After a few lovely relaxing days at Trizonia we set off on the relative short trip (about 4 hours) further east to Galaxidi. It was almost midday on Sunday when we arrived and squeezed into a perfect wee spot for Barberry, right at the busy quayside, with Kerry reversing in, textbook style! Just after we tied up and setup the gangplank, we heard music and fireworks. What’s going on? We checked our diaries and no, it wasn’t 12th July. Then an amazing parade passed right by the boat, with bands, traditional costumes and men festooned with ancient weapons.
It turned out to be a very significant Greek War of Independence date. On 22nd September 1821 an English ship led a Turkish fleet into Galaxidi to put a stop to this revolution. The Galaxidians defended themselves vigorously, but were outgunned by cannon fire, so had to flee. Galaxidi was razed to the ground. Sadly, many of the inhabitants never returned. The history of the little port we were tied up in is incredible!
Our plans were to hire a car to get to Delphi, so we did our usual and looked on Google maps for a rental company. It was actually right behind us. No office, but a few well-used looking little rental cars parked on the street. We phoned the Google maps number and they said they would meet us the next morning. Right enough, the man appeared at 0830 on Monday, climbed on our boat (bumping his head on the Bimini and nearly falling off the gangplank), filled in a form, gave us the keys and we were all set. We did pay some extra for insurance , but no idea what this actually covered!
Kerry did not like the Citreon C1 we were given. She said it did not steer well. Unfortunately she muttered this to me quite regularly as we rounded hairpin bends on the mountain passes up to Delphi. It did not do my nerves any good. Having said that, she did only drive on the wrong side of the road once, so that was good! I know I should have taken a turn driving, but Kerry freely admits that she is not a good passenger and I have experienced this first hand in the past.
So up we climbed to Delphi, squeezed into a tiny roadside parking space, then got out into the heat. Up and up we walked, gradually getting closer to the Gods, until we arrived at the famous ruins.
The climb was challenging , especially for Kerry, whose mountaineering days are well in the past. But she was well psyched up for this and did amazingly well. It did not help that we had not brought water and it was thirsty work. We kept going right to the top, out-climbing most of the other tourists, and finally made it to the highest point: the stadium. This is second only in significance to the one at Olympia, where the Olympic Games originated. They ran all sorts of sports in the stadium at Delphi, including sprint races of 178m, discus and wrestling. Unfortunately we were not allowed into the stadium itself, or we could have had a Kerry vs Fraser race (although Kerry may have preferred the wrestling).
After a long clamber down, we found the wee cafe, and fought through the tourists for some well needed refreshments. Kerry drank her cold drink in a oner and watched in amazement as I tucked into some dry crisps, stating that I was more hungry than thirsty. The endurance challenge continued with a trip around the Delphi museum. A lot of the artefacts were moved here from the ruins. There were quite a few finds on display. You might think they would have all been pillaged by now, but actually earthquakes had buried a lot of the relics and many had only been rediscovered in the 1950s when a group of French archeologists had been given permission to excavate the site.
After Delphi we stopped nearby to investigate the Temple of Athena. The coach tourists did not get this far so it was lovely and quiet. We got to experience a much better feeling of being immersed in the home of the Gods.
After a lovely taverna dinner that evening we slept well on the boat. Kerry did not even seem to be aware of the local bar music, that played until 2am. People don’t seem to sleep in Galaxidi. The next day we visited the maritime museum and learnt much about the local history and the significance of the port where we had brought Barberry.
After the museum I still had some energy so went for a wee walk up to an old windmill. Kerry stayed on Barberry as she had some publicity work to do for her new book release — very exciting!
After Galaxidi we were to slowly retrace our steps back to the Ionian. This meant once again stopping in Trizonia. Oh dear, a paradise island, what a shame! There were some big winds forecast for the weekend, so this gave us the excuse to stay for a few more days here. We met a lovely couple called Frank and Lin, who have sailed in Greece for years. What a lifestyle! I also managed to explore some more of the island and came across quite a few tortoises. I got very excited about this. It’s so nice to know that they are thriving here now, as for many years they were being taken from Greece for the pet trade. Thank goodness that has ended.
