Delfi and Meteora

Delfi - "The navel of the earth".
A magical ancient place, dedicated to the god Apollo.

This is the most photographed ruin of Delfi, but in fact is not a temple. This is a family mausoleum built by Alexander the Great to glorify his father, Phillip. Not a good idea in the eyes of the Greeks and in such a sacred place. But he was the king, so no one could really say anything.
The real temple of Guia, where pilgrims had to purify themselves was destroyed by a violent earthquake.

Pilgrims had to be admitted into the sacred area above the cleansing area by the priests and their handmaids. This was determined by pouring very cold water onto a lamb. If the lamb shivered you could be accepted into the sacred precinth.

This is the Plaka, where pilgrims could purchase food, souvenirs or things to offer the god Apollo for a good omen.

These are some of the artifacts held in the treasuries of the various towns that paid tribute to the Delfi site.

The following day we visited the Meteora monasteries. Some of them were very badly damaged during the second World War by German bombing. Today Meteora, along with 15 other sites in Greece is protected under UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
These remarkable buildings are built upon the tops of very high rocks.

The monasteries were built by the monks on these monoliths to protect themselves against the Persian invasion. In these times, you could only reach the tops of the hills by scaling the walls with rope. Later gondulas and rope baskets were installed to raise needed items up into the monasteries. Monasteries also owned land on the plains below which they farmed.

For the monks, it was very important to preserve the bones of past holy men, so these were kept in special repositories.

Other jobs for the monks included the copying of sacred texts, by hand. Some of these items go back as far as the 6 century.

For the first three days there were only five of us; two other Australians (sisters); Danielle and Helene and our guide Archangeles.