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| The Athlete's entry to the Olympia Track |
We were up by 6:00 and ready to check out by 7:00. The hotel offered a full breakfast, and to our surprise it was fantastic. There were some wonderful cheeses and cured meats. The eggs were fresh since you could hear the chickens outside. The orange juice was squeezed from the trees outside, and the Greek yogurt must have come from the local cows. This had to be among the best breakfasts we had on the entire trip.
We checked out of the hotel at 8:30, then drove over to park by the Ancient Olympia Historic site. We bought tickets and walked down the road to the ruins. The site looked massive. We couldn’t actually see much because of the size and so many trees throughout the ruins. We just walked to the first thing we could see and read the info plaque.
It’s impossible to give a sequential description, so I’ll just tell you my main memories of the day.
There was just so much to see. The sheer scale of what had once stood there was overwhelming. There were massive lumps of stone spread across a football-size field and I really struggled trying to picture the lumps forming a grand building. What I took to be an entire building sometimes turned out to be just the entryway to an even bigger building.
When we got to the Temple of Zeus, there was a tour going through, so we stopped to listen in. The building used to contain the Statue of Zeus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The statue was 43 feet high. Some of the buildings in the area were craftsman shops devoted to maintaining the statue which needed almost constant upkeep. The statue was not a single piece of marble, it had an internal frame upon which they hung various pieces that then formed the statue, so each piece could be removed, cleaned, and repaired as needed.
The tour group was allowed to walk inside the boundaries around the temple. One by one, they climbed up onto the foundation of the temple and the guide took pictures of them. But we lowly peons were not allowed to do that.
It was early spring, so the grass was just beginning to green, but better yet, there were wildflowers blooming all throughout the ruins. There were beautiful flowers coming up in some of the oddest places and in so many colors. Especially the bright red wildflowers sprouting in the middle of a gray stone floor was striking. It added a lot of beauty to the area.
One of the buildings still had some walls erected. I don’t know if they’d survived all this time or had been restored, but we came across an archaeologist restoring part of the building. She had cleaning materials and ladders with her. Many areas around the room were tagged with numbers and a few had sizing diagrams. I assume she was also taking photos. I think we tried to talk to her, but she needed to get on with her job. I’m sure she got tired of being pestered by tourists, so we didn’t take offense.
The avenue leading out to the running track was lined with small buildings. The first was the nymphaeum, which would have held a fountain. Then there was a series of 11 treasuries where various cities kept valuables and money that could be withdrawn if needed. The treasuries also acted as small temples to each city's patron god.
The entry way out to the running track was lined with walls and passed through an arch. It almost had that NFL feel of running through an arch to have your name announced and be cheered by the fans. Maybe that’s where we got it from. The track had slopes rising up from each side so fans could sit and watch. I remember a family coming out and staging a race of the dad and sons while the mom sat on the side cheering.
We spent about 3 hours walking around the ruins. When we’d run out of things to see, or more likely run out of energy we would find a bench to sit and take in the spring air. Then we’d get up and find something else to ogle.
Eventually I ran out of energy and my knee was killing me. We left the ruins and walked a few hundred yards to a snack shop. I think we just got diet cokes and relaxed a bit in the shade.
Nearby was the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, so we walked over to see what was there. A school group was just exiting the museum as we arrived. They filed out to a sculpture surrounded by beanbags, and the kids all flopped down. Their teacher talked for a few minutes then the kids all started writing in little notebooks they were carrying. And of course, they were all quiet and obedient - NOT!!! There was a lot of horseplay and joking. I only kept a half eye on them as we walked around the museum, and for once, we remembered to take pictures inside.
Just like at the Parthenon, the pediments at each end of the Temple of Zeus featured statues and reliefs depicting historic and religious scenes. These pediments were recreated in the museum, and we got pictures of us in front of them.
After the museum, we walked into town to find some lunch. We found the Rodo Café on the same street where we ate last night. I think I got something silly like pizza because I was a bit tired of heavy meat dishes. I also got a fruit crepe for dessert.
After lunch we walked to another museum that was all about the history of the Olympic Games. Keeping with the theme, I took no pictures. I also don’t remember much about it except for pictures from the first modern Olympics which were interesting.
This was the end of our touring of Greece. All that was left was going home and that started with getting back to Athens. It was a 5-hour drive to get back to Athens Airport. As we were crossing the narrow neck at Corinth, we thought about trying once again to find an overlook for the canal, but it was pouring rain and neither of us had any enthusiasm for that so we just kept going.
As we were nearing Athens the traffic went from sparse to stop and go. The pouring rain wasn't helping either. We struggled for the last 40 minutes getting around the city. We didn’t have to turn in the car this early, and we talked about driving down to the Temple of Poseidon for one last “tourist adventure”, but to my regret and embarrassment, I said no. It would have been a perfect ending, and we had more than enough time.
Instead, we turned in the car and checked into the Sofitel Athens Airport hotel. It was an exceptionally nice hotel. We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant, and needless to say, it was delicious. The high of the trip was beginning to fade and neither of us wanted that so we sat reminiscing and looking through photos for a long time.
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