Delphi

The ground where the oracle was given, with six columns re erected. Recent work has tied gas rising from below to what happened there.

Above the temple a theatre held five thousand on the slope. From the top row it is the wind off the valley you hear before anything on the stage.

At the highest point of the site, a track of 178m and its seating survive. Few climb this far, so it stays quiet.

A bronze charioteer and a sphinx are the pieces people come for. The charioteer's eyes are set with glass and stone, and the gaze still holds.

In the lower sanctuary of Athena a round building keeps three of its columns. Why it was built round is still argued over.

Those seeking the oracle washed here, and the water still comes out of a cleft. Rockfall keeps the closest part fenced off.

One of the small buildings where cities kept what they offered to the sanctuary. Among the inscriptions on its wall is musical notation, from which ancient music has been reconstructed.

Ten minutes away on the mountainside, packed with skiers in winter. Narrow steep lanes are lined with shops selling rugs and cheese.

Below the site the valley carries olive trees to the horizon like water. More than a million are said to grow there, and the actual sea shows beyond them.

Above the site an old pilgrim route carries on over the mountain. Red dots mark it, and near the top the air stays cool even in summer.

Between the Castalian fountain and Athena Pronaia, a fourth century BC gymnasium survives in terraces down the slope. The upper level held a roofed running track, the lower a round cold plunge pool. Its whole layout can be seen from over the fence by the road.

A cave near 1,360m on the Parnassus plateau, once a sanctuary of Pan and the nymphs. Tens of thousands of knucklebones used for divination were found inside. A short climb follows the end of a dirt road, and it is dark within, so pack a torch.

A harbour town on the Gulf of Corinth, 30-odd km south of Delphi, lined with stone mansions raised by 19th-century shipowners. There is a nautical museum and a pinewood walk. On Clean Monday the townsfolk pelt each other with coloured flour.

UNESCO lists this 11th-century monastery on a slope near Distomo. Gold-ground mosaics sheathe the main church's domes and walls, a benchmark of middle Byzantine art. Driving from Delphi takes roughly an hour, making the round trip a half-day affair.

Also called the Castle of Salona, built by Frankish knights in the 13th century over an ancient acropolis above the olive groves. Ancient wall blocks and medieval towers mix inside. From the top, the olive sea below Delphi shows from its far side.