Exploring The Temple Of Apollo At Delphi!
There are so many things to do when exploring Greece: the beaches, the nightlife, the food and of course, the history!
Yes, Greece has a number of ancient ruins that have been restored and are open for exploration!
That’s why Alex and I took a daylong trip to see The Temple Of Apollo at Delphi, a 100 mile journey from Athens!
Delphi is a town on Mount Parnassus in the southern part of Greece. It’s a huge tourist attraction because it’s the site of the 4th-century-B.C. Temple of Apollo, once home to a legendary oracle!
Welcome To The “Naval Of The World!”
This famous site was known in ancient times as the “Navel of the World.”
It’s an important Greek religious sanctuary located on Mt. Parnassus near the Gulf of Corinth, home to the famous oracle of Apollo – which gave cryptic predictions and guidance to both city-states and individuals!
We took a guided tour because there are ruins scattered throughout the site, and it was great to have some insight by an Expert.
This extensive archaeological complex contains the remains of the sanctuaries of Apollo and Athena Pronaia, as well as an ancient stadium and theater.
Many of the walls have ancient writing, still visible to the naked eye!
Delphi was an ancient religious sanctuary dedicated to the Greek god Apollo. Developed in the 8th century B.C., the sanctuary was home to the Oracle of Delphi and the priestess Pythia, who was famed throughout the ancient world for divining the future and was consulted before all major undertakings.
These are “Doric” columns: the Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of columns.
We continued to climb up the mountain, where this theater has been preserved, with an incredible view of the valley below!
We were here near the end of June: it was very dry and hot, the temperature over 90 degrees…but still we climbed the mountain in order to see the remains of a track stadium!
There is a museum here as well where there are many artifacts and lots of history to absorb!
There are actually five temples of Apollo in Greece: here at Delphi, plus at Didyma, Hierapolis, Rhodes and Delos, and were all related to the cult of the god Apollo and functioned separately in both time and space.
This was just one of our many “ruin adventures” in Greece:
We went to the southernmost tip of the European continent to see the Temple Of Poseidon – click here and you can see it too:
Of course, our trip began with a visit to The Acropolis and The Parthenon, located in the heart of Athens, Greece!
You can see our tour up close by clicking on my story here:
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Categories: Art, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, nature, Pop Culture, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir
johnrieber 
John, this was outstanding. The columns, the theater, the mountains, and even the track stadium (surely the start of the Olympics) were a great treat for me to see. Thank you, as history is very important, something I wish everyone appreciated as much as I do. It is beautiful!
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Wow, what a great adventure back into time!
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This is amazing, John, the bird’s eye view is spectacular. I also always book tours of places like this as you learn so much more from a guide than you can on your own.
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that would be such a wild experience to see the temple of Apollo in person – your greek travels are all amazing
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That took me back, John. On my first trip to Greece in the late 1970s, we also took a tour to Delphi, and many of the photos my wife took that day are similar to yours as it has not changed at all of course. It was very hot when we went too, and I remember that feeling of being in an open-air ‘oven’.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, it hit 95, the concession stand was closed, the cold water machines were empty…all of which we discovered AFTER hiking all the way up to the amphitheater! Thanks for reading and yes, I can imagine that NOTHING has been moved!
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