Nemea

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Wednesday 1st June 2011

Leaving Mycenae for the site of Ancient Nemea situated in a quiet and utterly peaceful valley, chosen as a venue for one of the Big Four ancient Greek Games. Then as now it would have been normally quiet and unvisited - erupting briefly into pulsating activity only for the period of the Games. The Sanctuary site where the three columns ( additional ones have been reconstructed in more recent times ) of the Temple of Zeus have stood since the 4th century is impressive and visitors are able to walk within the temple and get a feel for the original scale of the building.
The museum is superbly laid out - with models of the site as it was which you can compare directly with the view through a picture window. Here we saw how the original stadium race starting mechanism - the Hysplex - was set up by watching a short film and examining a reconstruction - velly intelesting for us geeks.


Recently in 1996 the games were revived in the form of the Modern Nemean Games - last held in June 2008. The Nemean Games are open to ANYONE ! and aim avoid the problems associated with the modern Olympics.
The Society for the Revival of the Nemean Games believes that there is scope for the average person to participate in such an international athletic festival where no records will be kept and no medals awarded. Races are organized by gender and age, and all participants are rewarded only by feet sore from contact with the same stones and soil where ancient feet ran more than 2,000 years ago.
Jack and Ben decided not to wait for the next games and from the original starting line raced the length of the stadium. OFFICIAL result - Ben winner by a small margin - not to worry its Olympia next and a chance to reverse the result...


Nemea is the centre of wine production for the area, the region was first noted for its winemaking by Homer who called it Ampelóessa, "full of vines." Today, the appellation of Nemea is the most important red wine AOC of southern Greece and arguably of all of Greece. In Nemea, the indigenous Greek Agiorgitiko grape is used and produces wines famous for their 'deep red color, complex aroma and long, velvety palate' ( readers please note informed wine nonsense ) so we thought we should check this out with a tasting.

The winery we chose, Palivou, came recommended by a fellow camper we had met in Corinth and was well worth the visit it being one of the two largest in the area with a production of 250,000 bottles annually.
In recent years Greek winemakers have embraced modern wine making methods resulting unsuprisingly in much improved wines - a far cry from the retsina offered when I visited Greece 30 years ago. We were shown round by a very pleasant lady with good command of English. She informed us that in 1995 the old traditional treading tank was replaced by a contemporary winery and Palivou Estate began its new, extremely dynamic era.
At the top of the list they offer reds are aged in new French and American oak for up to 18 months and we were interested in sampling the results.
A variety of wines are on offer so we tasted a selection and bought rose and a very nice oak aged red reminiscent of a Rioja.

From Nemea we returned to Corinth and Isthmia Camping to catch up with our friends Yvette and Fernand for a couple of days before heading off to Olympia. Here we enjoyed swimming in the sea as temperatures continued to be 30+, the boys caught up on some school work and on the final evening we had a meal out with Yvette and Fernand ( thanks guys ) hopefully not our last ! ( London in winter ? )

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Comments

[Kerstin]

Your Greek Blog
Hi Guys, Dad forwarded me your blog - loved it. Great to read about and see what a fab time you are having. Maxine-Bumped into Lisa some weeks ago. She wirks at our vets. She was asking about you. Do you mind if, when I see her next, if I give her this blog address? Also, Nigel is reviving "Fist" here at college - fully orchestrated this time!He has asked me if I want to help - I'm feeling a bit like I am going backwards instead of forwards!!! but it could be fun. Anyway, keep having fun on you great adventure. Love to you all, Kerstin

[Le Grande Tour]

Good to hear from you
Hi Kerstin, Thanks for commenting on the blog. It was great to hear from you. We're having a whale of a time as you can probably see. I am so jealous of you doing Fist. When is it on? I would love to see it. I think I can still remember all the words.Feel free to pass on the blog address to anyone who might be interested. Hope all is well with you and all the family xx