We had an early breakfast sitting outside overlooking the shore with layers of misty mountains in the distance - very pretty.
The ship docked in the small town of Katakolon which has a population of only 500 but hosts the arrival of 250 cruise ships a year so it is very busy with restaurants and shops. It is about 40 minutes from the Olympia Archaeological site. There are two other huge cruise ships here, one docked and one anchored in the harbor.
Our tour guide was quite interesting. He was born in Olympia and grew up playing with his friends around the ruins. This made him interested in archaeology and he subsequently received B.S. and M.S. degrees in archaeology. He worked for the Greek government as an archaeologist until the Greek financial crisis when he lost his job. He then became a tour guide which was actually more lucrative. He only does private tours and tours for Viking.
One thing very different about Greece is the relationship between the church (Greek Orthodox) and the state. The constitution begins with "In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit". Although there is freedom of religion, Greek Orthodox is the official religion and priests are paid by the state through taxes paid by everyone. (to the extent that people actually pay tax! Tax evasion is a major problem)
The Olympia site was very interesting although it is difficult to keep track of all the historical details. Due to contemporary writers, there is very specific information about the Olympic games from the 8th century B.C. until the end in 393 A.D. Unfortunately, like ISIS recent destruction of ancient monuments, the early Christians did the same, destroying all of the pagan temples to Zeus, Hera and others. Flooding of the adjacent river covered the ruins until they were discovered in the 1830s. They were covered with up to 18' of sand and mud. Economic methods were used to construct the temples and other buildings, using cheap local limestone and putting on a facing of marble stucco to make them look like marble.
The Olympia museum has many of the marble statues that were recovered from the site, showing the considerable talent of sculptors at the time.
Back at Katakolon, I visited the Ancient Greek Technology museum which showed working models of many Greek inventions like the Archimedes screw, catapults, clocks, lifting machines and more. I had a relaxing beer on the waterfront.
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| Katakalon from ship - beautiful blue water |
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| Entrance to Olympic stadium - originally completely covered |
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| At the starting line in the stadium |
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| Our guide Vasilos and statues in museum |
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