The plan was to take the 10:30 bus from Athens to Delphi (a three hour ride), spend the day there and come back on the 4 o'clock bus. In order to get to the bus station I needed to take the metro to catch a bus that would take me to the obscure long distance bus stop. I left my hostel before 9am because I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time.
First, I got off the metro and set out to find the city bus. It was supposed to be on a certain street in Omonia square. When I got to the street it was supposed to be on, I couldn't find a bus stop that showed #24 stopping there and the street name was different. I walked halfway around the square looking for the correct street when I found a map that showed that the street actually had two names and I had been in the right place all along. I finally found the bus stop (though it was a bit down the street from where I had thought it was) and got on. There was a sign at the stop that had all of the remaining stops listed. There were quite a few between where I was and where I was supposed to get off so I took a picture to reference (instead of having to remember).
Unfortunately the stop I thought I was supposed to got off at was not the stop I actually wanted to get off at. So When I got off and was wandering around trying to find the bus station it is no wonder that I couldn't actually find it. I did ask someone and they were kind enough to write in my notebook a message for me to show the bus driver that would ask him to take me to the bus station and tell me when to get off. It worked and I arrived at the bus station around 10:25. I ran in bought my ticket and climbed onto the bus just in the nick of time. Phew.
My time in Delpi was good. I had planned to catch the 4pm bus back to Athens, but didn't think I'd have enough time to see everything I wanted to, so I took my time and decided to catch the 6pm bus instead. As I was approaching the town of Delphi (where I would catch the bus) at 4:20 the bus drove past me. Had I been 5 minutes sooner to head back to town I would have been able to catch the bus. It ended up being fine. I wandered around town and bought a charm and a postcard and even got one last gyro. :) I befriended a girl form Washington DC on the bus ride back and we chatted it up.
I think I have learned that I need to just ask people for directions instead of relying on my own abilities to get places. I tend to stay out of trouble much more that way. :) Hehehe ...
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