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Got up at a reasonable hour, just as well, as we missed an hour's sleep, so the time difference between Vancouver and here is now 10 hours. After breakfast we wandered down to the lounge and caught the first bus out of a dozen to Olympia. The coach ride there took around 50 mins. and our guide gave us some interesting information about the ancient Olympics. The games started around 800 BC and finished approximately 1200 years later when Christianity took a hold of the region. The men who participated in the games were naked, and no women, slaves, criminals or people who did not live in their region could participate.
We had a pleasant walk from where the coach let us out to the entrance. Walking down towards the ruins were many flowering Judas trees and as they were in full bloom they looked beautiful. We then walked by a few columns where the temple of Zeus had been and onto the area where the torch for the modern games is always lit before it departs to the host country. So much has been excavated, mainly by the French, you can see how much soil has covered the area over the centuries. Other areas which had been uncovered were an hotel where the participants stayed for three months leading up to the games, an area where they trained and a huge kiln to make the pottery in which to put the olive oil, the winners prize.
We proceeded through what had once been a tunnel led into the stadium and which was the main entrance that all participants would have entered. On all sides there was a grassy area where the spectators would have stood to watch, looking down on to the track. I walked the stadium, the distance from the start to finish line, and back which is close to 400 m.
Next, we got on the coach to visit a local winery in the hills which was now into its 4th generation. We walked through a very interesting museum of not only winery apparatus, but eclectic items from mouse traps to old posters advertising Cunard's early fast trips to New York.
Tables and chairs had been set beneath shady trees, each table with white and red wine, a basket of bread and local feta and another type of cheese along with salad items and olive oil. A perfect ending to the outing. Actually, I said to Brian that I thought it was one of the best HAL shore excursions we've done.
On the return to the ship, we walked down the one street of the town to stop at a cafe which had wi-fi. Just as well we were the only ship visiting. As one of the locals said, it can be a little chaotic with an extra 10,000 people in town.
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