After settling into Delphi in mid-afternoon we spent a few hours exploring the town and its surroundings. One highlight was an unassuming dirt road that lead down from the main road, disappearing into the mountains. This is the start of one of numerous very long hiking paths that link towns and villages in the area, but we only walked a very short distance.
Looking back at the closest mountain peaks we noticed paragliders drifting high above the rocks.
As the dirt road zig-zagged down the steep hill each view seemed to be more beautiful than the last. The light changed often as mists and light clouds moved across the mountains in the distance, obscuring and revealing the sun.
It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere rather than ten minutes from a bustling town. We didn’t see any other people until a man on a tractor rumbled by, greeting us with a friendly yassas. His tractor was loaded with freshly cut olive branches.
A little while later we noticed a small white dog appear in the distance. He looked at us with some curiosity and we assumed he was a stray. Then he perked up and disappeared back over the hill.
A few moments later we heard a clanging of bells and the dog reappeared — just ahead of a herd of sheep and goats. The dog was hard at work keeping them more or less on track.
A bit later we noticed the same man from the tractor relaxing on the hill with the dog. He was the shepherd. I took a video of the meandering procession: turn up the volume to hear the calming clang of the bells on the animals’ collars.