Katakolon: Olympia 2012. The story began here!

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The clocks went forward 1 hour last night. We are now 2 hours in front of the UK. We had booked our only official excursion today; a trip to the ancient site of Olympia, where the Olympics first began in the 4^th and 3^rdcenturies BC (Before Coe!!). Katakolon, I hear is nothing but a 2 horse town. As we are only in port from between 8am – 1pm, there wasn't enough time to make our own way to this archaeological site.

It was an early start. For this reason we ordered breakfast in our cabin. I looked out of the 'round' window at 07:45 as the ship was being manoeuvred in to position. I couldn't even see 1 horse let alone 2!! It seemed a good call to be booked on an official excursion. A walk across town would have taken all of 4 minutes.

Katakolon is on the Peloponese in South West Greece. It looks like a giant island on the map but is joined to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. In days gone by, trading ships would have to navigate around the Peloponese adding days on to their journey. Then someone decided to dig a massive trench through the middle of the Isthmus…and the Corinth canal was born!!

The site of Olympia was only a short ½ drive from the ship. We departed at 8:30am and the temperature was already 70F (21C). The small amount of English speaking guests shared a coach with the French speakers. We each had our own guide. I hope they weren't expecting a tip each!!

On entering the site, we were surprised at how green everything was. I still have Pompeii and Ephesus in mind where everything is still in desert-like conditions with no shade.

The Palaistra was the first stop, Angela, our guide, explained how this used to be the training centre for the athletes. The length of the Palaistra was the same length as the running track. There were rooms to anoint their bodies with oil, powder. As Angela quite sweetly put it: ‘they could also practice their running, javeling and discus.

The Olympics, in 4BC was a men only event. Not only that but men were the only spectators. Furthermore, they used to do their practicing, their running, their javeling and their discus naked. Even the torch used to signify the start of the games used a ‘naked' flame!!!

We now moved on to the Phillipeon. This was started by Phillip and finished by his son Alexander the Great. The columns that made up this circular building were Ionic. In simple terms they had scrolley bits at the top rather than plain!! This, me thinks was equivalent to the VIP area!!

All that is standing on the site where the Temple of Zeus used to be is a very large (very new looking!) Doric column. Angela explained how one of the wonders of the ancient world, the statue of Zeus towered over the entrance of this once magnificent temple. This was a statue made entirely of gold and ivory. However, it has long vanished. Here we go again. How can it be a wonder of the world if no one has ever seen it or even knew it existed!! I put this to Angela who explained that it was written centuries ago. Sorry but that doesn't count. Give me the Great Wall of China any day. This doesn't even make the short list!! At least we know it exists!!

King Knossos, who built the temple dedicated to Zeus, decreed that any man who wanted to marry his daughter had to first challenge him to a chariot race. If they lost the race, however, he would have them killed. Somehow, I wouldn't fancy those odds. I'd rather take my chance for the €3000 euro Bingo jackpot on board ship!! 13 unsuspecting and unfortunate suitors tried and failed. The races were always in the favour of Knossos as his chariot horses were a gift from the Gods.

Number 14 and enter Prince Pelops. This is where we get the name Peloponese. He was tipped off about these unbeatable stallions so unbeknown to Knossos changed the axle of his chariot to one made out of wax. As the race was underway, the wax gradually melted and the wheels well and truly came off Knossos's enterprise, so to speak. He had to concede and Prince Pelops married the daughter.

Angela now took us over to a pile of stones that were cordoned off. This is the place where, every 4 years, the Olympic torch is lit. It is supposed to be a magical moment when the fire from which the torch will be ignited is started by something so natural as the rays from the sun. And here's me thinking it's by some bloke standing there with a box of matches!!! The torch is then taken to Athens by relay and then passed over to representatives of the host nation. In 3 days time, Thursday 10^th May, representatives will watch this ceremony that will eventually take the flame to light the torch at the London 2012 Olympics. David Beckham and Lord Coe (and probably Boris, as well) will be among the British representatives attending this auspicious occasion.

