On Monday, March 30th, we docked at our first port-Katakolon, Greece.
Everyone was in a mad rush at lunchtime at the buffet room to get snacks for the day. Big ziploc bags (well, any storage bags) were a scarcity, so I am glad I packed some just for this purpose of packing small sandwiches and croissants.
We walked off the boat--no rush. This was something that I had a hard time imagining before the cruise--how do all those passengers get off the boat in timely manner? But I guess not everyone wants to get off the boat at the same time. So all you do is go to deck 4 and have security scan your card into the computer (that tells them you left the boat) and walk out. That's it!
In this port, no shuttles were provided as it's quite a short walk from the boat to the city entrance.
But we didn't even need to enter the city, as we had a neat shore excursion set up for us. I mean..I set it up--private bus and all.
We were met right there by our guide, Niki, who promptly loaded us into the bus (all 32 of us) and put everyone at ease about the whole thing. During our 40 min drive to Olympia, she told us lots about Greece in general and specifically about the area we were in. She catered to children tremendously and found them all engaged in her narration.
Olympia...the ancient sight of the first Olympic games.
To many who tour this place without a guide, this would appear to be just a massive area with a pile of ancient rocks and columns. Niki brought it alive. She told us about how the games were set up, how they athletes competed, what they wore (nothing), and how they were treated. It was amazing to learn it and be able to be right in that place where it was all happening.
One of the most famous "buildings" in Olympia used to be the Temple of Zeus. Unfortunately, not much is left at its sight. Seriously. That column behind me is the only one standing.
We do know that a giant Statue of Zeus (about 42 ft/13 m tall) was erected in that temple by the Greek sculptor Phidias in around 435 BC. It was so fancy--representing the god Zeus sitting on a throne decorated with gold, precious stones and ivory. It was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World actually, but then it got lost and destroyed in the 5th century AD. What a shame...We don't even have a copy of the statue and we only know about how it looked from Greek descriptions and coins.
We had a bit of a photo op before entering the Olympic stadium. All kids got to pose with the olive branch, just as the winners used to do in the ancient times.
Who's this shady athlete?
Katya's succeeded in some sort of stage sport.
And finally, we walked through the same tunnel-walkway as the gymnasts walked through before their competition praying to gods to help them win.
Let the games begin!
These two...at the authentic start line.
We had a quick snack at the stadium and then walked back towards the exit of the Olympic village.
This is THE spot where the Olympic fire is lit before the Olympic Games-that spot behind us.
Katya and Mark at the Temple of Hera.
Alex was a bit hesitant to take a picture here as Hera is one of his least favorite goddesses (and this kid is a pro at Greek Mythology).
Now THIS one was his favorite place-the one column of the Temple of Zeus.
Amazingly, no one got lost! Here is our fun group of friends.
The next quick stop was Olympia Archaeological Museum. I won't pretend like I remember very much of the visit. It was fascinating and very interesting since Niki told us so much about the importance of the main objects displayed. This is where we gave the camera to Mark, so he was taking hundreds of pictures of things that looked cool to him.
Some of the most significant exhibit in the museum are these sculptured ornaments from the temple of Zeus. There used to be 42 figures decorating the temple, but now we have this left, dating about 5th century BC.
And then there was this helmet that the Athenian general Militates dedicated to Olympian Zeus after his victory over the Persians in the battle of Marathon. It's VERY old.
I had to skip over dozens of pictures of headless statues on our camera. Apparently, Mark thought they were quite amazing.
And then separate heads too. The Greeks just kind of kept the body statues and just replaced the heads to make statues of their leaders (quite thrifty?).
Then there were many of these griffin looking birds of all shapes and sizes.
And a very neat huge disk-decoration, mostly restored. All the orange is what was restored, and the red-brown stuff is what the original looked like.
We were finished with our tour and met up at the entrance to the museum to get back. All 19 children with us. And then Tami gave each of them a whistle...hahahaha. It was loud! I am sure the whole Olympia heard them. I had to take our kids' whistles away eventually as they were going crazy, of course.
We had a few spare minutes to walk around town and buy a couple of things, and soon we had to be back on the bus to get back to the boat. Our first port was a great success!!
Lyana.
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