Day 101: Friday 27 June – Ancient Olympia, by Ken

I was up at 06:00, it was only just getting light which seems late considering it was only just past the longest day.

As usual I spent an hour typing up yesterday’s blog while Jane slept. I was going to wake her at 7:00 but didn’t have to as at 6:55 the lengthy early loud chimes from the church somewhere nearby were loud enough to wake the dead.

We had planned to leave at 08:00 to visit the site of the ancient Olympic games before it got too hot and before the crowds arrived. Our start was delayed somewhat because the brown loaf we ordered yesterday hadn’t arrived by 8:00. I went to see our nonagenarian friend who had added Italian to his vocabulary saying it would be there in "due o tee minuti" and he would bring it down to us. He asked whether it was brown or white we wanted, I said brown. Much more than two or three minutes later he came to see us, breadless. He explained the bread was on its way from Pyrgos, the bread there is better than from the village, it was definitely on its way. 

The Bread's On Its Way (and cat on its way to see Jane)

Jane and Our Host

About five minutes later a man arrived and handed me a bundle wrapped in white paper. When I opened it there were two loaves, one brown and one white. I returned the white loaf as we passed reception as we set off to walk into the village and ordered another brown loaf for tomorrow.

It was 08:25 as we walked down a hill into the village of Olymbia. We walked along the main street which was full of restaurants and souvenir shops. Signs pointed down side streets to hotels. We passed three ATMs and made a note to get cash on our way back. It was cool and there were few people about.

Olymbia Main Street (Fiji flag on the left)

It was about a kilometre to the ticket office for the games archaeological site and separate museum. There were already a lot of people milling around. I bought a combined ticket for €14 and paid with a €50 notte. Next door was a booth selling guide books and maps, we opted for a map costing €3. When I fished in my pocket for the coins given in change for the tickets there was just three 50 cents. I went back to the ticket office with the coins and said it should have been €6. The woman took the €1.50 and gave me my €6 without a murmur, I don’t think it was a mistake. I noticed she was wearing platform shoes and the old adage of ‘Beware of Greeks wearing lifts’ came to mind. (The short changing is true, but the bit about the shoes isn’t -  it just seemed a good opportunity to slip in an old Mel Brook’s joke).

We chose to visit the archaeological site first. I hadn’t done any reading beforehand and, naively, was surprised to find Olympia was much more than a running stadium, it was a complete Olympic village, and more.

Just past the entrance was a display board welcoming us to Olympia, one of the most important religious centres of antiquity. Here, Zeus, the father of the Olympian gods was worshipped and splendid athletic contests, the Olympic Games, were celebrated. It went on: To enjoy this site there is no need to:

·       Bring animals

·       Climb on the ancient walls and monuments

·       Etc

I really liked the ‘no need to’. Nearby a sign apologised that some of the display boards around the site had been removed for ‘technical reasons’.

The map we had bought wasn’t helpful, it being very difficult to orient ourselves. Jane found the plan in our Greek Rough Guide was better and read from it as we walked.

The Olympic games probably began around the 11^th century BC growing over two centuries from a local festival to a quadrennial event attended by states from throughout the Greek world. Initially, the events were athletic, the earliest race was over the length of the stadium, approximately 200m. Later a two lap 400m race was introduced and then a 24 lap, 5,000m race. The premier event was the pentathlon encompassing running, jumping, discus and javelin events. The competitors were gradually reduced to a final pair for a wrestling and boxing combat, a fairly brutal event. One of the most prestigious events was the Pancratium in which the contestants fought each other naked and unarmed using any means other than biting and gouging (just as well ‘Chewey Luis” Suarez wasn’t around in Ancient Greece). 7km chariot races also became part of the games with only 1 team in 20 usually completing the course.

In the early Olympiads the rules were strict with only free-born male Greeks allowed to take part and the rewards were entirely honorary, a palm given to the winner immediately after a contest and an olive branch presented at a closing ceremony. Later, the rules were relaxed and athletes from all parts of the Greek and Roman world were allowed to participate.

By the 4^th century BC the games were at their peak and virtually all the athletes were professionals sponsored by their home states and, if they won at Olympia, they could command huge appearance money at games elsewhere. Commercialisation increased under the Romans and new events were introduced. In 67AD Emperor Nero brought the games forward by 2 years so that he could compete in, and win, special singing and lyre playing events. It’s difficult to believe they don’t still feature in the games, just imagine the spectacle of a bearded Austrian drag queen singing for his country.

While the Romans abused the purity of the original games, they continued for another three centuries and only stopped in 393 AD when Emperor Theodosius, newly converted to Christianity, suspended them in a crackdown on public pagan festivities. His successor ordered the destruction of the temples which were spoilt further by barbarian invasions, earthquakes, and finally by the Alfiós river changing its course and burying the site in 7m of silt. It remained buried until it was excavated by German archaeologists in the 1870s.

The first ruin we reached was the gymnasium where archaeologists were excavating the northern section which is planned to be finished next year. It was just like a set from an Indiana Jones movie with men working away with picks and shovels under sunshades and a few director chairs spaced around a table under another shade. Next to the gymnasium were the ruins of a Palaestra (wrestling school).

Archaeologists At Work (or not)

Gymnasium

Philippeion

We walked on passing the remains of Roman baths to the temple of Hera completed in the 7^th century BC and rebuilt a century later. It’s the most complete building on the site.

Temple of Hera

Nearby were the remains of an ornate fountain which originally had a marble bull as an offering standing on a wall dividing the fountain’s two levels. A tour group with a guide arrived and the guide pointed to the spot where the Olympic flame is kindled. I got Jane to pose there.

