Ancient Olympia

Thursday, May 28, 2015

We woke up this morning to this view in Itea...

 After a delicious breakfast at the hotel (breakfast is included in most hotels), we hit the road.  Interesting side note:  we have been basically the only guests at most of our hotels!  This is a great time to visit Greece!

This was a long but easy drive on the north side of the Gulf of Corinth.

 We reached the bridge that crosses the Gulf and paid the 13.20 Euro toll!

 And then continued our drive on the western side of the Peloponnese (the island part of the south part of Greece).

 There were numerous strawberry farms along the way.

 Scott has been an excellent driver in all sorts of difficult driving situations.  Most roads are two lanes but have a shoulder that is used as an additional lane.  Nice drivers stay partly in the regular lane and partly in the shoulder lane so that they can be easily passed.  Slowly but surely we are also learning what all the road signs mean!!

 When we reached Pyrgos, there were many roadside areas heaped in garbage.  It was quite a sight.  We later learned that the local government had not provided adequate landfills and had been chastised/fined/whatever by the European Union.  It has taken a really long time to get things straightened out.  Now the city workers are slowly recovering from many months of no garbage pickup and have started picking up from hospitals and homes of the elderly.  After the garbage is removed from homes of most other residents, they will finish by removing the trash from the more easily accessible highways.  It is quite a mess and seems to be very embarrassing to the locals as tourism is a major part of their economy.

 We made it to Olympia in time to get checked in and run to a local take out eatery where the food is prepared fresh every day and then closes when it all gone.  We bought everything the proprietor had left and then he closed for the day.  We ate outside in the church yard.

 We have learned that the best way to really learn about a site is to have a local guide.  Once again that proved true as we had a terrific tour of Ancient Olympia by Niki Vlachou.  This is her home and she made the history come alive as she described everything we saw.  Kronos Hill towers over the entrance to the site. According to the ancient Greeks, this is the birthplace of Zeus and where he tricked his father Kronos who had tried to eat him!

 Niki gave us an overview of the site and a history of the area before we got started.  The ancient Olympic games occurred here every 4 years for 1,169 years and finally concluded in 393AD!

 According to romantic tradition, this is the olive tree originally planted by Hercules from which the winners' (only the first place finisher was considered a winner) wreaths were made.

 The center of ancient Olympia was the massive Temple of Zeus.  The photos really don't do it justice.  Logan is holding a sketch of what the sacred area would have looked like.

 Boys ages 8-12 competed in the games as well.  Davis was our winner of the 8 year old category.

 Logan is the winner of the 11 year old division.  He is standing in front of the base of the statues of the winning horses from the chariot events.

 Ethan is standing in front of the top of one of the columns that you can see in the background.  They were massive!

 We have been to a lot of "ruined ruins" but this was a in incredible site and we could not believe how much of it was still here.

 These are the Bases of Zanes (cheater statues).  It seems there is nothing new under the sun.  Even ancient Olympians were known to fall victim to choosing to use performance enhancing drugs.  In this case that was animal blood.  It was detected by professional urine tasters!

Just like in football stadiums of today, athletes ran through a tunnel as they entered the stadium.  They stored their clothing and other items in lockers built into the wall of the tunnel.

 Our Olympians are lined on the originals starting blocks.  Logan has his toes in just the right spot.

 They competed in the two stadia race (192 meters x 2).  Unfortunately I could not photograph and video at the same time!

 Ethan was the victor and was crowned with an olive wreath which he wore with pride!

 Now he is standing in front of Alter of Hera.  This is where the Olympic torch is lit and then relayed to the modern Olympic games.

 Next we toured the museum.  It was filled with all sorts of remarkable finds.  We won't bore you with all of them.  But this was a very interesting exhibit.  On the right is the helmet of Miltiades.  He was the Athenian general who convinced the Athenians to attack the Persians resulting in the victory at Marathon.  Phedipidaes ran the 26 miles to Athens to announce the victory and then died on the spot.  Interestingly, the marathon was not an Olympic event until 1896.  How do we know that was Miltiades helmet you may ask?  Well, his name is written on it, of course!

 Famous Hermes of Praxiteles.

 We ended the day with a yummy meal of gyros, Greek salad and other assorted goodies on the street at sunset.

 On the way back to the hotel we had dessert of ice cream and a Lacta Sandwich... delicious!

 We are in a small family owned hotel.  The owner showed us his display of Olympic torches carried by his family.  He carried the two on the left!  There are pictures of him with the torches displayed nearby.

Now we are settled in for a good night's sleep with the balcony doors open to a gentle breeze and the sounds of Olympia.  Good night.