Katakolon Olympic Trials

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We had an early morning tour and we both slept until our 5:00 AM alarm. We went to the Lido for a quick breakfast, but Sharon forgot “something” and asked me to go through the line to get her scrambled eggs. After quite some wait, I also got “her” a couple of sausage patties. I looked all over for muesli, but there was none out for guests. I settled for some Irish oatmeal; but, there were also no bananas out for guests. I’m still trying to figure out how you go to breakfast without your teeth; but, I guess it happens. I’m just saying…

Something new for us on Holland America Tours was that they had us sit in the Showroom as on many other ships, but they waited until a group was ready to disembark before giving those colored/numbered group tags to guests as they exited the showroom. Groups were called by those sitting either first in the starboard section of the Showroom, then the center section and lastly the third section; or, the order began with the third section and reversed back to the first section. It was very organized. Our bus was full for a tour of Olympia followed by lunch at Zorba. It was about a forty minute ride to Olympia and on the way we spotted numerous sections along the roadway where piles of garbage were accumulating, sometimes extending for fifty yards or even more. The guide noted that the garbage collectors have been on strike for six months.

Olympia was originally only a place where priests worshipped and maintained the temples to their gods, overseeing the offerings to Zeus and Hera. Zeus replaced his father Cronos as the supreme deity. The Temple to Zeus featured the gold and ivory statue of Zeus created by the Greek artisan Phidias, standing fifteen meters tall and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The statue was destroyed when the statue was appropriated by the Byzantines and moved to Constantinople. What happened to it there is only speculation but our guide suggested that such treasures often found their way to be repurposed by jewelry makers.

Olympia became a sprawling collection of temples and monuments where sporting events were contested. Contestants needed to be Greek, they needed to practice their sport for three months at a village nearby Olympia, and then for three days at Olympia, and they needed to take an oath of “fair play”. Evidently, bribery, drugs and unsportsmanlike behavior were not unheard of in ancient Greece. The three days of practice at Olympia was the ancient world’s way to combat doping at the Games (which began in 776 B.C.). Athletes at the Games were isolated from others during this time. A large stone building in the center of the grounds was the Gymnasium, and access to outside influences and opium and women was greatly restricted. As the name of their sports center suggested, participation in the sports was done in the nude (I guess so that nobody could have anything up their sleeves, as it were). Women were barred from all events except for chariot racing in the hippodrome. Women were thought to be wily and cunning enough to compete with men in that hotly contested event and often were the daughters of the owners of the chariots who were often royalty. The Bouleuterium was where athletes pledged their fair play. Those found breaking the rules were punished by humiliation, and their name and crime and admission (“I am So-and-so, son of so-and-so, and I did thus-and-thus during the Games”) would be chiseled in marble on the grounds on the left side of the entrance to the stadium for all to see. One athlete was found cheating six times, and six times suffered this humiliation (plus a fine), so you can see how well that worked. Though there were only 10 cheaters in all. The Games were held every four years and the period between the games was called the Olympiad. They are the source of the first souvenirs because the 45,000 visitors who came to watch the games would want to have something to take home to prove to their friends that they were there! Inside the stadium a flat sports field about the size of a football field had been created with gentle slopes on all sides. After walking into the stadium, under a small stone arch to the left was Mount Kronian.

There was a large 10-meter reconstructed Dorian Column that had once formed the side of the Temple of Zeus. It was quite imposing and made all the more impressive when realizing that the 15-meter high Statue of Zeus once stood in the center of the temple. His body had been made of ivory and his clothing was done in gold, so it really was quite a treasure to behold. The Dorian Column architectural style signified strength. Later architectural styles signified wisdom (Ionic) and beauty (Corinthian). We had about thirty minutes to walk around on our own to take pictures, seeing many places in this active archeological site where excavation is ongoing. Many buildings have many of their columns partially restored, standing side by side. There are picture plaques showing how various buildings once appeared; although none have been fully restored and none appear with their roofs.

The second part of our tour was a visit to nearby Zorba where we enjoyed some local Mediterranean cuisine and watched performers doing many different local folk dances. Okay, maybe I was the one who enjoyed the local cuisine of potato salad, raita, orzo, and crostini with tomatoes. They also served some spicy hot dog like sausages, a rice dish and ouzo. The table had plenty of cold bottled water and white wine for visitors to drink, and the ouzo was brought around at the end of the meal. For me, the ouzo was watered down to the point that you barely got the hint of any licorice flavor at all, served in a small glass with one ice cube, the milky white liquid gave people a few sips. But they kept coming around so that you could get two or three glasses if you wanted.

