June 28 2014
First let me say, I don't know why yesterday's post for June 27 2014 came out with all that gobboly gook for the title. And I guess I can't change it, so there you go.
Today we went to our first port, Katakolon. This is the first time Disney Cruise Line has
been here. However, there wasn’t any fanfare
as we came in.
Katakolon “Let the Games Begin” is a seaside port overlooking
the Ionian Sea and the gateway to Olympia, where the ancient Greeks flocked
every four years for more than a millennium to celebrate the sacred games
dedicated to Zeus. Tradition holds that
the first Olympic games were held here in 776 BC as a peace treaty between
Sparta and Elis. Because the sacred
truce gave the kings and leaders from all over Greece a chance to meet unarmed,
Olympia became an important place for political discussion and trade.
Michael had arranged for a private tour with Olympic Tours and
with the owner, Niki and her assistant Joanna.
They met us at the pier. They had
38 guests that had booked their tour privately instead of with the cruise
line. We received a much lower price and
got more than what the cruise line offered.
We broke up into two groups. So there were only 19 guests in each group. Cost of the tour was 65 euros and cost to
get into the Olympic site and museum was 9 euro, kids are free.
It was about a 30 minute ride to Olympia. On the way, Niki talked about how all the
farmers grow olive trees. There are 39
different types of olive trees grown here.
The olives are harvested in the fall.
And when they go to the Oil Press instead of paying the company money,
the oil press company keeps 8-12 percent of the olive oil once it is pressed
out of the olives. Now they have
discovered that they can use the pits of the olives to heat their homes instead
of using coal. They had devastating
fires here, I think it was 2007, and cypress trees are coming back and they
have reforested a lot of the vegetation.
Because Disney had 35 tour buses going over to the site of
the Olympic Games, Niki chose to take us to the museum first where it wasn’t
crowded. So we did the museum first,
then the stadium grounds.
The picture I took below depicts The West Pediment of the
Temple of Zeus: Battle of Lapiths and
Centaurs. The myth is that the Centaurs were
invited to the wedding of the King of the Lapiths. In the course of the revelry, they got drunk
and attempted to abduct the Lapith women.
There are pieces missing from the statues, but they have been able to
excavate and put together these pieces.
The second picture is the face of Zeus in one of the statues.
There were beautiful clay pots that have been excavated and
restored and many marble statues. Since
marble is so hard, they would take olive oil and put on the statue they were
carving in order to soften the marble to create the detail on faces and bodies.
As we entered the stadium, Linda, Keith and Michael had a
picture taken.
You can see people walking and running behind us in the
picture. That is because that is the
field where the Olympic games were held.
The athletes were only about 4 ½ feet tall in those times. They participated naked rubbing their body in
Olive oil and then placing sand onto the olive oil. No women were allowed in the stadium except
for the Priestess. About 42,000 people
would come. There were no seats except
for the judges and the Priestess. Olaf
took his chance to sit in the judges square and pretend like he was watching
the game.
Michael and Linda recreated that they were Zeus at the
stadium. We took a picture of all of us
at the starting line.
The archway is the beginning of the tunnel where the
athletes entered for the games. There
was only one winner in each event. No
gold, silver or bronze medals. The one
winner was a hero and he received a headpiece with the olive leaves.
The picture below is where the actual torch is lit for the
Olympic Games (every two years). They have a ceremony and they bring in a mirror
and the reflection from the sun creates the flame to light the torch. The torch
is then taken all through Greece and ends up in Athens. From there, the torch is put on an airplane
and flown to the city that is hosting the games.
The pillar below is from the Temple of Hera. It is the oldest temple of the sanctuary and
was built at the end of the 7th Century BC.
The Philippeion circular building of Ionic Order was donated
by Phillip II after the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC.
The visit to the Olympic site where the games began was
amazing. Well worth the time to see and
try to envision what the games were like during that time. They are currently doing the final excavation
work and I think Niki said it should be done in about 2 years. Over 800,000 tourists visit each year, mostly arriving by cruise ships.
After our visit to the Olympic site, we went to a Greek
restaurant for lunch. We had an amazing
buffet and the mother of the family there made these homemade Cheese Philo mini
pies that they rolled out and deep fried right in front of you. They also had three of the torches from the
different Olympic Games. I remember
Munich was one and London was the other, but currently can’t remember where the
third one was from.
It was a really hot day and the restaurant allows you to go
swimming in their pool. They provided
towels. We all took our swimsuits so we
got in the refreshing water to cool off.
It was a great way to cool off as it was a really hot day. Make sure to wear sunscreen!
We then headed downtown to Olympia where we had about 30
minutes of shopping time. Niki took
Michael and me to the local store and she picked out a bottle of red wine for
friends of mine. I needed her expert
advice since I don’t drink. She also
recommended that I purchase olive oil soap.
She said that soap is the best soap for one’s body and makes it
moist. I have dry skin so I bought
some. They were very inexpensive (2
euros) and I bought a few to give as gifts to family and friends.
Like I said, the tour was awesome. I would highly recommend it to anyone going
to Katakolon. Olympic Tours Is on
Facebook and they are a very small business.
It was nice helping the local economy since unemployment runs 25% in
Greece.
On the way back to the ship, we stopped to get a picture
with the Disney Magic in the background
After arriving on the ship, there were Greek Musicians
onboard at the Goofy Pool singing and encouraging everyone to dance (just like in
the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding). I
have no idea what they were singing about, but I did understand when they kept
saying “Opa” over and over! They were
excellent. Brent, the cruise director
said they would be performing again tomorrow because they will get off after
Athens.
The ship left port at 5 p.m.
Tonight there was a magician in the Walt Disney Theater (don’t remember
his name), but I saw him before so I didn’t go.
We then had dinner in Lumiere’s.
Tomorrow we get our first Greek Menu of the cruise. Can’t wait to see how the food compares to
what we had today.
After dinner, we went to the adult show in the Walt Disney
Theater. It was Rebecca and
Donovan. They are an acrobatic act. They were on America’s Got Talent, but don’t
remember what season.
I am now typing my trip report and as soon as I post will
head to bed. It is about 1:00 am
and we are up and at it again at 9:30 in the morning for Athens.
Goodnight from the Disney Magic!
