Tuesday 5 May

A lovely sunny day. Forecast was 13 degrees C - it was 23 degrees C!

This morning was spent in Olympia - the site of the pan-Grecian games. Much bigger site than expected. The ruins are extensive and the stadium was in excellent condition and very attractive. We did the 100m crawl - let's blame my achilles for not setting a world record!

Then a 4 drive to Delphi (Delfi on local signs). We both slept for much of the first half - hadn't slept too well. Many others in bus slept as well as in the hotel last night was a large group of senior Greek students and they were noisy! Some told them off; others rang management. We didn't hear a thing.

Our halfway stop was across from Petra. We bypassed Petra using the ring road. It was impressive as we went through 6 successive tunnels. We crossed the Trikoupis Bridge (aka Rio-Antirio) Bridge - a beautiful piece of engineering. It was 58 Euros for the bus to cross one way. The stop was an "evil" place - it had dozens of beautiful pasties/cakes. People took pictures and many broke vows and tasted. My quest for "gala" was successful. With my cup of tea they keep giving me little pottles of light brown evaporated milk which do not taste nice. I have learnt the word for milk milk - gala and I keep saying it until I get milk milk!!!

A beautiful drive along the Ionian Sea - great views of lovely sea, islands, white houses with orange roofs, bauxite mines (not such a pretty sight!).

A steep, steep climb up to Delphi. - 600m up. We got stuck in the one way main street behind another tour bus that was unloading. It stops in the middle of the narrow street so we stop and sit - as does everyone behind us. There is no alternative.

Hotel Amalia (room 462) is a nice hotel with breathtaking views of sea in the distance and mountains to the left and right. Excellent buffet meal.

Impression: ever since and including Patmos I have been impressed by roadside shrines - about the size of a letter box. Inside there are icons and there is olive oil in a bottle to light a candle. They are called iconostasia and are very beautiful. They are built to remember a family member killed on the raod or to wish travellers safe travel.

Goodys = the Greek McDonalds.