The dancing was very impressive, with a couple involving very deep knee bends and leaning far backwards for the men. At the end men and women were encouraged to get up dance. This participation had many smiling broadly, both those participating and those watching. And I could see why they had been so generous with the ouzo and wine. A couple of the women actually got up on tables and were making quite the spectacle.

It was a short thirty minute drive back to the ship. Cruise ships come here from April until November each year. The region’s main industry is tourism, but also exports raisons. Sharon headed up to the Dive In and brought a burger back to the cabin. We had a little bit of time until Team Trivia at 4:30 PM.

Up in the Crow’s Nest Sharon and I did our Sudoku Challenge while we waited for our team. These puzzles were tougher than yesterday, and I barely beat Sharon on the first one; but, she made a mistake and would have had to start over so didn’t finish the second puzzle. It was Happy Hour and the second drink is just $1; so, I ordered myself a Sambuca plus one. This more than made up for my diluted ouzo at lunch. We had our same team of four. Questions like “Where is the Sea of Tranquility?” or “What Tom Cruise movie featured the exclamation ‘I feel the need for speed’?” were pretty easy. But if I knew The Moon and Top Gun, I have no explanation for missing “What is calamari?” Two of our team voted for octopus, and the British gent voted for squid and Sharon recused herself. Maybe it’s just my revenge on him for overriding my “When did Di die” answer from the day before! We didn’t know what a group of bananas is called, and before you laugh at us for not knowing what a bunch of bananas is, the answer is “Hand”! We also couldn’t come up with the top grossing movie of the 1950’s. All that we could come up with are movies of the 1930’s and 1940’s. I’ll give you a hint: It’s a religious themed movie. There were four bonus questions and we got three of them right. We didn’t know who played Lloyd Christmas in the movie “Dumm and Dummer”. It was Jim Carey. But I think I was the only one who came up with the final three-point question: “What fictional character was played by two different actors in the movies, and both actors won an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor for that performance?” It helps to be a big Godfather fan to get this one correct. We ended up with 19 points which was good enough for third place. One team got 20 and another 21 out of a possible 24.

I guess that I enjoyed so much, I had the crostini and tomato appetizer in the Manhattan Dining Room for my appetizer. And I had the tomato and goat cheese salad with orange wedges and pecans with prosciutto. Both were very good; but, it was hard for me to identify any of the promoted goat cheese. Sharon ordered the “Daily-menu” chicken with a baked potato. I thought she might go for the tri-tip and I wouldn’t have minded sampling some of her meal; but, she thought it might be too tough. I ordered the stuffed cabbage, and again my deviation from what I normally eat was well rewarded. We both enjoyed the triple chocolate torte cake.

Sharon played the slot machines for a while after dinner and before the show. I watched the blackjack table, but the rules that they are playing pay blackjack at 6:5 which is just crazy. But the casino is dealing with neophytes who evidently don’t know any better. Not that the House needed any extra edge as hot as the dealer was. I watched the dealer clear the table in less than ten minutes. I told Sharon I would meet her up on the Deck 3 balcony for the show, but my visit to the restroom allowed her to beat me there. The Show featured Naki Ataman on the piano with his “Around the World” music which he had performed at the U.N. He was accompanied by bass guitar and drums, and his performance was a non-stop 55-minute rendition of music from various countries. I especially enjoyed the German part featuring many folk songs that I remembered from my German Club participation in high school, and also the oom-pah-pah sound that he brought to the music. Even Jeremy at the piano bar afterwards applauded him as an incredible performer, and excused anyone who felt the need to sneak out at 10:00 PM to catch his second performance (As long as they come back.) I ordered a margarita, and I really must remember not to order these on Holland America. Jeremy was featuring The Beatles and the British Invasion in his music. The room was packed, standing room only. At one point Jeremy asked his audience to excuse him, but he needed to take a selfie video showing the packed room with a panoramic scan. He said that his friends back home are never going to believe the packed house. He really is quite good, and insists on audience participation, especially those sitting in his inner circle.

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