Port of Katakolon - Olympia

My family and I took a Royal Caribbean cruise of the Greek Isles that left from Civitavecchia, Italy. Our last port of call was Katakolon - the day before - Athens, after Mykonos and Santorini!  I have shared more about our pre-stay in Rome in my post “Rome in a Day and a Half”, our day in Santorini in my post “Santorini Port of Call”, our stop in Mykonos in "Mykonos Port of Call", and Athens in "Port of Piraeus (Athens)"

​This port on the southwest coast area of Greece - and is the port closest to the site of Olympia, Olympia is an ancient Greek sanctuary in the Peloponnese region in southern Greece where every four years the ancient Olympic games were held.   The archaeological site held over 70 significant buildings, and ruins of many of these survive, although the main Temple of Zeus survives only as stones on the ground.  We joined a group of other cruisers found through Facebook for a private tour of this site that included a meal at a traditional taverna with an opportunity to swim!

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We had another early morning to meet our tour group and get on the bus.  So between this and the heat (now I know why people use an umbrella in sunny areas - it really helped!) - my son was a bit cranky during this tour - mentioning several times that he was tired of looking at rocks!  He did have a point - Greece is filled with alot of stone!  While this port was very interesting, I would have preferred this stop be earlier in the week - ending the week with a more relaxing port of call.  Our tour guide did a great job of explaining what we were seeing at the site of Olympia, and I can’t imagine going without one… as it really would be hard to know what you were looking at!  As she described it - we were looking at the ruins of an Olympic village… including training buildings, accommodations - for both athletes and dignitaries, dining halls, and of course the Olympic Stadium!  The most interesting area was the site still used today, where the Olympic flame originates from for every Olympic games since 1936.  As is tradition, the flame lit during this ceremony is passed along and used to light the Olympic cauldron during the Opening Ceremony of the Games.  

 ​After a much needed air conditioned museum tour to again see the additional antiquities collected from the site - we were given a bit of free time to walk around the adjacent downtown area. The quaint shopping area had many shops full of products from local artists and we stocked up here on local Olive Oil and some gifts for friends!  From there we were taken to a local Taverna that hosts groups for various meals and events - and best of all they had a beautiful pool for our use after lunch!  We were not only given lunch but were entertained by another group participating in a traditional greek celebration - including breaking of dishes and dancing!
It was a wonderful way to end another day in Greece!

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