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A pivotal site in the history of ancient Greece was Delphi. It was a small city whose business was religion. To be more specific, their business was prophecy and they gave the credit for their prophecies to the god Apollo. People came from all over the western world to ask a question and get a cryptic answer.

We took a bus from Athens through the fertile plain of Boeotia, to the southern slope of Mt. Parnassus. We were surprised to find a ski resort along the road, but Mt. Parnassus is the closest skiing to Athens.

The ruins of Delphi were excavated starting in 1893 when the town that had been built over the site was moved a couple of miles away. When you visit the site, you climb the ancient road past the foundations of all the various minor buildings that had been built below the temple. You turn in front of the reconstructed treasury of the Athenians, and reach the platform where the temple of Apollo sat. In the center is a gap where the Pythia sat. She was the woman who sat in the midst of volcanic fumes, chewing drug-producing leaves, and uttering odd noises which the priests translated into the eagerly awaited prophecies.

Many fine pieces of art were found in the excavations, and transferred to the Delphi museum.

When it was all over we went back to the ski resort for a late lunch before the long drive back to Athens