Today, Saturday 14 March we’re off to Delphi, having watched Alice Roberts great TV programme on Channel 4 over Christmas. We decided spending a couple of days in Delphi would be better than visiting as a day trip from Athens since the journey time is just over two hours by bus each way. It also seemed to be a good way to take a break from ‘city’ stops. After a last view from our wonderful rooftop balcony in Athens, breakfast and a tidy up, we make our way back down from the 6th floor in the tiny, ancient lift – only just room for two with our bags.
Hailed a taxi to take us to the bus station. There are three in Athens and we’d spent quite some time assuring ourselves that the KTEL bus goes from Liossion Bus Station. Luckily many of the taxi drivers have a basic understanding of English and with a bit of help from Google Maps we can get by OK. The fare was still only a €10 even though the Bus Station was a lot further away than the train station. We arrived in good time to buy tickets, have coffee and warm spinach pie at the station cafe. Contrary to the poor reviews on Google, we found the bus station and ticket office to be well-serviced, clean and tidy with the comfy bus leaving on time at 1030. The fare for us both was only €33 including an OAP discount.
There was a rest stop along the way at a service station and we arrived in Delphi on time at surely the smallest ‘bus station’ in Europe! There’s a notice on the wall of a taverna and space for one bus up a one-way street! The taverna has an online timetable with very friendly, helpful staff and you can get information/buy tickets and of course have coffee or any other beverage with food. However, we discovered that, sadly, our earlier investigations were correct and there are no buses to Patras on a Tuesday . . . the day our ferry back to Italy leaves. It seems they only run once a week, at best. Bev had failed to factor this into her earlier planning, hoping that ‘something would turn up’, but there are other options, albeit some are quite expensive or involve very early morning starts.
After a climb up the hill from the bus station we checked in to the Tholos Hotel and have another great ‘room with a view’. It’s a small hotel run by two sisters supported by a very lovely, lively housekeeper who speaks no English but is always keen to help. The room is very reasonably priced at €175 for three nights, including breakfast. As it was still early afternoon, we went for a recce down to the entrance office for the archaeological site and museum which closes during the low season at 1530.
We met up with Barbara again, who we’d chatted with on the bus from Athens. She’d been into the site for the afternoon and we decided to have supper together later on. The site is free entry on Sunday so our plan is to get up early and be first in the queue at 0830 before the busloads arrive for day trips from Athens. Spent an enjoyable evening with Barbara at the restaurant next to our hotel as the one we’d planned to go to had three large EF tour groups booked in. Bev knows the score for these groups of US students, having been a Tour Director for EF about 20 years ago. Even the restaurant proprietor suggested we don’t come tonight, but maybe tomorrow!