Philippeion

Philippeion

This morning we woke up and walked with our tour group over to the Olympic ruins which were a five-minute walk from our hotel in Olympia.  We had a tour of the ruins and saw where the ancient Greeks held the first Olympic games.

Leonidaion

It’s absolutely incredible to me how archaeologists can dig up all of this stuff and then come up with these sketches of what the buildings would have looked like when they were whole!  Our tour guide had sketches to show us after she’d talk about the different ruins of buildings that we looked at.  We learned that in the original Olympics there were horse races, events for women and that there was only one winner for each sport instead of three, and that the winners then went on to be sort of demi-gods to their villages when they returned home.  We also saw the spot where they light the flame at the beginning of the Olympic ceremonies each year.

Hera’s Atar

Bourtzi Fortress

Once the tour was over, we all loaded ourselves and our bags onto the tour bus and headed out for Tolon.  On our way we stopped for lunch and had a Greek salad and moussaka at King Menelaos.  Oh!  In the middle of our meal, this little elderly man walked out into the middle of the restaurant with some plates.  A couple of seconds later, he started to lift them into the air one-by-one and then toss them onto the floor where they would shatter and he would then yell, “OPA!”  Hah!  I didn’t have my camera on me, but saw someone taking a video, so I’ll see if I can get a copy.

When we arrived in Tolon, we were thrilled to see that our hotel was close to the beach (and it’s the first hotel we’ve had with free Internet, so I can catch up, yay Greece!)!  The water is gorgeous here, very clear!  We went to the beach for a little while and then to dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Tolon, Greece