This Is Where The Olympic Flame Is Kindled

Just To Prove It (photograph of a display board - sun's rays are focussed on torch by bowl)

Nearby a group of Chinese tourists were receiving their briefing in the shade of a tree, we came across the group a few times afterwards, out of the shade a number of women had umbrellas to give them shade.

We walked on to the entrance to the stadium, originally an arched tunnel, now just a few rings remain. A group of young Americans was being arranged for a group photograph at the tunnel entrance with their guides, also young Americans sporting Ionian Resort polo shirts. They took an age faffing about arranging and rearranging the group preventing anyone from entering the stadium. The words ‘brewery, piss-up’ and ‘organise’ came to mind. But it was OK, the site was open until 20:00. Eventually, the woman with the camera was satisfied and took the photo. The group moved on and we followed. Inside was a rectangular area with the original stone starting and finishing lines approximately 200m apart. Grass banks surround the running area with stone thrones set either side at the half-way point for the judges. The stadium accommodated 20,000 of the wealthier people seated on tiers formed in the banks. The ordinary people, slaves and women watched from he slopes of the Hill of Krónos nearby. According to the Rough Guide the stadium was excavated during World War II, allegedly on the direct orders of Hitler.

It Was OK, We Were In No Rush To Get Into The Stadium

Starting Line

American Olympics

Man and Dog Racing

Chinese Making A Dash For The Shade

The young American lads staged their own Olympics posing for more photographs as they took their marks at the starting line along with a dog. On the word "go" they ran the length of the stadium along with the dog. The dog won. The women in the group followed, but didn't run the whole length. The dog also competed and was way aead when they called the race off.

After I had walked all around the stadium on the banks and Jane had taken a rest near the entrance we continued to the remnants of the Temple of Zeus. A group of Russian tourists were there getting a briefing from their guide. It seems to me the Russians and Chinese are the new Japanese in terms of tourism. Interestingly, there were no Japanese tour groups there, There was one middle aged Italian couple and that was it.

Remains Of Temple of Zeuss

At the Bouleuterion, or council chamber, in front of a great statue of Zeus the athletes took oaths to observe the Olympian rules. Theese weren’t to be taken lightly as lining the way to the Bouleuterion were bronze statues paid for from fines levied for foul play. The statues bore the name of the disgraced athlete, his father and city. If the same was to apply over two millennia later in a different part of the world and for a sport that has never featured in the Olympics, I wonder whether there would one day be a statue with the name of a man and his father from Picton?

We saw the remains of Emperor Nero's house where no doubt his palms and olive branches signifying his prowess in singing and lyre playing took pride of place on his mantelpiece.

Nero's House

We wandered around the rest of the site finishing at the hostel that accommodated the athletes. We felt more and more disappointed as we walked. The few display boards were confusing and we were having trouble interpreting what we were seeing. If it hadn't been for our guide book we would have been completely lost.

Hostel

From the site of the games we walked about half a kilometre to the museum. It was a complete contrast. Everything was very well displayed and lots of information was provided. It was packed with Greek and Roman artefacts recovered from the excavations of Ancient Olympia including many statues, pots, armour and glassware. I was really surprised to learn that glass has been around for 5,000 years. We spent a long time taking everything in and then, as the museum began to fill with tour groups we decided it was time to go.

Here's some shots taken in the museum:

Bull From Fountain

Glass

We had a brew walk around botanic gardens nearby the museum. There wasn't a lot to see - a collection of trees and herbs.

Next I wanted to see the memorial to Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympics. It also seems he was like Nero - he won a gold medal for literature at the 1912 games for his poem 'Ode to Sport'. While he is buried in Lausanne, in accordance with his wishes his heart was brought to Ancient Olympia where a memorial was erected. Our map showed it to be a short walk. Jane decided she would cool off in the shade while I walked and walked and walked. I gave up after 20 minutes in the baking sun thinking I would drive there in Smarty after lunch.

We walked back through the town stopping to do some shopping in a supermarket and to buy s fridge magnet as a souvenir of Ancient Olympia. We had decided that we would start collecting these as mementos of our travels, planning to stick them to a wall in Mabel rather than put them on her fridge (the door of which isn't steel).

As we were walking back to Mabel a man sitting outside a cafe in a side street spotted the beer bottles in my carrier bag. He asked what beer I had bought. It was a mix of Fix and Mythos, I hadn't tasted the latter yet. He said Mythos is the best, I had to agree with him late in the afternoon when I got to taste one.

We ate lunch under Mabel's awning - Greek salad with the brown bread that was the best we had tasted in Greece.

After lunch was keen to have a poodle around Olymbia's shops. I dropped her off there in Smarty and set off to drive to Baron Coubertin. I never got there, there was no entry from Olymbia to the road I had walked earlier. I tried several different routes without any luck. The last attempt had me on a goat track heading into the hills. I gave up, Smarty's gauge showed the temperature outside to be 35 degrees. I went back to Mabel and opened a chilled bottle of Mythos. The man was right, it was a very good beer indeed. Jane returned from her shopping trip soon after having made one of Olymbia's shopkeepers very happy.

As yesterday, we spent the remainder of the afternoon by the pool having an occasional dunk to cool off. Dinner was chorizo and sun dried tomato risotto cooked by me. At least we think it was chorizo. We couldn't understand the Greek on the wrapping and it didn't taste cooked. So, to be on the safe side I sliced and fried it.