Greece Cont.

 

We took a day trip from Athens to Delphi. Here is a picture of Mount Parnassus.  

We toured the museum briefly. I saw this statue of Socrates. 

We had a delicious, authentic lunch in the mountain village of Arachova where they served us labneh (beet and yogurt dip) with fresh bread. We also had greek salad, fried zucchini balls, roasted chicken, roasted pork, roasted vegetables... The houses in Arachova were perched on the sides of the cliffs. 

This is picture of the medieval clock tower on a cliff in Arachova. We did some shopping there. I purchased some olive oil lotion and a Turkish coffee pot. We found some homemade chewy candy (similar to loukomi/ Turkish delight) made with walnuts and covered in sesame seeds that we sampled, liked, and purchased to bring home to the girls. 

When we returned to Athens, we rested before heading out for dinner. We continued to explore the shops, hunting for one-of-a-kind earrings for each of our daughters. Dwayne found a pipe made of olive wood that he was able to enjoy on the deck of our apartment once he also found a tobacco store. We took the shop owner's recommendation for dinner, and enjoyed a late meal on a rooftop with a view of the Acropolis. One of the remarkable things about Greece is that they allow you to sit for hours at dinner and never rush you. Once you have your food, they won't even come to the table unless you wave your arm to let them know you need something. At first, the pace was too slow for us/ we were used to the pace of New England where even a leisurely dinner takes no more than one hour, but as the days went on, we started to relax and enjoy this slower pace a lot. 

We walked around after dinner and happened upon a gelato place. Wow! I feel as if I have never tasted ice cream until I tasted the gelato in Greece. This is cherry gelato. It was unbelievable.