It was getting more and more difficult to hear our tour guide amongst the din being created by a team of gardeners who, because it was such a lovely day, decided to cut the grass with industrial strength strimmers. As they approached I could see they were wearing the full kit including facemasks. Never mind the thousands of tourists who were passing and trying to dodge the dust clouds, as long as they followed the correct health and safety procedure!! It probably never dawned on them to wait until it site closed. Or better still, it gets light at 5am and the site doesn't open until 9. That's 4 hours strimming time!!!

Our final stop around the site was the arena, the stadium where it all happened. In it's prime, it held about 40,000 spectators. All races, regardless of the distance were run in a straight line. Considering the length of the track was only 200m,. that solved the distance problem!!! Needless to say, races didn't last very long! The finish line was a strip of stone protruding from the dirt.

We had about 20 minutes of free time to wander about before it was back on the coach to our next destination, Magna Grecia. This is a farm that grows their own produce. I've been to this type of thing before where they try to flog you stuff for over inflated prices. We weren't expecting what happened next…

…We knew we would get a snack and refreshment but after each individual passenger was greeted personally by the owner we were given a large glass of white wine or ouzo. We wandered inside the pavilion where we were greeting once again by the owners wife and shown to a table with plates of food and a bottle of red wine (between 4) Although referred to as ‘snacks', I felt it was quite a substantial meal. It consisted of spicy sausage, a cob of feta cheese, Bruscheta bead with tomato, more bruscheta with spicey feta cheese and zucchini. I couldn't taste the spiciness of the cheese as most of my taste buds were burned off with eating industrial strength curries when I was younger!! I am also not a connoisseur of wine but when I sipped the wine, wow!! It brought the flavours right in to play. This was a new experience for me. Then the Greek dancing started. The wine was starting to have an affect. This is what Roisin observed as she later told me that I almost started tapping my foot in time with the music.

We all left the farm content. Roisin commented that some poor soul will now have to do the washing up until I reassured hr that they'll just do what comes naturally and start smashing the plates in good old Greek traditional fashion!!!

This had been a great day and although official tours can be a little overpriced, this one was well worth the money!!

The temperature remained at 74F all afternoon so we spent a good few hours on deck. On our way for afternoon coffee, we were stopped by a young lad from Israel who worked in the duty free shop. He proceeded to do his stuff and demonstrated some beauty products. They all seemed to come from the Dead Sea area and consisted of an array of lotions and creams. He then poured some salt (also from the Dead Sea) in to my hands and told me to rub this all over. It has the sort of exfoliating properties. These bags of salt were on special offer at €15.99. What I told him I could buy a bag of Saxo from the Adsa for 79p and sometimes these are also on special offer at 2 for 1, he looked perplexed, smiled then said, ‘OK! Deck 6. I will be there tonight after 6pm' As we walked away, he must have heard Roisin say: ‘Yeh, but we won't!!!'

It was the first Gala evening tonight. We had the 8 seater table to ourselves as the Dutch family were a ‘no show'.

Speaking of shows, the performance tonight was a pot-pourri of expressionism through renowned poets and great figures from literature. Before each act, a backdrop and 2 large screens either side of the stage would show the character that the act was paying tribute to. Shakespeare was there, Victor Hugo, Jules Verne even Oscar Wilde. The usual array of singers, dancers, tumblers and girl swinging from a ribbon were present. The 3 acrobats started off by doing the same act that they'd done for the past 2 days. Because they were wearing different costumes, I think they thought we wouldn't notice. However, I stood corrected. Some of the moves and balancing were so gravitationally defying that writing about them would not do them justice.

A new artist was ‘in da house'. From the way she was dressed, I could see she was going to be very bendy. She did not disappoint. Some of her positions looked very painful and all done with a smile. On her face. (well I think it was her face I was looking at!!) You know how some people can walk around with their head shoved up their arse?? Well I can say that this is the nearest I've seen it actually being done for real!!!

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Comments

[Carole]

Love the tiger bar my kind of place