Katakolon & Olympia, Greece

Katakolon & Olympia, Greece April 19, 2013
Gorgious day. Sunshine and about 70 degrees. After breakfast, Larry and I took a walk down the gangplank to the small town of Katakolon, population 1600. It was a quaint little village with lots of little shops lining the streets and a lot of little cafes lining the seaside. We stopped at the tourist information booth and found that we could ride a train or a bus to the little village of Olympia, birthplace of the first Olympics.


We decided to take the bus for 10 Euros each for a 40 minute ride through olive, oak, and pine trees. Our guide informed us that just a few years ago a tremendous fire had burned up most of the older trees and almost destroyed the Olympic Museum. We drove right through the center of the town with many hotels and tourist shops. We were dropped off at the end of the town where we walked about a mile to the Olympia Archaeological Museum.

                                          Redbuds were blooming at their peak everywhere
Upon paying 9 Euros we investigated all 12 rooms of the museum spotting old pottery, bronze representations of men and animals, various helmets, old columns and lots of sculptures.

                                                                 Hermes Statue
We were happy to see the famous statue of Hermes carved in 4th century BC . We had seen pictures of this numerous times when studying ancient history back in our college days. The statue was perfectly polished Parisian marble on the front side while rough on the back side. Larry said that I spent more time looking at his backside then I should have. HA!

                                                    What a great display of old helmets!

 

 

Olympia was both a religious sanctuary and an athletic complex where the Games took place every four years from 776BC to 393 AD. The buildings had been repeatedly toppled by earthquakes and flooded by the Alfios and Kladeos Rivers. An Englishman, Richard Chandler rediscovered the site in 1766 when the area lay in 10 feet of mud and silt. Germans began to excavate the area in 1852 and are still here today. Reports of the excavations prompted French Baron de Coubertin to reestablish the Olympic Games. The first modern games were in Athens in 1896....a long time from the first games. The Olympic torch has always been lit here at the beginning of the Olympic Games and carried to wherever the new games are held.

 

                                 Olympians entered through this stone path to the field to compete

Unbelievable that this archway to the field is still holding together!

Winners of the competition back then were given a crown made of olive branches and free meals for life in his hometown. Women were barred, from watching or participating at the events. They had their own games during non-Olympic years. If they did appear, they were thrown to their death from a nearby mountain. You might ask, " Why were females excluded?" The men competed in the nude back then.

After the museum, we walked through the actual ruins of Olympia. We were able to see the field where 45,000 men stood to watch the games. The scenery was unbelievable with the huge stones laying about and columns still miraculously standing. Spending about an hour walking about the area was enough to capture the ambiance of the area. The area is one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World. When we saw the Knossos village, it was also ranked one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World. We were so fortunate to have visited two of these sights during this trip.

We were able to find WIFI in Katakolon at a seaside cafe. We enjoyed sitting at the side of the bay and talking with friends for about an hour before returning to the ship at 3:30.

The captain pulled away from the dock at 4:00 sharp. We had a great sunset dinner outside and went to see the show called 4Ever...four guys who sang a mixture of love songs and rock sounds from Queen.... outstandingly.

We had a super day and while we slept, the ship was headed to Athens and our next adventure tomorrow to see the Acropolis.