Sept 2-4 Delphi, Meteora and Mykonos Greece

 We traveled north from Athens to visit Delphi. We were reminded of the recent wildfires around Athens.

Greece is very mountainous going north from Athens.

Delphi Museum

Charioteer Bronze statue recovered after being buried for centuries.

Up here is where the Oracle of Delphi would mumble her answers to questions posed by visitors. Those mumbles were translated by the priests into the predictions that would guide the petitioner. However, most answers were vague enough that any result could have been predicted. For example, "Will we prevail in battle?" Answer - "There will be a great victory" without specifying just who will have that victory.

This is as far up the hill as I made it. The amphitheater was about 75 feet higher, but I could take a picture of it.

We traveled further north to the monasteries of Meteora. From out hotel in Kastraki you could see the vertical cliffs where the monasteries are.

There was limited picture taking allowed inside. The actual churches are very small, catering to just a few dozen monks

This is where a monastery is located. A formidable location.

Once you've climbed up to the monastery (150 steps) it looks like a normal compound.

There are more than a half-dozen churches up here.

On the drive back to Athens to board our ship, Vista, we stopped by Thermopylae. Here a Greek army of 7000 held off a Persian Army of 300,000 for two days. They took advantage of a geographic constriction limiting the battle front with a heroic defense. They were eventually routed when the Persians found a goat track around the mountain that allowed them to flank the Greeks.

We boarded Vista in Athens and arrived the next morning in Mykonos. We were one of six cruise ships visiting on this day. Grecian ports are being overrun by tourists during the summer. (And yes, I know I'm part of the problem. But our cruise ship is 1200 pax. There are 5000+ pax cruise ships in the mix.)

Mykonos is charming