It is now 10.45am and we are motoring towards the port of Katakolon. The weather is beautiful and the sea is calm so all is good.
We expect to arrive at noon and then it’s off to the ancient site of Olympia, 34km away from the port. The town looks lovely (thank you, google) but unfortunately we won’t get to see it as the trip to Olympia takes 4 hours (there and back) so just enough time to give a cursory glance at the pretty town and then back on board for more food. Then we depart for Corfu.
The visit to Olympia looks interesting and I’ve read it is being well cared for, plus there is (another) museum – Yay!
I know there is a well documented condition called Stendhal Syndrome which affects visitors to Florence, in particular, and is caused by overexposure to the abundance of great and stunning art. Symptoms are heart palpitations, sweaty palms, hallucinations and panic attacks.
As much as I have enjoyed seeing the many museums I think I have hit museum overload and I feel I am now suffering from Museumitis. Maybe it’s the combination of the amazing archaeological displays with the, frequently monotonous, voice of the tour guides but I now remove the earpiece and walk around in silence, admiring the splendour of the past without the long winded commentary and not even remotely funny jokes.
On the bus now and are being entertained by our guide as we travel through the Peloponnese region heading towards Olympia.
She is lovely but has a slight lisp, similar to Sean Connery, so her words come out like “we will get dare berry, berry shoon” and “dare was much hoshtilities in the area” (a quaint way of saying there was a war).
Along the way I noticed that the bricks face the wrong way so narrow gate pillars have the dimple facing outwards. I’m no builder but even I know the dimple goes the other way so you only see the flat side. Oh, and the Greek builders love cement….and incomplete buildings.
We had a lengthy talk on olive oil (extra virgin is good, virgin is ok, traces of olive oil not good and may kill you). I now know that the harvesting is still done by hand however, the olive grove owners use a battery operated hand on a stick (I am reminded of Joe, the Gadget Man) and, after harvesting 4 trees they have a rest because they have to re-charge the batteries.
Going back to our guide… I must have nodded off and had trouble tuning into her way of speech. All I could hear was “bubble-a-bubble-a-bubble-a-beeeeutifullll-bubble-a-bubble-a..” Her words have a tendency to run into one another. Anyway, she came into her own when there was an accident in the toilets (not what you think and no, Glenys was fine). The tour participant was whisked away by ambulance but we haven’t heard any more so not sure if she is back on board.
The following are some photos from the site of Olympia.
We set out on our own because I was tired of hearing her comments about the first olympians competing nude. You can do a joke to death, you know…
Wandering back to the small town we passed this tree so I had to take a photo as I couldn’t identify it.
The town was quite lovely and we stopped for a soft drink. Old men seem to like me (no idea why) and the old chap who owned the cafe was quick to try out his English “hallo”, “yes” and “a million dollars” was the extent of it. I asked for a Coke and he said “diet?” (Ok, another English word). “No way”, I said, forgetting his English wasn’t very good, “I’ll have the extra strong”. He understood and when I went to pay he said “a million dollars”.
His wife handled the till and did a bit of muttering which I assume was something like “bloody old fool, shut up”.
As we left he gave me a toothless grin and a happy wave, saying “You come next time, I charge you a million dollars”. We won’t be back.
After scouring the shops for a decent Greece t-shirt we left for the bus trip back to the port. I noticed that the t-shirts were either football teams or Pythagoras theorem which would be so not appropriate due to my lack of understanding of maths.
Glenys wants to see Zorba the Greek in the tiny cinema but I’m not keen so I’m getting an early night. Tomorrow we go on an old fishing boat to see the coast of Corfu. The mind boggles at what boat we’ll get.
Hope you’re enjoying the travel blog. I’m certainly enjoying writing it.
C
Ooops, forgot to say… our tour guide announced that everything at the Olympia site was imitation, even the stones. I’m not sure she’s completely right so there may have been a breakdown in communication.
Rhudimentary 