May 23 - May 25
We left Pylos and made our way to the Greek mainland town of Katakolon. This town is close to Ancient Olympia. Our family has grown up watching the games and looked forward to seeing the place where they originated.
On our way up the Peloponnese coast we crossed paths with a cruise ship that had departed Katakalon. Shaun snapped a great photo as it passed us. As we pulled into the bay there was another cruise ship and after Shaun went for a walk around he noticed that there would be three more over the course of our stay.
Upon arrival to the town quay Paige was in her usual spot on the stern waiting to toss the lines. The fellow threw them back and the line knocked her glasses into the water. Shaun assured her that we would find them at a later date and that she needed to stay focused on the task at hand securing the boat. I ended up having to come back and take over while she calmed down. Two lessons were learned, one, wear a string around the glasses, and two, don't panic.
Over the course of our stay Shaun went in search of a diver. Lucky for us he also owned a fishing/dive shop. The girls and I were at the pizza restaurant looking at wifi as Shaun was waiting for the diver. Within 10 minutes he had found the glasses (phew!). We sent him with our fishing rod so that he could set it up and later in the evening we stopped by his shop to buy some tackle and a net.
We rented a car and drove half an hour to Ancient Olympia. On our way we noticed all of the garbage bags lining the road. I forgot to snap a picture but we were so appalled that we chose not to leave any of our garbage this trip. We stowed it in our forward locker to dispose of at another location. The garbage was almost a kilometre long lining the road. The smell was terrible. We believe that there was a strike going on but you never really know with Greece.
Thankfully we arrived into Ancient Olympia (
http://www.ancient.eu/Olympia/) in advance of the cruise ship hordes. The town is quaint and touristy and we were able to find a free parking spot up the hill away from the main town. We walked down the hill and across the bridge while listening to the frogs croak. Upon purchasing our tickets we made a pitstop at the loo and started our walk around. The grounds were well kept and I found it to be one of the nicer Greek ruins we had seen.
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| heading over the bridge |
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| welcoming post with rules |
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| this is where the lighting of the torch was done |
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| heading into the stadium |
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| the starting line |
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| its a long way to go |
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| a local class race |
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| sibling race |
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| various ruins |
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| remnants of the pools |
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| a better look at the pools |
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| the biggest dandelion seed EVER |
After we were finished touring around the outdoor ruins we grabbed a quick bite to eat and went in search of the museum that was included in the ticket price.
Everyones feet were tired so we made our way to the car. As we were driving back to the boat I asked Shaun to stop at a well stocked fruit and veggie stand so I could replenish. Nothing like Finike but it did the trick.
That evening while the girls were sleeping Shaun and I sat and had a drink at a local taverna and had a wonderful view of the moon.
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