Our tour guide, George provided excellent information, just the right amount of talking (unlike Fofo on Corfu who talked non-stop). We passed olive, and orange groves, tomato and other fruit and veg orchards. Unfortunately we also passed piles of rubbish bags beside the road - the result of a 3 week garbage strike. This also explains the overflowing rubbish skips in Corfu.
The Olympia site is shady and quite spread out. Archeologists are still working onsite making small finds. There were lots of tour groups but there was room to spread out and we all had radio receivers and an earphones so we could hear our guide.
Greg and I were here 40 years ago and Greg had dug out of photo of me stretched out on a round pillar. We were hoping to recreate it. It turned out to be a pillar in the Temple of Zeus which is now roped off. The temple now in ruins was huge and contained a 40 ft high statue of Zeus made of wood and covered in gold and marble. The figure of Nike in his hand was 9 ft tall. It must have been quite amazing to see!
1975 ...
... 2015, the closest we could get. The round pillar, centre-top-right just above the 2 steps, is the one from 1975
The Olympic running track was fun with a group of school kids and a dog running races. (OK so I did a run as well!) They say 60,000 people (men only) attended the games back around 300 AD. We saw where the Olympic flame is lit every 2 years.
Entrance portal to the Olympia stadium
The Olympia stadium
Two fair maidens on the starting line (historically inaccurate - only men were able to compete, and they were naked. Women weren't even allowed to attend or watch)
Flame lighting location, using the rays of the sun
A museum houses many of the statues and other relics uncovered from the site. Most are incomplete figures but you can get an idea of the scale and beauty of them. In a couple of cases they have replaced the missing part with a plastic resin material so you can see what it looked like. There is, not surprisingly, resentment that many of the best pieces from the site are at the British Museum, the Louvre, the Vatican and other museums outside Greece.
Sculptured ornaments from the Temple of Zeus
Ermis of praxitelis
Emporer Hadrian
Close-up of the ornate detail of Emporer Hadrian's armour, inluding the twins Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf,
After an opportunity to visit some tourist shops and a cafe it was back to the ship for a late lunch.
Before dinner there was an Officers on Deck event with little booths, each with different kinds of food, set up beside the pool, and the officers serving the food to the guests, instead of the dining room staff. Mini caviar pancakes, prawns and crab, pizza slices, pate and other finger food. We then adjourned to the Colonnade for dinner.
The service is fabulous. I don't know where they get their staff or how they train them but they are unfailingly pleasant, always give you a genuinely warm greeting and try to anticipate your every need. Food and wine are great and plentiful. The other thing I particularly like is the free guest laundry with machines, driers and irons. It is very humid but having access to the machines means you don't have to try and make clothes last 2 days, just toss them in the machine. You have to pick your time to go to the laundry as it is very popular. The 4 machines and driers are in constant use.