Delphi

Delphi was a settlement by the late 9th century BC, and offerings at the sacred precinct grew steadily from the late 8th century. Myth said Apollo had killed a serpent here, in some accounts Python, a name related to that of his priestess, the Pythia, who was consulted on important decisions across the ancient world. The Pythian Games, held every four years in honour of Apollo's victory, brought musical and athletic contests, and the city-states filled the Sacred Way with treasuries and monuments. The Amphictyonic Council, representing six Greek tribes, controlled the sanctuary, and several Sacred Wars were fought over it.

The oracle survived the rise of Christianity through the 4th century, and the games were held at least until 424 AD, but the sanctuary declined and Delphi became a bishopric with a large basilica. A village called Kastri, meaning fort, grew over the ruins. European travellers suspected it stood on ancient Delphi, but its residents resisted moving until an earthquake damaged the village badly and they were offered a new one in exchange.

The French School at Athens then began the Great Excavation, removing vast quantities of landslide earth in 1893 to reveal the sanctuary of Apollo, the precinct of Athena Pronaia and thousands of objects, inscriptions and sculptures. The modern village grew up beside the site. In 1927 and 1930 the poet Angelos Sikelianos staged festivals of ancient drama in the theatre, and the sanctuary is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Delphi's identity is bound up with its past. The ancient Greeks placed the centre of the world here, marked by the Omphalos, the navel stone, and the oracle, the Pythian Games and the Amphictyonic Council made it a meeting place for rival city-states — UNESCO cites the monuments they built there as evidence of a shared Hellenic culture. The Delphic Hymns in the museum, inscribed with their musical notation, and the vocal and musical contests held in the theatre are reminders that music was part of the games.

The Delphic Festivals of the poet Angelos Sikelianos revived ancient drama in the theatre, and the European Cultural Centre of Delphi keeps a sculpture park and stages exhibitions. The village itself is small and Orthodox, with its church at the centre of its year, and shares the customs of the Parnassus area: Arachova's feast of St George on 23 April, and Galaxidi's flour war on Clean Monday.

Delphi is today both a modern village beside the ancient precinct and the name of a wider municipality. The village is small, and most of its families earn their living from the visitors who come to the site, running hotels, rooms, tavernas and souvenir shops along its main streets. The museum and the site are a short walk east of the village.

Below the village, the foothills of Parnassus are covered with an estimated nine million olive trees, some many hundreds of years old, and olive growing remains the other pillar of the local economy. The rhythm of the day follows the coach tours: busy mornings when groups arrive from Athens, quieter afternoons, and evenings when overnight visitors and villagers share the tavernas.

In winter the village becomes quieter, though the ski season on Parnassus brings weekend traffic through on the way to Arachova. Like the other Parnassus villages, it depends on winter weekends, summer visitors and returnees.

Delphi eats the cooking of the Parnassus mountains and the olive plain below. Tavernas serve grilled meats, slow-baked lamb, pies of greens and cheese in filo, and the Amfissa olive, grown in the great olive grove of the Crisaean plain.

Up the road, Arachova is known for formaela, a hard cheese with a protected designation of origin, made only in the town from sheep's or goat's milk and usually eaten grilled or fried. Hilopites, a pasta of flour, eggs and milk cut into small squares, is part of the same Greek cooking.

Olive oil, vegetables, cheeses, herbs and lemon juice run through Greek cooking, and meals follow the Greek pattern: a spread of meze to share — tzatziki, dolmades, fried saganaki cheese and horiatiki, the village salad of tomato, cucumber, onion, olives and a slab of feta — followed by baked dishes such as moussaka or gemista, stuffed vegetables, and grilled souvlaki, with ouzo or tsipouro alongside.