Delphi is one of the must-visit cities in Greece. We planned to visit Delphi on the second day, but our flexible schedule (all nights at Athens) allowed us to move it to day 4.
At the end of day 3, after the trip to Corinth, we went to a bus station to ask for the tickets to Delphi. It’s not easy to get to that bus station. After going by metro to Akiti station, we got out on Loison street. The station is at number 260, but we were at around number 100. After 5 or 10 minutes of walking, we decided to gamble with any bus coming along. Luckily, we made it to the bus station. Actually almost of the buses should go along that street, and the chance for success should be quite high. Anyway, I suggest you go with the bus, otherwise it would be very tiring.
The ticket costs €13 and it takes 3 hours and a half to get to Delphi. But a more important information was that the bus to Delphi from Athens is every 3 hours!!! The first bus starts at 7:30 a.m. and the next one is at 10:30 a.m. And if you want to comfortably visit Delphi in one day, you should get up very early to catch the first bus of the day. Different from the train tickets to Corinth (day 3), each bus ticket has a seat number and is issued for a specific trip. Therefore, it’s not a good idea to buy the ticket a day before the trip (in case that you want to be safe). We didn’t have to compete for the bus tickets, since we were traveling in March. But I guess it wil be more competitive in summer, or they will provide more buses, hopefully. Anyway, the sooner you get up and go to the bus station, the better chance you have.
After 3 hours and a half, we arrived at Delphi. Actually Delphi isn’t the destination of this ruote. You will get off at a bus stop where you will catch the bus back to Athens. The first thing you should do is to buy the ticket back. In our case, again, since it was March, we had many choices. We all chose the last bus at 6:00 p.m.; however we finished our visiting sooner and we could move up to the one at 4:00 p.m. BUT don’t count on our experiences if you go in summer, there will be many tourists in Delphi, I am sure.
We had the advantage of the availability and flexiblity of the tickets, so what we had to pay off? Mainly the closing time of all places here. Since people still used winter time, every place was closed at 3:00 p.m. (if I record correctly, or it might have been even sooner); hence, we were quite hasty to visit all places, namely the Sanctuary of Apollo?, the Tholos Temple – Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia?, and the Archaeological Museum?.
We spent most of the time outside and there was only less than 30 minutes for the museum. That was not quite me to visit a museum. Usually it takes me hours to visit a museum, take photos of the exibits and explanations if they are in English. I really wanted to visit that museum thoroughly, but I was too tired and hungry to do it, and the time constraint didn’t allow me to get the explanations. Oh, and I would like to remind you that posing is not allowed. We need to respect the exibits in this museum.
Well, at least we finished all the important places before they were closed, and then had an hour for lunch before going back to the bus stop to change our ticket and return to Athens at 4:00 p.m.
Day 4 was really tough for me, since I didn’t have a proper breakfast (got up very early to catch the first bus) and lunch was at 3:00 p.m; plus we had to walk quite a lot. But it was really interesting, at that time I just knew that Delphi is a must-visit city, but I didn’t know why. Now, while writing this entry and looking for some information, I found the answer on the Internet:
Delphi has a special meaning, more than just another collection of ruins in a country that is full of them. Delphi in ancient times was considered the center of the known world, the place where heaven and earth met. This was the place on earth where man was closest to the gods.
In Mythology, Delphi was the meeting place of two eagles, released by Zeus and sent in opposite directions. Where they met indicated the center of the earth and this decorated omphalas marked the exact spot (source)
Knowing the answer made me really contented that I was already there, despite of the fact that it was the most difficult day of our trip to Greece.