Lunch with a View, Delphi, Greece

After climbing up and down the steep mountainside to see Apollo’s Sanctuary, we were more than a bit hungry. So we headed to the picturesque town of Delphi, just a few minutes by car around the bend of the mountain. There were several tavernas and restaurants on the main drag, Apollonus Street (what else?) and we settled into one of them for a delicious and hearty lunch. Sorry, I can’t recall the name of the restaurant. But there are several such places on the same strip of road and they all have a pretty stunning view of the valley below that which is planted to thousands of olive trees…

Driving towards and around Delphi, you pass through some picturesque towns nestled tight against the mountainsides. These towns are the host to waves of tourists who hit the surrounding slopes to ski (yes, they get snow in this part of Greece) during the winter months. During the summer, they are besieged by tourists on their way to Apollo’s sanctuary. Each town is filled with quaint little hotels and lots of restaurants and curio shops. The one thing I regret not buying here was a craggly natural wood walking stick, though I suspect bringing it back on the plane would have been a hassle.

We managed to secure a fantastic corner table with a sweeping view of the valley and the Bay of Corinth.

First to arrive at the table was a bread basket with half a loaf of nice crusty bread, served with a generous helping of homemade herb butter.

We got an order of greek salad, as we did at nearly every meal in Greece, and it was redolent with freshly chopped oregano, lots of olive oil, a huge slab of feta cheese and fat juicy olives… absolutely delicious!

A dish of sausages in tomato sauce was good but not stellar… sort of like eating fried less fatty and somewhat hard chorizo with a tomato sauce.

A dish of tyrokafteri, a simple mixture of feta cheese with finely chopped green peppers (pickled in this case, I think) and perhaps a little olive oil. It was salty, spicy and perfect on a thick slice of bread. I want to replicate this dish at home sometime soon…

A spanakopita with spinach as a filling. Hmmm, not my type really… but well executed nonetheless.

And as we enjoyed our simple fare, we noticed that just around and below the restaurant there was an abundance of grape vines with young fruit, nearly ripe apricots, apple trees with young fruit, and pots and pots of herbs, etc.

The neighbor’s vegetable garden was clearly visible and it was just nice to see that every home seemed to be using any available space to grow fresh produce…

And finally, a plug for our brilliant chauffeur and guide for the day trip to Delphi… Mr. Nick (Nikkos) Plitas at +30.6945.293533 (Cell) or taxiservice_nick@mail.gr Nick has his own new yellow Mercedes sedan, that while carrying a taxi sign, it is only used for day hires or longer multi-day itineraries. He can arrange for a more traditional limousine if that is where you get your kicks. Turns out he was also the chauffeur for the President of NBC during the Athens Olympics. Well-informed, impeccably mannered and a safe (albeit wickedly fast) driver. You couldn’t ask for more. If we could have afforded it, I would have had him on call for several days… Please contact him to ask for rates; for us, he came out more economical than buying three separate tour tickets to Delphi, and we had the freedom to wander as and when we pleased. :)