Of Giant Eggs and Water Closets

'Twas an eventful day in the city of Delphi. While morning person I am not, I can safely say that waking up at six in the morning was absolutely worth it. It was very humbling, standing in a place of so much history.

We got on the bus at about seven o' clock, bright eyed and ready for a two and a half hour drive through the mountains. All aboard: queue nap time. There are definitely some very attractive sleeping photos floating around out there, we're bound to get to everyone eventually.

Anywho, after snoring for about an hour and a half, we happened upon a random gas station on the highway where we stopped for food. Not a big deal, right? Wrong. This little convenience store just so happened to be the first place in which I encountered my preconceived notion of Greeks. From reading "Culture Dimensions" and "Dinner with Persephone", I imagined Greeks to be loud, pushy, and rude. Fortunately, my prejudices had been disproved thus far...not so fortunately, I encountered them full force yesterday. 

As most of you may have noticed, I do not enjoy being in places congested with people. High school hallways, Islands of Adventures during Christmas break, The Cheesecake Factory on Friday night...you get the drift. Well, replace all the crowds in those places with pushy and touchy Greeks, and voila, you have this gas station. All I wanted was a frappe, but we had to bull-doze our way to the cashier because lines were practically nonexistent. Seriously, I was merely waiting to get my coffee minding my own business, and a parade of people physically pushed me out of the way to get past. Rude. 

Unfortunately, we were all too dazed to take pictures of this place...
this was the only one I found. Thanks, Charlie!

Still, I suppose you could argue that this station was the first truly Greek place we've been to. Being completely honest here, nearly every restaurant, super market, and shopping center we've visited has had some sort of English influence. I hate to admit it, but we really do look like a group of stupid American tourists everywhere we go. It was just a culture shock going to a place so different from what I'm used to. I mean, don't get me wrong, Americans are idiots in crowds, too, but at least most people make the effort to say "excuse me" and "sorry". Not to mention the unwritten code against touching complete strangers, which I can't say I disagree with. 

It was an experience, that's for sure. 

After making that quick little pit stop, we ventured further into the city to the Sanctuary of Apollo and yet another Temple of Athena. As we climbed up the mountains, Robin gave us the 411 on Delphi history; interestingly, each Greek myth differs from the next, though there's usually some sort of similarity. According to the ancient Greeks, Delphi is actually considered the center of the world. Zeus let loose two giant eagles (think Lord of the Rings, people), one from the East and one from the West. Said birds flew and flew and flew until they ended up meeting in the center of the world and BAM. Delphi. 

'Tis the giant egg that was created to mark Delphi as the center of the Earth.

Apollo then overtook the Kastilian Spring for himself, founding the the oracle of Delphi. The spring functions as a cleansing site in which ancient Greeks would purify themselves before entering the sanctuary.

Not to take anything away from the sacred tradition,
but that water was really refreshing.

Now, we made it to the top of the mountain with the aid of a nice, air conditioned bus. It took two and a half hours, and then we had to climb even more on foot. Imagine making that pilgrimage with no other means of transportation. Athens to Delphi, on foot or by donkey. Those Greeks must've really wanted to get somewhere, because those who had the means were expected to make such a trek. The tradition was to bring offerings to the gods, receiving advice from the oracle in return. We were able to see one of the restored treasuries as we walked through the ruins. 

This is not actually said treasury...I just really like this picture...

As Robin kindly informed us, legend has it that the oracle was used as a mouthpiece of the Gods. One of the most recent theories is that a giant earthquake created cracks in the ground, from which gaseous fumes sent the oracle into a euphoric state. It was in this mindset that she would make predictions and advise travelers. This sanctuary is one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece, I kind of had a geek-out moment standing in the middle of so much history.

We continued to browse the realm of ancient Greece in the Archaeological Museum of Delphi, where Ellie and I decided that having a Lion King movie night would be a marvel idea.

We're BFF's now. 

Arachova proved to be absolutely beautiful, and I managed to find souvenirs for a few people. It was a little touristy, but a lot of the shops had authentic Greek paraphernalia, which was a nice change.

Our next adventure was a little interesting. Bus rides are long, see, so Hannah, Chase, and I had need of a water closet when we got to the Houskos Loukas monastery. Well, we found one. Innit so fancy?

Yes, that would be a hole in the ground. With foot stirrups. Great.

At first, Hannah and I thought we were in the wrong bathroom. Nope. It was probably amusing to anyone in line, we were talking to each other through the stalls trying to figure out the best way to utilize said facility. Our solution was to take off our shorts and squat, which according to Erika is the right way to go. 'Twas an experience, that's for sure. I can now say that I've peed in a hole. Cross that off the bucket list.

The monastery itself was absolutely gorgeous. We had to rock the nun look for a while, which was an interesting experience. The artwork on these walls was breathtaking, though, I just can't get over how pretty it was.

Fun fact: in the Greek Orthodox religion, priests and saints aren't supposed to decompose, so they perform some sort of preserving ritual before burial.

Rotting priest... weird.

We meandered around the monastery for about an hour before making our way back to the bus for our long ride home. Again, queue nap time.

Though the days are long and hot and tiring, these excursions are one of my favorite parts of this trip. I like learning about all of the archaeological sites we visit, and standing where famous Greek philosophers stood thousands of years ago. This is such an amazing experience. I'm going to miss logging on to Facebook and having like, fifteen notifications. That's right, my life's interesting. 

Alright, lovely people, time to go shower and sleep. Classes bright and early tomorrow morning...ugh. This is Maddie, signing off! <3