Day 11 - April 22, 2017 (Hailey)

Today I struggled to convince my body it was time to work and move again. Jay had to yank my leg out from under the covers to get me to shower and make myself presentable for the day. After we mulled through our morning routines, we headed downstairs for breakfast and to go over the plan for the day. Jordan explained the schedule for the day, but no one was really listening as my late awakening left us little time for breakfast.
After breakfast we picked up and headed out to Delphi's theatre. The walk there was full of picture taking and discussion of filters. At one point Abby and Olivia stopped and pretended to take a selfie to get a picture of the "hot" guy across the street. I didn't think he was that attractive and, um, hello? Privacy? Is that concept lost on our generation? Oh my gosh! Poor celebrates! They always have to deal with that! Ugh! I'm sorry my mind always wanders...back to the point!
Delphi's Theatre (Culture)

Delphi's Theater
Located at the back of the Apollo Sanctuary

We arrived at Delphi's theatre a little before 9. While Jordan was trying to get Gladdie out of her rebellious, "I don't want to be here" state, I caught parts of the American-speaking tour guide talking to the group before us. She was saying something about how a stone called Om-something marked the city of Delphi. I marveled at the amphitheater in front of me as I waited for the tour guide to make her way over.  When she arrived she greeted us very warmly with a giant smile. She started by informing us that the theatre's original alyout is unknown, but the cement seating came in sometime during the fourth Century B.C. The theatre was refurbished many times in it's life and its current state was the work of a 160/159 B.C. restoration. The theatre, like most today, consisted of three parts, the stage, the orchestra or pit, and the amphitheater. Katerina, our tour guide, then continued to describe that the stage depth of roughly 7 feet was often too small for the performances. Actors would often have to share space with the orchestra. I took a lot of pictures during the tour because, in my mind, every angle was unique and I needed them all. I brought my attention back for Katerina's final statements. She explained how Delphi's theatre is part of the sanctuary for the greek god of , healing, truth, sun, music, and many other things. The rock I heard her mention earlier, Omphalos, marked the meeting point of the two eagles Zeus released. In ancient greek Mythology, Zeus sent out two eagles, one to the east, on to the west and told them to fly to the center. Around Omphalos, the city of Delphi was built. I thought the story was extremely interesting and wondered for a brief moment what the history of Apex was.
We had some free time before lunch so we all rested at the top of the amphitheater for bit. Olivia and Abby took selfies while I took pictures of everything. My Nikon's battery was running a little low at this point so I decided to switch it with the other battery pack I dragged with me. About fifteen minutes before the car was supposed to show up we started heading to the meeting place. Our car driver seemed pretty nice, for someone who spends all day driving other people places. He didn't talk much but he appeared to be listening intently to Abby and Olivia's bicker about what is "quality music". We arrived at the Agora cafe around 12:35 which left us a little more than an hour to translate and decide something to eat. After eating we headed up to the bus station, letting Gladdie direct us since she had mapped it out while we were still in NC.
When we finally got to the bus station we found out it was running late. Of course, when we're early, the bus is late. I sat next to Jordan when the bus finally did arrive and I could see her head lulling as we rode up the mountains. I offered to let her lay across the seats which she refused at first, but by the time the bus arrived she was sprawled out and lightly dozing off.

Mount Parnassos

Mount Parnassos (Naturel Enviornment)
Lets just say that getting up the mountain was no fun. While I'm sure there was a bus up, we decided to only drive some of the way. Jay kept insisting that we need to exercise off the food from earlier, but in reality, I think she was just happy with the weather. It was always so nice it seemed here compared to home. After walking for a while up the mountain, we finally reached a rest stop were we we went inside to catch our breath and maybe capture some pictures. It was a great time to bring out my camera and take advantage of the beautiful scenery. After capturing a couple great shots, I headed back inside to find Jay with a handbook. Walking up to her I asked her what she was doing and she replied telling me she was reading about the mountain. Being the curious person I was, I asked her to enlighten me on some facts. I found out that the mountain is named after Parnassos, the son of the nymph Kleodora and the man Kleopompus. After Jay finished butchering the names and looked at me in expectancy, I just nodded and smiled as if I knew who those people were, when in reality I didn't. Looking back into her book I found out some more interesting facts. The elevation of Paranassos is 2,457 m and the easiest route to get up it is hiking. I guess Jay did her reading before as she gave me a look and said I told you so for making us hike up. Anyway, it is a mountain of limestone in central Greece devoted to the sacred god of Apollo. Today, the mountain has two ski slope centers on it and when they are put together they make the largest ski slope center in Greece. Getting back to some mythology, it says in the Odyssey that Pegasus lived on this mountain as well as it was a safe heaven for people trying to escape floods. Today, the mountain is mined for it's large supply of bauxite. Wanting to hear more I kept listening, but Gladdie had gotten bored and asked if we could continue up the mountain. Deciding we didn't want to fight, we hiked the rest of way we could before we got too cold. Even not being at the top, the view was amazing, and I knew I would never get used to it. After a couple of hours exploring, we settled down for dinner at the cafe on-site. 

Always wanting to be punctual, Jay pushed us out the door with plenty of time to catch the bus for Arachova, a small mountain town. It was beautiful! I loved how the small houses blanketed the mountain side. It definitely gave off the ski resort town feel.  

Car ride to Hani Zemenou hotel - arrive at 9:25 - It seems like we were non-stop moving today because almost as soon as we got off the bus we were waiting for our car to our hotel. Gladdie was pouting about how tired she was and how she didn't want to walk anywhere else.

We dragged our luggage into the hotel around 9:30 and settled for bed. Originally we had planned on just chilling and relaxing for a bit before bed tonight, but really we were all too tired to have a conversation. I don't know when everyone else went to bed, but I crashed around 10.