Olympia, birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games

Having spent 3 nights on a campsite we headed off to find some more scenic wild camping spots.  We headed south to Flokas, 2km west of Olympia, and parked up on top of an Olympic theatre.  It’s a modern structure built like an ampitheatre with the seats and rows made of stone (not marble, as in ancient theatres). (N37.646282 E21.610128).

Sonny enjoying his great wild camping spot above the ampitheatre, Flokas

A 5 minute walk and your down into the little village and the only signs of life we saw was an old man sat in a rundown café.  So, we joined him with a couple of beers, which the waitress accompanied with an interesting meze – dried bread, cold chips, shrivelled kidneys, few black olives and a bit of tomato.  Mel attempted to eat some of it but for the good of his health gave up after a few mouthfuls.  The Greek beer was good though!

We remembered that the clocks go back as we got into bed and were looking forward to the extra snoozing hour.  However, all didn’t go to plan as the church bells in the village went hammer and tong at 7am – so that put an end to our lie in.  We decided to get up, have an early breakfast and coffee and made our way to the Olympic site in the town of Olympia – only a 2km drive.  It's a fairly small town full of souvenir shops, cafés and restaurants, they obviously get a lot of tourist here. We parked up near to the site a little after 8.30am, just as it was opening.  Armed with our Kindle, which had the Rough Guide to Greece on it and a map of the Olympus Site, we headed on in.  The night before I had persuaded Mel that we should get a combined ticket for the site and archaeological museum. Over the last couple of years, we have seen a lot of Greek and Roman artefacts but I didn’t want to miss out on this one.  However, as luck would have it, 28 October is a National holiday and entries to everything was free – what a result!

The site, which was primarily dedicated to Zeus began taking shape around 9^th century BC.  The Olympic Games was established in 776BC and ran to 393AD (every 4 years for 1169 years) and the whole area was classed as a sanctuary and rules of competition strict.  Athletes and officials had to swear an oath and sacred truce before taking part.  Victory was rewarded with a palm immediately after the contest, and an olive branch presented at the closing ceremony of the games. Originally, only Greek born males could take part, although as the games developed it was opened up to athletes from all parts of the Greek and Roman world.  By the 4^th century BC, the athletes were virtually all professionals, sponsored by their home states and commanding huge amounts of money if they won.  Sounds a bit like a lot of sports today!  Emperor Nero postponed the games by 2 years to 67AD just so he could compete (and win) in a special singing and lyre-playing events.  Think he also did something dodgy to win a chariot race as well.

A lot of the buildings now lay in ruins – thanks to the destruction of Emperor Thodosius, who in 393AD converted to Christianity and suspended the games as part of a crackdown on public pagan festivities.  Further destruction came in the form of barbarian invasion, many earthquakes and ultimately by the River Alfios changing course to cover the site.  It remained covered in many metres of sludge until the first excavation by German archeologists in 1870s.

As you enter the site you pass by the gymnasium – training area for the foot race, javelin and discus throwing.

Mel limbering up ready for all events!

Palaestra used by the competitors during their obligatory month of pre-games training

Philippean – first monument to be built to secular glory

A patch of grass marks the spot of lighting the Olympian Flame.  I'm looking for something significant, but can't see much!  In the background the Temple of Hera - the oldest temple of the sanctuary

The bases of Zanes (plural name of Zeus), at the entrance to the stadium. Bronze statues of Zeus were erected on the bases, with the names of athletes who had cheated, and the offence they had committed. They were meant to serve a warning to all competitors, basically a naming and shaming of cheats – doping was done even in ancient times.  Apparently, some athletes ate sheeps testicles and hearts prior to the games, to increase their strength!

And the winner of the 200 metres is me, well I was the only competitor.  The stadium held around 45,000 spectators in its day, I only had Mel to cheer me on. Pathetic finish by me, I know!

Temple of Zeus - lots of fallen column stones here to try and piece together.  The column that stands was reconstructed in time for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Leonidaion, used for accommodation – the Olympic Village of today.

After the site it was off to the museum. Just as we were leaving, coach loads of tourists were coming in to the Olympic site.  It would appear that we had timed our visit just right!

On the 4th day of the Olympics there was a sacrifice of 100 oxen. When the site was excavated a huge number of bronze and clay figurines were found, known to be votive offerings.

Selection of bronze helmets, pottery, body armour that features Apollo and Zeus, and some bronze defensive and offensive equipment.

The chariot race of Pelops and oinomaos that sat on the Temple of Zeus - depicting the myth over the supremacy of the Sanctuary.

Strawberry trees grow outside the History of the Olympics Museum

After we had done the Olympic site, Archaeological Museum and the History of the Olympics museum, we were exhausted!   It was great to visit the ancient site, which is more about temples than sport, but we both agreed that Delphi [link] was a lot more impressive.  We visited it last year and it's where the Pythian Games were held (2 years after each Olympic Games).  We had a wander into the town and around the quality tat on offer, which pretty much consisted of Greek type items of T-shirts, jewellery, pots, replica statues and an Archimedes Museum, again a free visit for us. Then we heard music and a parade of children coming through the town.  We spoke to a lady, whose daughter was taking part and she explained it was ‘Ohi Day. 

Children marching through Olympia in celebration of 'Ohi Day'.  Dressed in white shirts and blue/black trousers/skirts they are supposed to represent soldiers.

The history behind it is that on 28 October 1940 Mussolini (Italian dictator of the time) called the Greek Prime minister (Ioannis Metaxas) with an ultimatum to allow Italian troops to enter and occupy strategic Greek locations.  Metaxas answered with one word ‘Ohi’ meaning no (or apparently words to that affect).  Straight after, the Greek population ran through the streets shouting ‘ohi’ and prepared to arm themselves for war.  The Greeks who had remained neutral were forced to join WW2 and become allies with Great Britain.  It is a day that represents bravery, solidarity and heroism for millions of Greeks.  After all of this we got a hungry spell, so we sought out a fast food joint on the edge of town.

Gyros Time - traditional Greek fast food meal of pitta with pork, onions, herbs, salad, tzatziki and chips - yummy! 

From here we took to the mountains and climbed to nearly 1,000 metres to the village of Lagkadia (N37.68266  E22.03191). The drive was stunning, with beautiful autumn colours, very narrow roads and in places, sheer drops!

Breath in Sonny!

Lagkadia is a small village in the middle of nowhere but it was chocka.  They too were all busy celebrating ‘Ohi Day’.

Shops selling all sorts in the mountain village of Lagkadia

When all the cars had gone, we parked just near the clock tower - fingers crossed it doesn't chime and wake us up too early!   We have just checked weather and it is going to reach 27°C next week whoop, whoop!  Sorry folks back home, I know you are having a bit of a cold spell and snow at the moment.

Sally x