Ancient Olympics
Day 5 was a pretty cool day on this tour. I'm a big fan of the Olympics and watch events religiously every 2 years. Basically, if the Olympics are happening, I can guarantee you that I am watching some event - whether I'm staying up until 2am to watch live events halfway across the world or watching reruns all day. I don't care what sport it is, I will watch it and find someone to cheer on! So, it was especially cool to visit the origins and site of the biggest Panhellenic Games of ancient Greece where it all started.
We had an early morning from Lagkadia to Olympia, and arrived in time for our guided tour of the Archeological Museum of Olympia with our local guide, Niki.
We had an early morning from Lagkadia to Olympia, and arrived in time for our guided tour of the Archeological Museum of Olympia with our local guide, Niki.
After touring the museum, Niki took us to the ancient site. It was a sweltering day, so we tried our best to keep to the shade for most of our guided tour before some free time to continue our exploration. The ancient site is fairly large and still under excavation. Some of the highlights for me were seeing the Altar of Hera, where the Olympic torch is still lit for the modern games, as well as the stadium. I'm still not sure how the runners lined up with their feet in those grooves (clearly, I'm no runner), but it was fun watching a school group having an informal rack on the track and being able to walk the length myself (thankfully everyone remained fully clothed unlike in ancient times). It was easy to imagine the athletes hearing the cheers of the (all-male) crowds exiting the tunnel into the stadium. Outside the stadium, winners celebrated with tributes along one wall. Amusingly (to me, at least!), there was also a wall of shame in Olympia for the cheaters and quitters. And while winner enjoyed celebrations paid for by their towns and communities, losers had to foot their own bills to add to the wall of shame, complete with inscriptions of their misdeeds, which included doping (drinking animal blood before the games), bribing opponents, and cowardice. Sadly, in ancient Greece, women were not permitted to attend the games except for the priestess.
Because the games were a time to honor the gods, Olympia has several temples and monuments to important gods, including Hera, Zeus, Rhea, Gaia, and Nike (of course, the goddess of victory needed to be included somewhere!).
Because the games were a time to honor the gods, Olympia has several temples and monuments to important gods, including Hera, Zeus, Rhea, Gaia, and Nike (of course, the goddess of victory needed to be included somewhere!).
I was a bit skeptical about our next stop for the day: vegetarian lunch at Bacchus Taverna. I figured I would survive, but it probably wouldn't be the most interesting meal. Well, boy was I wrong! This might have been one of my favorite meals on the whole trip! Greeks often eat family-style, so we frequently had meals with several dishes that we shared as a group (usually, the rule is one plate is shared by 4 people). My table only had 3 people and we were overwhelmed by dishes - and we had a free place-setting to put them at! We heard from a restauranteur later on our trip that Rick Steves asked them to think of him attending meals with his readers, but sadly Rick (or Zeus, perhaps?) did not help us out in eating all the delicious food we were served!
After lunch, we headed south from Olympia to the remote Mani Peninsula and the little village of Kardamyli. This is a big vacation spot for Greeks and it did not disappoint! Because of its popularity with vacationers, it's hard to find traditional hotels and we stayed at Espiredes Hotel in pseudo-apartments. My singles room included 3 beds, along with a kitchenette! We had a grand time exploring the town that evening, complete with some incredible sunset views!
Day 6 was our "vacation from our vacation" day on the trip, and I felt relaxed already! (A good thing since some of us had big plans for Day 6 that didn't include much relaxation.) |
Anna's Animal Encounters.There was a jazz festival taking place that week. It was a little difficult to find the locations all over town, but eventually we found a lounge where the musicians would be playing. Unfortunately, I was too exhausted from our exciting day to stay up late for the performance (I had to be up early the next day too for more adventures), so I headed back to the hotel early. Cue the most exciting animal encounter of the trip! (Seriously, at this point, my tour members were starting to question if I was some Disney princess the way I kept meeting animals!) As I was walking through the downtown area, I passed by a little side street and a few people speaking English and pointing down the dark street... to a family of wild boars!
Boars can be dangerous, so I practically ran up the hill to our hotel in the dark, especially because I heard many of the neighborhood dogs incensed about the boars' presence in their area, too. Phew! |