Blogs from West Greece, Greece, Europe - page 2

Well you have to do it don't you? Stand on the starting line for the 200 yard dash in the stadium in Olympia where it all started. All as in the Ancient Olympic Games and the modern version we all know and love. Queue music - Vangelis - Chariots of Fire and it's off you go. Running naked as the day you were born trying to beat other naked men. Olympia was on the way home as we are now wending our way slowly back to Igoumenitsa. Finding the ancient site was not easy. We mistakenly ended up at the car park of Camping Atreus where we intended to stop the night. The lady owner ran up the path as we turned round to try again for the archaelogical park. Parking in the end was relatively ... read more

Another early start. Overnight we have reached the port of Katakalon, Greece, but our destination is Olympia. On the bus with our local guide Greg. It's a 40-minute drive to Olympia, and he provides the historical background to what we are about to see. The ancient Olympic Games started in Olympia around the 8th century B.C. and ran more or less continuously every four years for 1200 years. The games were ultimately banned by the Christian Byzantine empire and the buildings destroyed. The entire site was lost to history, completely covered by silt and vegetation until excavations started in the late 19th century. And in 1896, the Olympic Games were reborn with a more modern aesthetic. Every since, the Olympic torch is ignited here on the ancient site of Olympia, then transported to Athens, and finally ... read more

Our first excursion today. Weather sunny. We had booked a small tour privately for our visit to Ancient Olympia. We drove through the countryside past mountains of plastic bags filled with rubbish on the side of the road. Apparently the dump is full and a new site cannot be agreed on so it is being collected from the region and dumped in the countryside. We first visited the Museum of Archaeology as our small group had arrived before the larger buses. A great museum and we were lucky to have it almost to ourselves. The museum holds a 4th century statue of Hermes of Praxitelis and many other relics and statues excavated from the site. We then walked to the site of Ancient Olympia where the first Olympic games were held in 8th century BC. Overtime ... read more

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 ... read more

Distance travelled 1,347 nautical miles As I've been saying the whole trip the bad weather won't last. Venice has been a beautiful sunny and warm day. Whether my optimism paid off or I'm just good at playing the numbers game, the weather had been short lived. The storm continued throughout the night. The ship started to toss and pitch but with the vibrations from the rudder and propellers as they tried to fight the storm it was difficult to sleep even for an optimist like me. I was told by an old sea dog that although these ships are equipped with the latest technology in gyroscopes and stabilisers, these can do more harm than good in this kind of weather so there are kept retracted. It is best to let the bridge do their job and ... read more