- Arrival in Katakolon
- Klio’s Honey Farm
- Olympia Archaeological Museum
- Olympia Archaeological Site
- The Town of Olympia
Originally NCL had designated Corfu as the first stop in Greece. The stop was supposed to be a total of six hours, which really meant around 4 hours of actual time to visit the island. With such a short amount of time available, we were effectively limited to taking the ship’s excursion to a beach on the north side of the island (which was sure to be horrendously crowded by cruise goers).
Also, I know Corfu is a scenic and historic island, but the stop just wasn’t that interesting to me in comparison to much of the rest of Greece. There was simply nothing “bucket list” worthy for me among the sites available within a four hour window. If the original itinerary offered more time, we could have taken a boat to some of the beaches on nearby islands, which are often the most photographed in Greece.
So when NCL announced a month before departure that the port had been changed to Olympia, I was really quite excited. We would also now be in port from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM, giving us eight hours of time to explore. A port stop that felt like a throw-away day now featured something much more interesting: Ancient Olympia.
Also, I really felt like seeing the Peloponnese was important to really getting to see Greece. It’s a separate region historically and culturally from Attica (where Athens is located) and the islands. Visiting the Peloponnese (even for five hours) was better than not visiting.
Soon after the announced change I looked online and found a Viator private tour in a car for a maximum of four people. That was perfect. We could get away from the crowds and be by ourselves and go where ever we wanted for five hours. I booked it and looked forward to arriving.
But now there was one problem, as I mentioned in the prior post. Shelley had fallen in Sicily and hurt her arms. Her right arm was in a sling and her left arm felt only marginally better. The x-rays taken the prior day revealed no bone fractures, but the medical staff on the ship suggested that she could get a CT scan at a medical clinic once we arrived in Katakolon to check for soft tissue damage.
As it turned out in the intervening hours, the medical staff wasn’t able to make contact with a clinic in Katakolon to have a CT scan performed. So there would be no trip to a medical clinic after all. And since we were taking a private car for the day, it would be much easier for her to take the excursion with us than otherwise. So we would be visiting Olympia together as a family. The way it should be.
Also, with her arm immobilized and the vacation only continuing for four more days, we had started to conclude that waiting to return home for an examination would be a better option. The x-rays showed no breaks and she could see an orthopedist once we returned home. Until then she would just be reliant on pain medication and our help to assist her as needed.
The next day we told the medical staff we would decline further medical care until we returned home.
Arrival in Katakolon
Our ship arrived at 11:00 AM in Katakolon and we quickly exited the ship to find our driver for the day. We found her rather quickly holding a sign with my name, and the four of us climbed into the seats of the nice, air-conditioned car while the rest of the cruise tours waited to board buses.
We started off toward Olympia and the driver told about the local area. The region between Katakolon and Olympia is an agricultural region and the orchards and vineyards made it feel similar to California’s Central Coast. I always enjoy traveling into rural areas and seeing how life is enjoyed away from the cities. it was a pleasant drive.
As we neared Olympia she suggested that we go first to a Honey Farm since we mentioned that being one of the places we would like to visit in the area. The archaeological site, she said, would be particularly busy and if we waited many of the tours would depart before we arrived.
Klio’s Honey Farm
I’m not sure why we don’t have any more photos than my single one of a fig tree, but Klio’s Honey Farm was a quiet respite from all of the craziness over the last week. The honey farm is a genuine farm alongside a stream where honey is produced as well as other products like lotions.
We enjoyed sitting and drinking fruit juice while learning about the evolution of beekeeping in Greece over the centuries. We did not get to see the bees themselves, but we did get to see the equipment and they told us to look for an ancient bee-keeping smoker in the archaeological museum (we did find it).
We bought some honey and it is very good stuff.
Olympia Archaeological Museum
The Olympia Archaeological Museum is nearby the Archaeological site. We first went to the museum which was air conditioned on a very hot (104 F) day to see the incredible display of artifacts from the Olympia site.
I was fascinated by the helmets and other artifacts to be found in the museum. The ancient Olympic games dated back to 700 BC, but the site itself has artifacts dating back to the Mycenaean Period going back to approximately 1000 BC.
There were two helmets that were particularly interesting to me situated next to each other in a display. One was the helmet of Militiades, the general that led the Athenians to victory over the Persians at Marathon. The other was a Parthian helmet (modern day Iran) that was captured by the Greeks and kept it as an offering to Zeus at Olympia.
You can see the helmet in the video, which also includes the archaeological site.
Olympia Archaeological Site
Now for what we were most excited to see. The site of Ancient Olympia. Where the ancient games were held from 700 BC until around 300 AD.
The heat was stifling. It was 104 F and it was humid. But there is no way that was going to stop us from enjoying Olympia.
We started at at the gymnasium and worked our way through the site, stopping by the Philippeion (the partially circular structure), The Temple of Hera, the Treasuries, the Stadium, and the Temple of Zeus, before deciding it was time for a cold drink.
The Philippeion was ordered constructed by the father of Alexander the Great, Phillip II of Macedon. Phillip II successfully conquered and united all of Greece before his son went on to create a huge empire stretching into Egypt, Persia, and into India.
The Temple of Hera is the oldest structure at the site. It is at the Temple of Hera that the Olympic flame is lit every Olympiad (and 2024 is an Olympic year!).
Next we were very excited to enter the stadium under the arch and to do as the ancients did thousands of years ago. Daniel and I didn’t care how hot it was and neither did the dozens of others who ran the length of the ancient stadium. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Afterward, we wound our way back to a onsite shop selling cool drinks. And boy did we need one! Then we made a quick visit to the gift shop (and the air conditioning), before deciding it was time for an authentic Greek lunch. We were all smiling brightly, as you can see.
The Town of Olympia
We asked the driver where we could get gyros in Olympia and she took us to this restaurant. The food was good but the restaurant was a tad pricey. Still it was nice to sit outside and enjoy the day and the wandering cats while we ate.
Afterward we did some shopping and found the first of the Pythagoras Cups that were a priority of ours to find in Greece. And we got some shirts and a shot glass.
We were tired and hot but it was a fun and enjoyable day. I highly recommend taking a private tour if you can. It made it more relaxing and we never felt rushed. The driver was nice and taught us some Greek words and how to pronounce various letters. We had a few more days in Greece so we needed all the help we could get.
Now it was onward to Santorini.
Ευχαριστώ! Ef horisto (thank you very much)!