Katakolon (Olympia), Greece. March 22, 2022

 Katakolon is situated on the northeastern shoreline of the Peloponnese Peninsula of Greece.  We are greeted by mid 40 degrees Fahrenheit,  a stiff wind but brilliant sunshine.  

The town of Katakolon consists of a waterfront street, a Main Street and back street, primarily a small fishing village and the seaport gateway to Ancient Olympia.  The countryside, fertile valleys are bountiful of olive trees, vineyards and orchards.  

A 30 minute drive takes us to the legendary city of Olympus, the birthplace of the modern-day Olympic Games.  Well-kept ruins reveal the remains of temples with their massive columns, Gymnasium, Palaestra (training site for wrestling). The Temple of Zeus, and Temple of Hera and the circular Philippeion Temple were most impressive.  The open-air stadium seated some 45k spectators, though there were no seats as such, rather the grounds were sloped upwards from the field.  It is not a circular stadium, but rather a rectangular one. Only the final games were conducted here with 20 finalists.  The eliminations games were conducted elsewhere.   The first games began in 776BC in honor of Zeus, and only for locals, then later for all Greeks and continued under  Roman rule in 2nd century BC.  The last recorded games/celebrations was in 393AD, though some archeological evidence suggest some games were conducted even later than that.   There were fewer events than in modern games and only freeborn men were permitted to participate.  The games were held every four years and were always held in Olympia and not moved to different locations as they are now.    The some of the type of events were horse races, chariot races, boxing, wrestling, long distance racing, straight-line sprint of over 192 meters (they called it Stade),  and so on. 

The first modern day Olympics were held in Athens, Greece in 1896.  A Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin is responsible for its rebirth.  So it took about 1500 years for the games to resume.  

The tour through Ancient Olympia was most informative with way too many facts to remember. And the wildflowers that were blooming and blanketing the grounds between the ruins were just awesome and made you realize that even if the temperatures did not say “spring has sprung” the flowers did.  

Ancient Olympia

We walked about 3 minutes from the parking area, crossed this bridge and then entered into Ancient Olympia.  It is a huge area with varying old remains of the first Olympic Park.  

Some ruins are still being excavated as seen in the picture above. 

Remnants of the circular Philippeion temple.
 

The rear entrance to the Temple of Zeus.

The front entrance of the Temple of Zeus.  

A rendering of what they think it looked like based on the remaining ruins.

More columns,  these were part of the Gymnasium. 

Ruins

The Romans were the first to manufacture and use bricks in their structures.  

Many of the stones that were used had seashells in bedded.  

Close up of some of the lovely wildflowers that were blooming and blanketing most of the green space between the ruins.

Depiction of the Lighting of the Torch.  

This is believed to be the site where the torch was lit.  

This is the pathway to the stadium, through a tunnel, though only one small section of the tunnel remains. 

The stadium,  not circular but rectangular.

Example of a Corinthian style column.  Three types of column exist in Ancient Greece,  the oldest is Doric, which is simple in design, tall and stocky, while the Ionic style is slender and taller and has curly design at the top and came after the Doric, and the youngest is the Corinthian with ornate designs.  

View of the country side as we drive back to the town of Katakolon.

View of Katakolon from the ship.

View of the shoreline and the Kronos  mountains from the rear of the ship.  Yes there is still snow on the mountains.