Delphi Greece

Viking Greece - Rome 

Jan 26, 2026

Delphi Greece

Today's tour was out to see the ancient Greek ruins at Delphi.  Delphi was the site of the Temple of Apollo and the Oracle.  It was a 2.5 hour bus ride from our hotel in Athens. So we were on the bus good and early.  We had been told that there was major rain storms in the forecast so bring rain gear and be prepared for some cold blustery weather. On the way out the bus encountered a bunch of driving rain and horrific wind, so everyone on the bus was moaning about how nasty it was going to be.  

We we arrived at Delhi the rain paused and the clouds parted to give us a little sun. It was pretty nice.  The tour guide had been telling us on the way out all about how the Tembple of Apollo worked and how the schedule of the Oracle worked.  The Temple was open for business 365 but you had to bring offerings to get in to plead your case to Apollo.. The oracle was only open for 6 months a year so there was a line up to see the Oracle however by bringing better offerings you could jump the cue to get in.  You could ask the Oracle anything but the trick was how to phrase your question. The Oracle's advise was always elusive and difficult to determine what was actually meant.  Sort of sounds like asking AI today.   

Delphi is located on the side of some very steep mountians and has a spectacular view down the valley.  The overall site is quite large and has a thousand large uneven steps, which being wet from the rain were quite slippery.  Most of the site has been excavated but there is still large sections which are excavated and a couple of sites were being excavated.

Apollo's Temple has only six columns still standing and most of the base is still there.  It is a little hard to imagine what this looked like at the height of it's glory with all the white marble and brightly painted facades. However in farness this site was built around 550 BC. 

After we toured the site we went into the museum where the tour guide lead us through all of the exhibits.  There were a lot of really beautiful pieces of art which had been recovered from the site.  It was very beautiful.  

We were certainly glad to be here in January when there were very few people visiting the site. There must have been parking for a thousand buses.  

By the time we stopped for lunch and drove back it was close to 6:00 pm.  Agnes and I were just beat and went across the street and got a take out spinach and cheese pie for supper. 

Missed the rain and saw Delphi without the crowds,  Perfect!

Terry

Athens Tours January 25 2026

Athens to Rome January 2920 

Athens Tours  Day one

January 25, 2026

Todays tours started with a huge buffet breakfast in the hotel at 6:00 am and on the bus at 7:40.  It was to be a big day with a lot to see and alot of very long and complicated stories about Greek mythology.  A lot of the sites are pre written history or at the very earliest of written history so what is know fals into the mythology area.

The first stop was the Corinth Canal which was built in 1922. It is only a couple of miles long but cuts off 131 miles around some very dangerous coastline. It is a sea level canal and has no locks and only one ship can go through at a time.   This was right after WW1 and Greece was totally broke and in need of new infrastructure.  The Prime Minister pushed this project through against a lot of opposition but it was a huge success and is still in use to day.

The second stop was at the Epidauros theater.  This theater was built around 325 bc.  It can seat 0ver 13,000 people.  The acoustics are absolutely amazing a coin dropped in the center of the theater can be heard in the very top rows of the theatre.  The stone seating is absolutely amazing.  Each of the stone blocks are perfect cut and fitted together so that they all interlock and support each other.  I climbed up about half way and was totally amazed as you could heard the tiniest whisper spoke in the center of the theatre.    

The fourth stop was the Treasure of Atreus, or the tomb of Agamemnon.  It is huge stone structure built around 12500 BC,   This huge tomb is constructed of huge limestone blocks which form a conical beehive.  It was hit by grave robbers early on so not much is know about it.

The last stop was a huge Mycenae fort built in 1300 BC.  It is know as the Lion Gate for the large triangular stone carving of two lions over the gate.  It is a huge complex covering several acres.  It was excavated in the late 1890's so quite a bit is know about how the fort operated.  It was the headquarters of the Mycenae civilization in the 1300 BC time period.  The rocks are al dry laid and are perfectly fitted so the walls have not fallen down.  Even tough the path was extremely steep I climbed right to the top, where the view was outstanding.

We didn't get back to the hotel until almost 4:00.  It was a long, long day of tours, but very interesting.

Terry 

 

Vancouver to Athens

Viking Cruise January 2026

January 24 2026

Vancouver to Athens Greece

The trip from Kelowna to Athens was a long flight and was a lot more complicated than it should have been.  To an extent it was kind of my fault.  We had booked the trip with Viking cruises and it included the flights.  When you book the trip you don't exactly know what kind of flight you are going to get other than you know that it will get you to the destination and will have luggage and choose of seats. The price was quite good in comparison to what I could find so I was happy.  About four months before departure we are told what the flights were.  What I didn't realize was that I had five days to try and get Viking to give different flights so I simply accepted the flights.  The flight we wound up with was from Kelowna to Vancouver to Seattle Washington to Amsterdam to Athens.  

The first flight to Vancouver was on Thursday Jan 22 with an over night in Vancouver.  We had a hotel right at the airport so it was great.  Short 45 minute flight with a nice supper in the hotel and a short walk to the flight the next morning.  

The second flight to Seattle was on a really beaten up old Delta plane.  The flight left right on time for Delta -- 45 minutes late.  Fortunately we had 2.5 hours in Seattle so no big deal.  With the flight only 27 minutes being on this really beaten up old plane wasn't so bad.

The second flight to Amsterdam was also on Delta and was an old Airbus.  We had two seats window and aisle.  The flight was scheduled to leave 25 minutes late but we had 3 hours in Amsterdam so no big deal.  After boarding there was a 45 minute delay while the worked on closing one of the cargo doors.  Down to 110 minutes in Amsterdam which included going thru customs.  They lost another 20 minutes enroute so we were down to  90 minutes.   The movie selection was short but there was a couple.  I never was able to get to sleep as it was morning when we left. .  

In Amsterdam customs is always a long line up and they only had two booths open so the line wasn't moving.   Fortunately there was a fellow from the airport pulling short departure times out of line so when we got within about 40 minutes of departure we got pulled out of line and moved to the front.  

The final leg was KLM plane which had no entertainment or even power points for charging your phone.  The flight was a 2.25 hr and I did get about 40 minutes of sleep.  They had lots of snacks and drinks on board.  We were so happy to have just made it on board. 

When we arrived in Athens it was already late Saturday afternoon and unbelievably our luggage even showed up.  

The Viking representative was there and we where loaded on to a bus and driven to the hotel. 

Were we ever glad that ordeal was over.

Terry