Got up early and went to the Oracle of Delphi. We didn't quite manage to be there at opening time and we already behind a couple buses of tour groups.
There was a lot less left than we expected, and after reading in our guidebook about the reconstruction of what little is left (the Treasury of Athens, the Temple of Apollo), it was more than a little disappointing. Here is a set of monuments that didn't even begin to withstand the test of time. We decided at this point to do Crete instead of the Peloponnese. Anyway, the initial enthusiasm about the Peloponnese had involved a plan to rent a car, which we cannot do because we didn't get an international drivers license before leaving home.
The Delphi Museum was much better. They still have a bunch of the friezes and pediment statues from the major buildings. The Treasury of Athens even originally had a pair of statue pillars like the Caryatid!
Also, the Dancing Pillar and pillar-topping Sphinx were fantastic.
There was also an impressive life-size bronze chariot driver, but they never found his horses. A person might suppose that he might go with the horses atop San Marco in Venice (which are thought to have originally come from Greece by way of Turkey)... but probably if that was possible the caption would have said so.
In the small section of ruins across the road, we found the iconic round temple that you always see in photos, which rescued the outdoor experience for Mary.
Also, there were kittens. Greece has cats like India has cows.
Next we had a disappointing lunch at a cafe with free wifi, trying to book ferry tickets to Crete from Athens with no luck. Then we picked up our bags from our hotel to move on. By the way, this was our view last night...
We took the bus to Athens and were able to buy our ferry tickets near the port. Two bunks in gender-segregated 4-bed dorms for 49 Euros each. Not too bad. A good night's sleep was had. For 29 Euros each we could have had reclining deck chairs, which sound sketchy, but upon real life inspection proved to be indoors and looked far more comfortable than airline seats. This is THE way to travel to the far islands. We talked to other travelers who took high speed boats to Crete which cost more, took up 3 hours of prime daylight sightseeing time, and made them very seasick due to the motion of the boat.
It was a proper cruise ship with bars, swimming pool (not filled), and dance club, but the journey was barely 8 hours, so we went to bed before departure.
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