands of years ago. The place has been taken over by a group of meditators. I overhear their tour-leader explaining how the outer circle of pillars collects energy and focuses it into the centre of the circular tholos building: sigh. They have a right to enjoy and participate in the spirit of this amazing place, but I don't understand why you would choose to meditate in a silent group, surrounded by milling tourists and photographers, rather than heading for the tranquility and beauty of the mountains. Each to their own.
Dinner is substantial as I have a ride of 120k planned for tomorrow, and bad weather is expected ( which never makes things easier).
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