Katakolon

 

Only about 500 people live in Katakolon, Greece but it is a popular stop for cruise ships, offering an opportunity for passengers to visit the ancient port of Olympia, the sunken ancient city of Pheia.  The Olympic games were held here every four years from the 8th Century BCE to the 4th Century CE and so ran for around 1200 years.  The first modern Olympic games were held in 1896.  The first Olympic games were in honor of Zeus, the Ancient Greek God of sky, lightning, thunder, law, order and justice.

I took a picture of crepuscular rays last night with the suns rays fanning out through the clouds.  As you can see the sun is just behind the clouds rather than 93 million miles away.  In actual fact it didnt look as good through the lens.

I took  our first picture of the boat as we walked off to find a taxi.  I think Costa have a new policy now as its nowhere near as good as our last trip with them.  They are aiming low and cheap.

Rather than take a ship trip we walked off the boat and grabbed a taxi.  When there are 4 of you its much cheaper.  The bus trips were about €60 each and you had to wait for 2 hours before it came back and you get one of those ball aching tours where they hold your number above their heads.  We were in and out in 45 minutes as it was so blisteringly hot and unbearable out of the shade.  Here are the other guys walking to the ruins from the taxi.

We had a result on entry as Ian got in half price for being an old git and I got in free for being a student.  When I showed the guy on the desk he said “really, where do you study”!  Our driver was waiting when we got back and bought us a bottle of water each which was much needed.  There are ruins everywhere, its unbelievable but they are all very similar to each other.

The original games ran for 1200 years until the 4th century when an earth quake knocked it all down.  This is the temple of Zeus which originally had many columns but they erected one 8 years ago.

On our way back we asked our driver to drop us off by the little shops near the port as Ian wanted a new shirt as he spilled ice cream all down his.  He also wanted a new hat as his beanie made him look to much like Benny.  While he was getting changed Sue got fresh with another dummy.

It was a lovely little town they has souvenir shops all along the street and restaurants all along the port.  I also managed to find an internet cafe and an ATM.  Next stop athens.  I couldn't quite work out why Marathon is near Athens and not Olympia, did they not have it as part of the ancient games because Athens is over 300km away?