Day 5 Mediterranean Adventures: Katakalon, Greece

It is cooler today and we love it. Not cold by any means, but less humid. We have an early call today for our tour, so we have ordered breakfast room service delivered between 6:30 and 7:00. We can eat and get everything ready to leave without the chaotic time in the restaurant.

Our guide meets us as we leave the ship and we are on our way to Ancient Olympia. The ruins are expansive and include the first Olympic stadium seating at least 40,000. For the Olympics in 2004, 7,000 attended a special event at the stadium.Lydia is standing on the original marble starting blocks illustrating the ancient racing start pose. Americans started the modern day pose after winning games with the new pose.

There are indications that by 1,000 BCE, ritualistic games were already being  held. By 776 BCE, the games were dedicated to Zeus.. opening the first Olympiad. This is all that is left of the Temple of Zeus. A German Archeologist uncovered these ruins under 9-23 feet of dirt.

The victorious athletes were awarded a crown fashioned from wild olive branches, always from the same sacred tree....the Kallistefano. This ritual ended by 393 when Theodisios I set a moratorium on the games as they were determined to be a pagan celebration.  It was 15 centuries later ( 1896)  when a French historian Pier de Coubertin restarted the games.  Every four years, a torch-bearer sets out to bear a flame from Olympia to the games.

These beautiful Ionic columns are all that remains of the Temple of Hera