Day 19 – Saturday 11th June 2011
Fried egg and bacon sandwiches for breakfast – this is the life! After a marvellous night’s sleep in a proper bed, I feel well rested after all the camping and bunking at train stations.
Carolyn comes over to take me to Olympia, where the Olympic Games originated. We park up and walk over a stunning bridge (I couldn’t get the right angle for a photo – gutted!) to get to the entrance. She has some card which gets her free entrance and I wonder if I’m going to have to pay. The man waves her forward.
“And what about the nephew?” she asks. A bit of communication in Greek and I’m allowed in too. Nice!
So Olympia is basically a bunch of ruins, but what ruins! Parts of the huge pillars which lined the various temples are laid across the grass. One pillar on the Temple of Zeus has been reconstructed, standing tall in its glory. Other pillars which form part of the gymnasium still stand and the outline of many buildings can still be seen. On the edge of this little collection of buildings is the Olympic Stadium, 192 metres in length! Some tourists run up and down it as runners would have in the first Olympic Games in 776 BC. The ceremony of lighting the Olympic torch still takes place here.
After a couple of hours of walking around in the sunshine, we head to the museum. Carolyn tries the same trick and it works again, although this time I did have to take out my passport as proof of my age.
The museum is also a sight to be seen. One room is lined with various statues: gods, people, animals, etc. Another room is to do with pottery, another with craft tools. In Olympia there was this big pyre into which people would cast little statuettes and figures of animals and people as an offering to the gods. Because they were made of metal, they didn’t burn up and many of them have been recovered.
It looks like an ancient toy figures set! Another room contained shields and helmets and other war equipment. I’m not usually one for looking around museums, but this one was fascinating and well worth it.
We head back to Pyrgos for some lunch and a siesta. With the morning’s heat, I fall asleep almost instantaneously. I was probably still trying to catch up on lost sleep from the ferry and train stations.
As late afternoon and early evening comes, Carolyn takes me to a nice seaside village called Katakolo. There are some good views, nice little fishing boats and a plethora of seaside restaurants looking out over the calm water. A very nice place, but not a huge amount to do there.
We get back to the house where George, the youngest of the kids (ages 22) is practising for a gig in the evening with a friend. The music they are playing is fantastic, apparently of Turkish origin. His sister, Elene, is also there, packing to go away camping for the weekend. Chatting with them, albeit briefly, is good and I really feel part of the family. Apparently that’s just Greek culture – and it’s great.
It hasn’t been a particularly long day, but the hot sun has drained my energy. As I’m getting ready to turn in, I suddenly get a big shock: some insect flies past. But this is no ordinary insect like I’ve seen before – it’s huge! Its body is at least 3 or 4 centimetres long, fat, and when it flies past it sounds like a small aeroplane. Imagine a fly about 10 times bigger and you might be getting close to what this is. Anyway, I’m not having it there whilst I’m trying to sleep... a shoe to the head and – Thud! – it’s dead.
I can sleep easy now the bug is gone...
Stats
Mileage = 0 miles
Total mileage since start = 859.0
Fried egg and bacon sandwiches for breakfast – this is the life! After a marvellous night’s sleep in a proper bed, I feel well rested after all the camping and bunking at train stations.Carolyn comes over to take me to Olympia, where the Olympic Games originated. We park up and walk over a stunning bridge (I couldn’t get the right angle for a photo – gutted!) to get to the entrance. She has some card which gets her free entrance and I wonder if I’m going to have to pay. The man waves her forward.
“And what about the nephew?” she asks. A bit of communication in Greek and I’m allowed in too. Nice!
So Olympia is basically a bunch of ruins, but what ruins! Parts of the huge pillars which lined the various temples are laid across the grass. One pillar on the Temple of Zeus has been reconstructed, standing tall in its glory. Other pillars which form part of the gymnasium still stand and the outline of many buildings can still be seen. On the edge of this little collection of buildings is the Olympic Stadium, 192 metres in length! Some tourists run up and down it as runners would have in the first Olympic Games in 776 BC. The ceremony of lighting the Olympic torch still takes place here.
After a couple of hours of walking around in the sunshine, we head to the museum. Carolyn tries the same trick and it works again, although this time I did have to take out my passport as proof of my age.The museum is also a sight to be seen. One room is lined with various statues: gods, people, animals, etc. Another room is to do with pottery, another with craft tools. In Olympia there was this big pyre into which people would cast little statuettes and figures of animals and people as an offering to the gods. Because they were made of metal, they didn’t burn up and many of them have been recovered.
It looks like an ancient toy figures set! Another room contained shields and helmets and other war equipment. I’m not usually one for looking around museums, but this one was fascinating and well worth it.We head back to Pyrgos for some lunch and a siesta. With the morning’s heat, I fall asleep almost instantaneously. I was probably still trying to catch up on lost sleep from the ferry and train stations.
As late afternoon and early evening comes, Carolyn takes me to a nice seaside village called Katakolo. There are some good views, nice little fishing boats and a plethora of seaside restaurants looking out over the calm water. A very nice place, but not a huge amount to do there.
We get back to the house where George, the youngest of the kids (ages 22) is practising for a gig in the evening with a friend. The music they are playing is fantastic, apparently of Turkish origin. His sister, Elene, is also there, packing to go away camping for the weekend. Chatting with them, albeit briefly, is good and I really feel part of the family. Apparently that’s just Greek culture – and it’s great.It hasn’t been a particularly long day, but the hot sun has drained my energy. As I’m getting ready to turn in, I suddenly get a big shock: some insect flies past. But this is no ordinary insect like I’ve seen before – it’s huge! Its body is at least 3 or 4 centimetres long, fat, and when it flies past it sounds like a small aeroplane. Imagine a fly about 10 times bigger and you might be getting close to what this is. Anyway, I’m not having it there whilst I’m trying to sleep... a shoe to the head and – Thud! – it’s dead.
I can sleep easy now the bug is gone...Stats
Mileage = 0 miles
Total mileage since start = 859.0
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