Olympia

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  Olympia, Greece
Saturday, June 23, 2007

Am in Greece!! Today rolled out of my little boat bed at 10am - lovely - to the sound of a rapping at my door and a thick Greek accent "you need to get out, room needs to be cleaned."
Then off the ship and for a drive through the Greek countryside (in airconditioned comfort thank goodness). More oliandas(?) than you can poke a stick at, but these brighten up all the tired, old run down buildings. It's interesting to see greek characters everywhere, but there are interspersed by signs bearing roman characters, for the English speaking contingent I guess. Unevenly scattered by the roadside are what seems to be dozens of shrines, miniture buildings resembling dolls house churches which are for the Greek orthodox people (a mere 95% of the population!) to stop and pray at as they are walking down the road. It's interesting to note that superstition here is also rife and evil eye protective necklaces and bracelets are everywhere, it's even considered bad luck to stare at someone for an extended period of time.
Not much further and we are at our hotel in Olympia. Due to the opressive heat, the Olympic site tour has been pushed back to 5pm. It was quite interesting but in the heat, despite the guide's best efforts, all I could see were rocks and ruins. 2000+ year old rocks perhaps, but still rocks nonetheless. It was pretty difficult to imagine olive skinned, perfectly toned, naked bar the feet athletic bodies, sweating in the opressive heat, pushing themselves beyond endurance to be the best they could to please their gods. Young free greek men (no slaves, no women and no foreigners) would undergo 30 days of gruelling, rigourous physical training in 40 degree heat, often with little or no hydration or nuturious sustenance and it is no wonder death wasn't such a rare occurance. At the begininng of this they swore an oath to put their all into it for their gods and at the end was the olympic games and the one winner would ejoy a celebration in his honour.
Had a look around the museum, quite interesting. Then a greek tea and a wander up the main street where jewelery shops are open till 11:30pm. Saw part of a greek orthodox wedding - no shortage of sugared almonds. It's a very alive and interesting little city.

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