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Published: April 5th 2011
Lagkadia
View of Lagkadia- the roads wrapped up and down the mountain side.Lagkadia is a beautiful place but they apparently are not used to seeing women traveling without a male - or something? We had a warm reception at our hotel but received a lot of weird looks from the locals in general - most especially the older men. In fact, we were actually turned away from a coffee place!!! That grouchy old man either did not speak English and didn't want to deal with us or he simply did not approve of women in his place. Well regardless of that, the place is beautiful and quaint and has great Baklava.
As we were driving down the mountain, we came across a herd of sheep. Not kidding. The roads were narrow and twisty turny but the views were stunning. We often felt we were not possibly on the correct road to Olympia but we eventually made it!
The ancient site of Olympia- home of the Olympic games and apparently where they still light the torch for the games. It was really amazing to be here. I had my foot on the starting mark for the sprints - and traversed the length of the track - pretty cool!! Leading up to that
Sheep!!!
They were in the road on the way down the mountain. running stadium were a bunch of inscribed pedestals which were used to inscribe the crimes of any athletes caught cheating - what a punishment!
The temple of Zeus ruins were impressive - the size of the toppled columns alone were just so huge. Apparently the likeness of Zeus on his thrown was considered one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. Too bad we didn't get to see it 😊.
The rest of Olympia was interesting enough- the wildflowers were profuse and the day was spectacular.
On the road to Patras which was just a place to stop on the way back North. We chose to take a highway and it was my turn to drive and you know how it is - when in Greece... so I drove like a local. Speed limits seem to be more like guidelines and on the two lane highway, you mostly drive on the shoulder to allow cars on either side to pass any slowpokes. A 100 km/hr was a slowpoke. I drove faster and passed like the rest of them - was going along just fine and then suddenly an officer in the road flagging me over. DAMMIT!!!! Pulled
Olympia
Not sure what the purpose was - maybe just a rotunda. over! I don't know what the deal was - did they get me on Radar? was it random? I don't know but after handing over license and passport we were let go with a very disapproving look and a dismissive wave. Right after us they got a tour bus and 3 other cars. At least it got the adrenaline going to take the boredom out of the otherwise dull ride.
Patras- a bigger city and the hotel was in a very crowded downtown area. Cruise ships docked here. We realized the hotel was on a pedestrian street and had no parking so we circled the blocks I don't know how many times before stress/tension and frustration finally had us giving up and moving on. Fortunately just a little bit up the road, we headed towards a beach hotel and now are in a nice little place right on the water with beautiful water views. It is stunning, I opened wine and de-stressed and that is that.
Tomorrow's adventures await! I think we might watch the speed limit a bit more tomorrow...
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