With an extra day in Delphi we decided to go on a ride down to the sea. Having consulted the helpful people in the taverna/Bus Station, we waited for the 1045 bus from Delphi down to Itea on Monday 16 March. Whilst sitting on the step and offered a smoke by a local in the queue, Steve couldn’t refuse . . . The bus was a bit late and turned out to be the one that takes a detour through Chirros. An interesting long winding ride along some amazing roads down to the sea. We arrived in the small fishing port of Itea where there’s a couple of marinas and several beachside bars.
The bus station is again tucked between two tavernas, comprising a long narrow ‘waiting room’ with an office at the far end selling tickets not just for people, but parcels as well. Before setting out for our walk, we bought some snacks and sat at one of the bars on the beach for a drink. All very quiet as it’s clearly low season and probably not one of the most popular holiday resorts, looking a bit shabby in places. The sea looks clear but pebbly and rocky. A fisherman was selling fresh fish from his boat with gulls swooping down as he gutted them and cast the remains overboard.
We walked the couple of miles up the deserted beach to Kirra which dates back to the C6th BCE as the port for Ancient Delphi. Now the few remains of the shipyard, dock and a plinth which never made it up to the Delphi site are all covered over with wild flowers and long grass. A local man was keen to take us through a rickety gate to show us all this, buried beneath all the grass. There’s a sign giving all known information about this ancient port, now a fairly run-down seaside resort. It was an interesting walk there and back past somewhat down-at-heel hotels and apartment blocks.
We’d noticed what looked like a modern canal between Delphi and the coast. The Mornos Reservoir was created in the 1970s by building a dam across the River Mornos, to supply water for Athens. A 120 mile channel brings the water to the city through underground tunnels and aqueducts, clearly seen from the historic site at Delphi.
We caught the afternoon bus back to Delphi which continues on to Athens, taking a more direct route than this morning. The forecast rain just started as we left but had stopped by the time we reached Delphi. It’s our last night in Greece tonight – unless you count tomorrow when we’re on a Greek boat overnight to Italy. We went to the restaurant next door again to save a wander round and looked forward to a leisurely start in the morning with our private hire taxi calling for us at 11am.