Our first excursion outside of Athens took us to some interesting historical places - Delphi, Thermopylae, and Meteora. I loved seeing the ruins, the history, and the monasteries!
First up, Delphi and Thermopylae, with a night in Meteora.
Delphi was inhabited as early as 14th century B.C. By the 11th century B.C., settlers were worshiping Apollo as the god of light, harmony, and order and the Temple of Apollo was built, growing in size over the centuries. By the 8th century B.C., the priestess Pythia became known worldwide as the Oracle of Delphi. She would be consulted before large matters were decided.
In addition to the amazing history (the oldest civilization I've ever seen??), the landscape and countryside are just beautiful!
Here are some of the ruins we saw on our long walking tour.
And a quick stop at the passage of Thermopylae. This was especially interesting to David, so I'm going to interview him here:
This site was popularized in the movie "300". It's where 300 Spartans and their allies held off a huge force of Persias, and all died in the process. It used to be a narrow pass between the mountains and the sea in 480 B.C. but the ocean has receded since then. This monument is in honor of King Leonidis of Sparta. Thermopylae means "hot gates" and we could see the steaming coming from the ground.
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