Delos: birthplace of the gods

We left Tinos, (island of tiny, ancient villages, bearded goats and bearded goatherds), for a day and a night on the more polished Mykonos, (island of white walls and bearded gay men).

Mykonos for a Day

It was nice to be somewhere more touristy and a little less adventure-y for a short time.

It allowed me to find a bracelet like this one (cat model not included) sold by a lovely man who’s shop ‘HaryJwls’ primarily specialized in small skulls shaped from gold butterflies.

Birthplace of the Gods

But our real goal was to get to Delos - birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.

A tiny island which is home only to the ruins of an ancient city of shrines and marketplaces. It was amazing.

We traveled there with a bunch of ‘Scots’* (aka tourists) from Mykonos which made the experience slightly different from the stories Mary Ann told us of the day, back in the mid-sixties, when she and Bill Thebus sailed up to a virtually abandoned port on Delos at dawn.

But it was still awe inspiring.

Before we saw the temples we went to the theater and theater district where the houses and alleys and old sewer systems(!) are well preserved.

We stood in the courtyard where touring actors stayed in the winding streets above the stage.

We imagined actors from Athens sitting there rehearsing in 425 BCE, eating figs and drinking wine, engaging in the backstage dramas performers are known for. And then imagined Aeschulus or Euripides striding into the shaded courtyard declaring “I have some rewrites!” and everyone groaning.

The city had been home to 30,000 residents during Greece’s golden age and many many tourists and visitors and merchants. So it has shrines to not only Apollo and Artemis but Hera and Zeus, Hermes, and ‘foreign’ gods like Isis and has one of the first ancient synagogues in Europe.

The city was sacked in 88 BCE by Mithradates VI. What is it with the sacking of cities people? Who the hell was Mithradates anyway? Asshole.

Dionysus

The temple to Dionysus had a more irreverent way of framing its entryway - suitable for the god of parties.

Willa Marie's Pilgrimage

We saw the lake where Leto the Titan gave birth to Apollo and Artemis and Willa Marie said some quiet prayers to the gods.

This trip, to visit the birthplaces of Shakespeare and the Gods, is really her pilgrimage after pilgrimages to Francis in Assisi and the Buddha in Japan.

A Farewell Gift

On the way home the water was windblown rough we leaned over the ferry railing and got covered in sea foam and spray. A parting gift from Poseidon.

- d

* Note: 'Scots'

As we leave Tinos, after two-plus weeks, visitors are just starting to arrive in earnest. Restaurants that were closed are opening and villages that were super quiet the last two weeks are waking up.

One evening two weeks ago we were walking through the very, very quiet town of Arnados where we stayed the first week. As we were passing a restaurant with one waiter and only one table of customers we heard those customers say: "Here comes some locals! Oh, those aren't Greeks...they look more like Scots." Of course, that makes sense given WM's hair and our heritage.

Ever since then we've referred to tourists in buses or large groups as 'Scots'.