Day 51. 15.5.23
Eretria to Delphi via Thiva (ancient Thebes)
Woke up early this morning and took Meg for a walk around the site and on the beach. As we got back to the van there was a loud but distant rumble that went on for quite a while. I thought, it’s definitely an airplane but couldn’t understand the length of the rumble? A few minutes later I heard planes overhead so popped back out to see what it was.
It was only our very own Red Arrows 
all 8 of them. So we sat on the beach and watched the free display. It lasted at least, if not more than, 30 minutes and included the red white and blues, a red heart and some loop-de-loops 
wow, what a treat. Searching the Net I saw that they are indeed in Greece, on the Pelleponese for practice sessions.
Our next destination was Delphi and while enroute we realised we would drive past Thebes, so took a little detour.
The only archaeology left appears to be in the museum. There aren’t any carparks near it as it’s smack bang in the centre of town but we managed to get a big enough spot outside a school on the exit road.
It was getting warm so we took Meg with us and I waited outside while Gareth popped his head in.
The museum is big – there are 18 different sections, taking you from the stone age to more recent events – and houses some ruins in the basement that you can view under a glass floor. It actually has some of the walls of the Cadmea (a Citadel, – protected area in a walled city) on show and has lot of lovely artifacts which once again were from graves.
Thebes is one of Europe’s longest inhabited cities.
Onwards to Delphi.
To be honest, we didn’t realise where it actually was in relation to metres above sea level (2200m)!
The nearest town to Delphi is Arachova, which is a ski village, believe it or not! It has between 20/30 different ski runs 
. We were really surprised when we saw all the shops advertising ski lessons and hire. Arachova is a very pretty place and had we found a big enough parking spot we would have stopped for a walk round.
As you can guess the roads are clinging to the side of the hill, windy with a few hairpin bends and of course, most Greek drivers think it’s ok to overtake on a blind bend even if there are double solid white lines running down the middle. We did have a few incredulous laughs 
.
We had to drive past the archaeological site of Delphi as all the parking spaces were taken. Due to its geography (on a mountain) there are no visitor carparks off of the road, so you have to grab a space you can fit into when you see it.
Not to be disappointed, we carried on to the first campsite just outside the town of Delphi and luckily there was room for us just for the night. We stayed in the Apollon campsite which has a lovely swimming pool and terrace overlooking the Gulf of Corinth, the Bay of Itia and mountains all around. The landscape was breathtaking to the eye, phone cameras do not do it justice.
For the view alone we had a meal in the onsite restaurant, toasting the beautiful vista with some house red wine 
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