One of originally 16 Naxian Lions on Delos. [7628]
All Lindblad - National Geographic (L-NG) expeditions have a principal but generally unstated educational theme, and for this voyage on the Sea Cloud, the theme was, unsurprisingly, "Ancient Greece - History and Mythology". The leader in this regard is an Aussie historian, David Brotherson, who now lives in Cambodia. (With us, there are now a total of three Aussies on the boat.) David is an absolute highlight on this trip, his deep knowledge being coupled with an extraordinarily expressive and entertaining presentation style. David's prolific use of Australian idiom probably befuddled some of the audience occasionally, but we enjoyed it immensely. David was most excited to visit the excavations on Santorini, and was in paradise again today as we visited the island of Delos.
The Sea Cloud waits patiently as we explore the vast ruins on Delos. [7620]
Cistern and a water conduit, on Delos. [7621]
Slab of marble, for carving presumably. [7636]
Delos, close to the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The name "Cyclades" actually refers to the circle of islands centred on Delos. Vast excavations in the island are among the most extensive in the Mediterranean and many of the artifacts found are on display at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. A new museum on Delos is nearing completion but was not open yet - it's replacing older ones dating back to 1906. Delos was a holy sanctuary for a thousand years before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of the sun god Apollo and his sister Artemis.
Columns and floor mosaic in the house of Dionysus on Delos. [7648]
Water was precious on Delos. This cistern is near the theatre. [7654]
Remains of a huge theatre on Delos. [7669]
Looking from above the theatre in the lower foothills of Mt. Kynthos, the sheer expanse of this ancient city is evident. [7672]
Delos' monuments embrace a near-eternity, through Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman times. The excavation site is expansive but relatively flat in the gentle foothills of Mt. Kynthos. The first inhabitants on Delos were here 3000BC, based on huts found. Delos' city housed 30,000 people at its peak, having been first founded around 1000BC. The scale can only be appreciated by walking about. The concept of organised worship was born and flourished here, so by 700BC, Delos was the epicentre of Greek devotion to its many gods.
Detail of ruins on Delos. [7603]
Roula interpreting these broken phalluses at the Monument of Carystius. [7639]
Long distances can be walked amongst endless ruins, and there is way too much here to describe properly - we're not capable of it anyway. Delos is a museum in every sense of the word, including scale. Our onboard local guide, Roula and Gemma, escorted us around a small fraction of the site, after which we were free to wander on our own. Roula was scathing of other guides we crossed paths with (it was quite crowded) who were using written notes! Roula has it all in her head. Some significant monuments we passed were the Agora of the Competalists, an open area for gatherings and the Stoa of Antigonus Gonatas, a huge market with fully contructed shops arranged along a boulevard. Because the gods have to be appeased, there is the Temple of the Delians dedicated to Apollo and with columns running around its entire perimeter (450BC) and the Terrace of the Lions, also dedicated to Apollo by the island of Naxos (600BC). Around the same time, the Greeks set about making Delos "pure" for worship of the gods, by banning births and deaths on the island. All old bones were removed. Eventually, the Romans took over Delos around 200BC and set it up as a free port to rival the supremacy of Rhodes Trade routes were changing and from 100BC Delos' importance was in gradual decline. By 900AD, it had been abandoned altogether, and then untouched until excavations began.
Terrace of Naxian Lions. Originally, there were 16. [7627]
Detail of ruins on Delos. [7592]
Visitors being led through the village area on Delos. [7602]
Collapsed and broken columns in the city ruins on Delos. [7611]
Uninhabited (except for park personnel) Delos is rather (too) close to Mykenos because we found the little island quite crowded with visitors arriving on tour boats from the larger island. Luckily we were there early, National Geographic style, because it was much worse when we left, at about 11am. Our Zodiacs looked very humble compared to these tour vessels, but as someone said, the Sea Cloud was the best looking ship in the harbour! On the island, ticketing and entry logistics were chaotic and they could do much better. When we sailed past Mykonos on leaving, we saw that there were four huge cruise ships anchored, some 15,000 passengers in total, according to our Captain. We were grateful to be on a ship with a mere 45 passengers, but it was/is hard to avoid the masses in attractive places.
We wondered where all these private yachts were coming from, until we discovered that Mykonos is just next door. [7690]
The wind was right, so the Sea Cloud rigged all its sails, on departure from Delos. [0849]
In the secret relaxing zone on top of the Wheelhouse. Ladder access only, so not for everyone! [1907]
The photographs in this blog were all taken where "17" is on this Photo Map, which shows how Delos is a tiny island close to and between Rineia and uber-popular Mykonos.
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