Day 23 – Olympia to Athens

After a slightly disturbed night of sleep due to the somewhat freezing conditions in our room and a severe lack of extra blankets, we enjoyed a very nice breakfast of bacon and eggs. Who knew Greece was going to be the breakfast capitol of Europe? Carly managed to jag Wi-Fi in the lobby of the hotel though no-one else could get a signal so she was much envied by the group. Anyway there wasn’t much time as we had to leave at 8.15am to wander down to the archaeological site at Olympia, a mere 5-10 minute walk from our hotel.

 

Olympia was fantastic. The local guide gave us the run down on the ancient Olympic Games and how the modern version had started and then guided us around the excavation site. It was very interesting (and educational!) and there was also a museum that stored many of the artefacts that were recovered from the site. CJ and I posed for photos on the spot where they light the Olympic flame from the sun every 4 years and we watched some hardy souls from our group run on the ancient track – 194 metres long. I considered it but also considered the likelihood of a strained muscle or torn cartilage was too strong to warrant the risk!

 

We the proceeded back to the hotel and found our bus waiting to escort us to Athens, a drive of 130 km or so. We stopped along the way for lunch and admired the beautiful scenery (mainly mountains) as we headed for Athens via Corinth. It is very exciting to be here!

 

Patricia was quite worried as there were some more riots/protests in Athens today as the people have their say about the austerity measures imposed by the government. She has made us promise that if we see any troubles we will not be curious and will just walk away, but especially not take photos…there goes my Walkly Award! There are a lot of police about but I’d have to say they, and everybody else we’ve seen, looks pretty cheery.

 

After arriving at the hotel CJ and I set out to explore the Plaka or old region of Athens. Imagine wandering along a street and looking up to find you suddenly have the Acropolis and Parthenon towering over you! We had a good walk around and then arrived back at the hotel in time to leave with the group for our night tour on a mini choo choo train around the Plaka. This was followed by a fantastic dinner at a Greek Tavern complete with music (two mandolins and a guitar), dancing and general festivity. Back at the hotel it was a hair wash night and we also hand washed some laundry (big mistake – should have found a Laundromat!) and in bed at midnight (for me), eleven for Carly.