Greece - Olympia

13-14^th Jun 2015, Olympia, Greece.

Delphi to Olympia.

We arrived into Olympia mid-afternoon. The temperature had risen so it was nice after a 3:30hr drive to reach our hotel with a pool and the promise of a swim for the kids.

Hotel Europa was beautifully located at the top of the Drouvas Hill in Olympia.

A very welcome reception provided us with an upgrade to a 2 bedroom apartment within the hotel.

Hotel Europa, Olympia

We planned to visit the scared Altis (the sanctuary of the gods) and the stadium of the ancient Olympic Games in the morning.

The remainder of the day was about poolside relaxation and a wonderful evening dinner seated outside on the clifftop garden. 

We enjoyed dips, olives and bread,  moussaka, seabream with eggplant(in honey), chicken in mustard cream bacon sauce, zucchini patties,

fried cheese with pomegranate(speciality) and panna cotta for dessert.

The buffet breakfast was delicious too. All kinds of Greek specialities, many I hadn’t tried before. Greek custard pastries, warm and delicious, cheese and spinach pies, milk cake.

Lots of feta cheese, and tomatoes as you would except in Greece.

It wasn't hard to locate the ancient site, it was just at the foot of the hill. Little now remained of the temples and athletic facilities that once stood here.

For 1000 years the Olympic Games took place here but it was destroyed by Emperor Theodosius II in AD 393.

Every four years the Olympic flame is lit here, beginning its journey to the next city to host the games.

As well as the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Ancient Olympia was the most celebrated sanctuary of ancient Greece.

Dedicated to Zeus it hosted one of the seven wonders of the Ancient world, the gold and ivory cult statue of Zeus. 

East of the Altis (Sacred Precinct of Zeus), we entered the stadium through a stone archway. Surprisingly it was rectangular, unlike today’s stadiums.

You could still make out the stone start and finish lines and the judges seat.

We ran the sprint track (slow jogged it myself) observed by somewhat less than the 45000 spectators the stadium originally seated.

Chris then videoed the run, trying to avoid capturing the profanities coming out of Lachlan’s mouth as he ran the 120m, slightly limping in 37C heat. 

The boys had a renewed sense of energy to do this run multiple times, slightly annoying considering there were constant complaints about walking the rest of the archaeological site.

I was surprised at how pleasant and pretty the site was, but I shouldn’t have been as it is considered an area of ‘outstanding natural beauty’.

Wandering amongst the tree-shaded ruins was a lovely way to escape the heat, the shade was well appreciated.

The walk back up the hill in full sun to the car wasn’t appreciated at all, neither was the heat inside the black car that had sat in the sun for too long.

After an ice-cream pit stop in the modern town of Olympia we were back in the car, air conditioning on, heading now to Nafplio.