 |
| Running through the Olympic stadium |
Today was a really nice day in Greece. That said, it's also hump day of the trip and folks are still getting over travel and lack of sleep. We woke and packed our bags. Breakfast was pretty good and I made an egg sandwich with bacon. Our day was spent mostly in Olympia...we had made the decision not to visit the city center because our hotel looked like it had such fun accommodations and I am glad we had made that choice. The kids will miss this hotel. Laertis was great to add some city time for lunch today.
We met our guide Zoey at the gate of the ancient site of the Olympic games. It was honestly surreal. The air was cool and mist was slowly rising as the sun started to peek through. Zoey was an amazing guide too, she totally nailed the pacing for a high school group. Little lectures and lots of humor. She gave ample time for pictures but also checked in frequently to see if there were any questions. We saw the original gymnasium. It's just a footprint today, but you could image it...what the kids didn't seem to know is that the original Olympic athletes all trained and competed naked. They were shocked and amused by this idea...it was even more confounding when they realized no women would be allowed to attend too.
Zoey showed us the site of the Temple to Zeus and the Temple of Hera. It is at Hera's temple where the Olympic torch is lit every two years. She explained the process and ceremony and showed us pictures to go along with it. After touring the religious section of the grounds, she brought us to the stadium. She explained that the stadium was actually a unit of measurement (something like 192 meters). The runners had races based on how many laps they had to complete. One was even naked but with their armor on...ouch.
After the grounds, we visited the museum and saw some of the amazing artifacts that were discovered during the excavation. We woke early today and were the first group on the grounds and we had the museum to ourselves. When we left, e line was huge!!! After that we visited an Olive Oil farm. It is possible that some of you will be getting some olive oil, please act surprised! Then it was time for lunch in the quiet city center in Olympia.
 |
| My third Gyro of the trip. It wasn't the gyro I deserved, it was the gyro I needed. |
The bus ride from Olympia to the next hotel was over 4 hours long. We stopped half way for a rest stop. Laertis says its the only place in Greece where he will have dessert and I ended up getting something that was decadent I just can't tell you its name. The road, after our rest stop, crept up and up and up. Switchback after switchback...this was not an easy road for me, not liking heights. Our driver is an expert, but that didn't matter for me. Regardless, we made it a small town outside of Delphi. We visit tomorrow.
Our current hotel is really posh. The buffet here was our best so far. The only thing is that the hotel is on a cliff. Our bus cannot make it up the hill, lol. We needed to transfer a shuttle bus to take us up. It was an even windier and steeper road. It is worth it though. The shower in my room looks like it cost a thousand dollars!
 |
| A bridge connecting the peninsula to the mainland. At the other end of this picture is the canal from two days ago |
 |
| My sweet Greek dessert. It was like Baklava but with something creamy in it and melted sugar drizzled atop. |
As I mentioned, we are halfway done with this trip already. It has flown. Tomorrow, after Delphi, we head to Athens. It will be a busy three days there. I hope to be able get the blog out, but as I've mentioned a few times over I am getting older and feeling the effects of the late nights, early days, and hectic schedules. I know one of our nights has an 11pm return to the hotel, lol. We shall see. In the meantime, I apologize in advance if I do a double post one of the days ahead.
Mr. Lavoie, sitting in the lobby listening to some new age techno stuff while trying to put coherent thoughts together for this blog...its tuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment