Military History Tours          On Tour - Greece and Crete Tour 28 April 2014

We left Olympia in the rain and were heading to Delfi where the Oracle was located from around 900BC. We left the Peloponnese and headed back to mainland Greece over the Patras Bridge.

After a coffee break at a scrumptious café, that is the main bakery for Patras, we headed through the ancient city of Naftokas on the shores of the Gulf of Corinth. This city has always been a strategic city as it is close to the mouth of the Gulf and had one of the original 3 races of Greece, the Dorics, move down from the north to firstly establish the site.

The area south of the Patras Bridget was covered by the 4^th Hussars and NZ Cavalry while the evacuations were going on in the Peloponnese. Also, Lt Col King and his 2/5th Battalion were ordered to Amfissa with detachments from 2/1 Field Company and the 2/1 Machine Gun Battalion to block the approaches from the northern side of the Gulf of Corinth into Athens, they were not required as the withdrawing force had obtained a clean break and put 40 km of cratered road between them and the Germans..

We continued on our way arriving at the seaside town of Itea where we were able to have lunch in a lovely fish restaurant by the sea. As it was still raining very hard, the waiters needed umbrellas to protect their load as they crossed the road to us from the main kitchen. Calamari and sardines were well received by many.

Following lunch we started to climb to Delphi and arrived in time to visit the historical location and the Museum. This is where the famous Oracle helped decision making in those times past.

We had to change drivers here as our driver of 5 years needed to head back to Athens for medical reasons. We wish Anthony well in his treatment, he will be missed. Tonight we will go into the town for dinner. Tomorrow we head over the Brallos Pass to Kalambaka via Domokos, it should be a very good day.