Our third port of call was Katakolo, Greece. This is the cruise ship port used as a jumping off point for passengers who want to visit Ancient Olympia. One of the reasons we were able to get such a good deal on our cabin is that the cruise companies realize that, at a bare minimum, they only have to cover the direct costs of your room and board. So, as the departure date approaches they will put all of their remaining cabins on sale at a steep discount. The reason for this is that they can make an extraordinary amount of money off of extras such as drinks, booze, shipboard purchases and, of course, excursions.
Now, who doesn’t want to go to the home of the ancient Olympics? And, how can you get there since, for a change, no public busses make the half hour plus trip? Well, Amy went online and found us a private tour guide for the day. In reality, he was simply a very knowledgeable taxi driver, but we spent the day going wherever we wanted in air conditioned luxury for slightly less than the cost of the canned excursion which didn’t do nearly as much. We were essentially the first passengers off the ship, he met us at the gate and whisked us away. This can become relatively important once you realize that hitting a port of call on a cruise ship empties you and your closest 2100 friends simultaneously into the surrounding region. And it wasn’t just one ship. There were 7 monsters docked the day we were in Katakolo with a combined population of almost 20,000 people, most of whom headed for the ancient site of Olympia.
We arrived in our private car about 10 minutes before the official opening, purchased our tickets and were inside the deserted site with a handful of other early tourists. I have more pictures than I could possibly post, so here are just a handful. First we have the Philippeion, a circular building completed by Alexander the Great near the end of the 4th century BCE.
Nearby is the Temple of Hera, the oldest temple in the area, dating from the end of the 7th century BCE.
I couldn’t resist including a picture of Hera’s Alter where the Olympic Flame has been kindled to open the Olympic Games since the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In fact, the little village near the entrance to the site was festooned with flags from Greece and the UK to celebrate the most recent lighting of the torch.
Finally, there is the stadium where athletics took place, notably the sprints. As a former sprinter who would never realize any Olympic-sized dreams, it was the chance of a lifetime to shuffle the 100 meters or so. However, I refuse to post the tiny movie clip that Amy took of my trip.
Amy’s enjoyment is plain to see.
We were exiting the site just as the hoard entered, and I do mean hoard. There was a traffic jam of tour busses and thousands of people lined up to shuffle through the ruins. While they were doing that we headed across the street, alone, to visit the museum which houses most of the artifacts found onsite. Here we have the Nike of Paeonios, offered as a votive offering to Zeus.
They also have what remains of the pediments of the Temple of Zeus, a series of figures which would have fit in the triangular space formed by the roof line and the top of the building.
That would have been all you saw on a canned excursion, but our trip was just beginning. We headed out for a wine tasting at a small, family owned winery called Olympia Land.
Then we stopped at a rebuilt Greek Theater.
Finally, we went to a convent perched on a hillside.
During our trip we were given free bottled water by our guide, he provided us with a tasty treat of baklava, he presented us with ½ a liter of olive oil from his own trees and when we arrived back at the ship he left us with the CD of traditional Greek music which had been playing on the car stereo during our journey. All in all, it was a magnificent experience and well worth the price.
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