Ancient Greece: The Parents' Choice

According to Homer, it was here that Agamemnon lived before rushing to Troy to rescue his sister-in-law, Helen. While he was gone, his wife took a lover. On his return, the disloyal wife and her boyfriend murdered Agamemnon in his bathtub. Agamemnon's son then avenged his father by killing his mother.

And here we are at the entrance, before a gate embossed with the relief of two lionesses likely carved more than 1,400 years before the birth of Christ.

It's an immense ruin, with tombs, a treasury house, a fort overlooking the plains and sea below, and a palace that includes the room believed to be the chamber where Agamemnon was murdered.

You can also think of it as a hiking spot, where kids can clamber all over the stones.

We spend that night several hours away by car and ferry in the magically lovely seaside town of Galaxidi. The town of a few thousand souls barely rates a mention in most tour books, but I'm grateful to my friend for recommending it as a base for exploring Delphi. It has a small naval museum, but the real draw is its simple, authentic beauty.

The next day, we head to Delphi -- tired from our ambitious itinerary but enjoying spectacular views of mountain and coast. We stop repeatedly to allow shepherds to guide their flocks across the road.

Delphi is perhaps the granddaddy of Greek ruins -- a massive site that could easily take an entire day to explore. It was once considered the center of the world. Pilgrims and even great rulers came from faraway lands to seek the advice of a famed oracle.

The Temple of Apollo is here, along with a theater, a stadium, monuments, a treasury, a council house, a Castalian spring, a sanctuary and the chapels of Dionysus.

We pull up to the entrance and Maddie asks if she can stay in the car. "All the ruins are starting to look alike," she says.

Oddly enough, at this moment, these are my sentiments exactly. My husband goes inside while I pretend to make a great sacrifice and stay with Maddie. After we play a couple of card games, we go into the Delphi museum. It turns out to be closed for renovations, set to open before the Olympics. We content ourselves looking at postcards showing the museum's treasures and the archeological ruins we might have seen, had we not shoehorned too much into a too-short trip.

Despite our two lapses, at the beginning in Corinth and at the end in Delphi, I like to think that the trip contributed to Maddie's education. That it made history come alive for her. That it sparked an interest that could one day lead to great things.