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Published: April 2nd 2018
Today started quite early with a quick breakfast at 6:30 and then we loaded the bus with all of our belongings. We were leaving Athens and heading to Olympia.
Our first stop of the day was at the Corinth Canal. It was extremely deep and made me a little dizzy looking at it. The canal has a traffic light on each end so that only one boat will go through at a time. It allows the barges to pass and is deep enough that tall equipment like cranes and fit with ease. However, the canal is narrow and never gained the traffic initially thought. After everyone had their peek at that modern marvel and grabbed snacks from the store, we were on our way again.
The 2nd stop was at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus located in the city of Epidaurus. This theatre was created in such a way that the acoustics are perfect. Someone brilliant understood the science behind how to make it happen and followed through with making it a reality - thousands of years ago, without google. They would have plays and musical events there and the performers never needed anything to make their performance louder,
even when speaking in normal tones. The sound travels in such a way that the top row hears the exact same thing as the bottom row attendees so everyone had the same experience. We were told to be careful what we say in there because even a whisper can be heard all through the theatre. We did a coin test where we dropped a coin on the center of the stage area and that coin could in fact be heard all the way to the top. People use to go there and stand in the middle and try their singing voice. But as we heard it, so many people were awful singers and abusing that one of a kind acoustic outdoor theatre, that it was made a law that no one was allowed to sing there again. Even though that law was known to us, one of the young guys in our group went to center stage and started singing. He just had to try it. And it was heard through out the theatre and even beyond the theatre. He was able to sing about 2 lines of his song before a security person came out of nowhere and told
him to stop - that he was not allowed to sing there. That sort of put a damper on things so we all headed down before the real security showed up. We certainly did not want to explain to his parents how he ended up in a Greece prison.
We traveled farther into the mountains of Greece seeing the different landscapes. Coastline, islands, mountains, groves of olive trees and orange trees, rocky slopes and beautiful natural settings. While most people napped during the drive, I tried to take it all in.
Our next stop was at an Mycenae archeological site near Makines. Mycenae was a city that dates back to the 13th century B.C. We were able to see quite a bit of the city as several structures have remains in the area as well as tombs. The beginning of the city has a “lion gate” at the entrance in which 2 lions are carved into the stone. That piece of artwork is the first recognized piece of art in all of Europe. From that point we went a little farther to an ancient tomb that was created for royalty. The tomb is a large beehive shaped tomb
and there was also a chamber room attached to it. And oddly enough there was a swarm of bees at the entrance that we had to walk through to get inside. What are the odds? It was a really unique structure and is still fully intact. They went through a lot of trouble for burial In those early years. After seeing where the royalty was supposedly buried at one time, we went back into to town and sat down for a nice Greek lunch.
For lunch today, 4 of us decided to share 3 different meals. We tried roasted lamb, moussaka, and pasticca. They were all good. I have enjoyed trying the different Greek foods, but honestly I am getting tired of it. Just ready for something different. We are all looking forward to getting to Italy for something Italian.
After lunch, we boarded the bus again for the 3 hour ride to Olympia. Our tour director told everyone to have a siesta and most everyone did as they were told. Traveling in Greece is sort of like “drive at your own risk”. Especially in Athens. It, like Amsterdam, is not pedestrian friendly. Horns blowing, cars speeding, tempers
flaring. Traffic signs are just a mere suggestion. Park where you want - the sidewalk, the street, the curb, wherever you want. Just make your own spot, no rhyme or reason required. No need to stop at that stop sign, it just slows you down. People in the crosswalk? No worries, they will move. Merging traffic? They will wait. People moving too slow for your pace? Just blow your horn at them and speed on by. Outside of Athens, traffic is not near as bad, which was a welcoming relief. Kudos to our bus driver for the has been awesome.
We arrived in Olympia and located our hotel. The pace there is very different from Athens. Much more relaxed, not near the traffic. In fact the streets are made of stones and there are no lines indicating any rules. They are also very narrow. But our bus driver, Christos handled it like a pro.
After locating our rooms and some repacking, we had another Greek dinner at the hotel and then went out into the town for some window shopping and some snacks for tomorrow. We board the ferry for Italy tomorrow afternoon so we want to be
certain we have everything we need and avoid the high ferry prices.
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