Things to do
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Arachova
A mountain town on the slope of Parnassus about 8 kilometres east of Delphi, its stone houses stacked below a clock tower on a rock. Shops along the main street sell woven rugs and formaela, the local cheese served grilled. In winter it is the base for the Parnassos ski centre, and in summer the lanes are quiet.
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Athenian Treasury
A small Doric building like a miniature temple, halfway up the Sacred Way, put up by Athens with spoils from the victory at Marathon. It was reassembled from its own fallen blocks in 1906, and is the only treasury standing to roof height. The walls are covered in inscriptions, among them two hymns to Apollo with musical notation, now kept in the museum.
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Delphi Archaeological Museum
Go after the ruins, not instead of them: the bronze driver of a racing chariot, the Sphinx of the Naxians and the treasury friezes from the sanctuary all stand in these rooms.
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Tholos of Delphi
A circular marble building of the early fourth century BC in the lower sanctuary of Athena, which pilgrims passed before reaching Apollo's. Three of its twenty outer columns were put back up in 1938, and that fragment has become the most photographed image of Delphi. Its purpose is unknown. The precinct lies below the main road, is free to enter and is often deserted.
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Castalian Spring
In the ravine between the two great cliffs that overhang the site, a spring where every pilgrim, priest and the oracle herself washed before entering the sanctuary. Two fountain houses survive, one archaic beside the road and a later one cut into the rock face with niches for offerings. Rockfall has closed the upper basin for years. Water still runs at the roadside.
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Corycian Cave
A large cave high on Mount Parnassus, about 1,250 metres up, sacred in antiquity to Pan and the nymphs. The first chamber is vast, with stalagmites rising in the half light, and excavators found thousands of knucklebones left there as offerings. A dirt road crosses the plateau to a short, steep path up to the entrance, and a torch is needed inside.
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Galaxidi
Galaxidi is a coastal town that makes a day trip by car from Delphi. Keep it for a second day, after the stone steps and ruins of the sanctuary, and pair it with the monastery of Hosios Loukas, about forty minutes from Delphi by road. A second night in Delphi or Arachova leaves time for both drives.
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Hosios Loukas
A walled monastery on a quiet slope of Mount Helicon, about forty minutes by road from Delphi and the usual second stop on the drive from Athens. Its main church, built around 1011, keeps gold mosaics of the first rank: a Nativity, a Baptism, saints in the vaults. The hermit Luke, who foretold the recapture of Crete, lies in the crypt. UNESCO lists it jointly with Daphni and Nea Moni.
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Temple of Apollo
The heart of the sanctuary, where a priestess seated over a fissure delivered the god's answers in a trance and priests turned them into verse. Six columns of the fourth century BC temple stand again on its platform. The Sacred Way zigzags up to it between ruined treasuries, and the path goes on to a theatre and, higher still, a remarkably complete stadium. One ticket covers the site and the museum.
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Theatre of Delphi
Above the Temple of Apollo, the path climbs on from the end of the Sacred Way to a well-preserved theatre. Its stone seats look out over the valley below the sanctuary. It lies inside the archaeological site, on the same ticket as the museum, and the steps up are uneven stone, so wear shoes with a firm grip.
