The area is known for its beauty. Most visitors will be surprised at how much of it is covered by forest, mainly pine trees, but also by small farms producing wine, olives and vegetables for the European market.
On our passage through the Canal, Nota Panteleaki gave us an explanation about the canal and also about the wars which have taken place in this area, which is replete with ancient history. The trip through the canal also gave us time for some bird watching -- lesser kestrel, kingfisher and last but not least two peregrine falcons. One had just recently caught a pigeon.
By lunchtime we came to the port at Itea and buses were waiting to bring us to Delphi. Outside the town we passed through large olive plantations and our Greek guides explained the whole process. Only about 1-2 % of the harvest is the olives we like to see on the table, big and marinated. The rest is used for olive oil -- virgin, extra virgin…. Can you tell the difference?
Delphi is situated on the slopes of Mt. Parnassus and to reach the site you have to go on sharp switchback roads. Our drivers are really good and very soon we arrived for a full afternoon's visit. From Delphi you can look down towards the sea and it is easy to understand why the site is placed here. A nice breeze made it comfortable for us to climb up hill to the site of Apollo. It was also here you could ask questions of the Delphi Oracle. Maybe some of us wanted to take the chance, but the answers she gave were not easy to interpret. The museum also houses some unique artifacts from the excavations, which started in 19th century. From the museum it is about a five minute walk to the town of Delphi.
Everyone interested in bird life could combine history and wildlife. Over the site a golden eagle together with Alpine chough kept us busy. In the ruins we saw the noisy rock nuthatch (see the photo) and the heard beautiful song of the blue rock thrush.
Yes, Delphi is really a great site to visit, and before our buses departed we were able to stroll around in town.
