Med Cruise: Katakolon, Greece (Olympia)

Katakolon is the nearest port to Ancient Olympia. As we got off the ship, our plan was to find a taxi to take us to the sights but we didn't see any taxis right away. We did see a lot of tour buses, so we opted to board one of those. We waited for about 30 minutes for the bus to be filled before it would depart, and that was frustrating for me, as I like to try to beat the crowds when we arrive, but oh well. It ended up not mattering anyway.

 

Cats.  Cats everywhere. The girls loved petting all of the stray cats in Greece. Thankfully I packed sanitizing hand wipes.

 

When we finally made it to Ancient Olympia, we were severely disappointed.  It was closed.  Nowhere on the sight's website or through the cruise line were we informed that would be the case.  We were aware that May Day is a European holiday, but were not expecting them to turn away thousands of tourists here.  The closest we could get was to walk up the nearby hillside and peek over the fence for this view.  

 

We read from our Rick Steve's guidebook about the stadium:

Olympia was a mecca of ancient Greek religion — its greatest sanctuary and one of its most important places of worship. Ancient Greeks came here only every four years, during the religious festival that featured the Olympic Games. The original Olympic Games were more than an athletic fest. Athletes, who were usually aristocratic youth, would stay here to train for months. There were no losers...except those who quit and cheated. Drinking animal blood — the Red Bull of the day — was forbidden. Official urine drinkers tested for this ancient equivalent of steroids. Today, modern visitors just can't resist lining up on that original starting block from the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C.

 

To be honest, this was probably enough of a "visit" for the kiddos, but I was bummed.  It was a very hot day though, and we still had a bunch of time before our bus would head back to the ship, so we took a horse drawn carriage ride uphill from the sight to the modern downtown area.

 

There we found all of the locals, and a few tourists, celebrating May Day with music, food, and dancing.  That was a fun surprise and the upside of being in town on the holiday.

 

We bought the kids some cold icy drinks and enjoyed the music and people watching for a bit.

 

Then we found the Archimedes Museum which was both open and free!  Born in the 200s BC, Archimedes is considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time.  He is credited with discovering, or mathematically explaining, a TON of concepts, such as deriving an accurate approximation of pi and defining and investigating the spiral bearing his name.  Here Toby and Jake were using an Archimedes' screw to bring water up from a reservoir.  This interactive museum was perfect for our little ones!

 

We also spent some time shopping for souvenirs before boarding the bus to return to our ship.  And then some more time at the port looking at the fish in the clear blue sea.

 

Our day in Olympia wasn't what we had planned, but it ended up being a really enjoyable day after all.