Delphi
Trip Start
Apr 10, 2004
1
7
13
Trip End
Apr 22, 2004
Delphi, Greece
Sunday, April 18, 2004
night Nickole began her Grecian tradition of saying, "Wake me up
in ten minutes" which means, "See you in the morning." Soon we
went off to Delphi, our favorite spot in Greece, a beautiful
hill side, cliff ridden, misty, bright with hardy wildflowers
and huge vistas down to the Aegean. We saw a hole in the ground
where the oracle of delphi got high on sulphur fumes and
gibbered until priestesses told people whether or not to declare
war, get married, plant amaranth, whatnot. It was hard not to
feel we'd been dropped into a dewy ancient chinese landscape
painting. There we stayed at the Amalia Hotel which is
completely worth it -- absolutely the nicest hotel in Delphi we
bet -- with fantastic, breathtaking views of clouds over hilly
valleys and the sea through an 8 by 10 foot picture window. The
CAFE perched on the lower road of the town, glass walls, wicker
club chairs, was a great place for Nickole and I to write for a
few hours until the Athens v. Pyraeus game came on (#16 Athens ,
rar). We got hungry for pizza and decided to stroll through
town -- restaurant upon restaurant completely deserted, filled
with one or two pasty faces under the fluourescent lighting, and
then one other restaurant totally packed a la Louisville v.
Kentucky game, heavy drinking Greek men, beating the greasy
tables with their fists, and as one person pushed the door open,
a huge roar of approval for a goal. Anyhow, I like to say that
if you give Nickole an ashtray, about three minutes later she'll
say, "Hey, there's a party in this ashtray later, you want to
go?" and didn't fail me then, leaving the glassed in, cliff side
cafe with a disco flyer in her hand. I guessed they were sweaty
estonians, but they were Frahnch kids from lycee. The DJ bought
us fanta and mineral water, then brought us cake, then, the
bespectacled bartender sent us shots (we were just standing
there for pete's sake). Nickole asked the bartender his
name. "Iliad". This is the kind of thing that makes Greece so
side-splitting. He wasn't kidding. ILIAD! In another country,
they say, "2700 years ago, we played hooknut with a shriveled
pumpkin and kept score by the shadow of the half moon" but in
Greece, they say, "2700 years ago, we played the 500 meter dash,
the pentathalon, boxing, wrestling, shot put". Or, in some
countries they might say, "Hey, this is the burial ground of
hookawang, the imperial kind of the Wing Dynasty". And in
Greece, they say, "Hey, this is the burial ground of
AGAMMEMNON." Good mighty in the morning. Did I know he was
real? "This is the burial ground of ALEXANDER THE GREAT". We
could go on about how they invented senators and the hypoteneuse triangle,
I mean feta cheese. But alas, I better log this and do another separate message."
