Olympia, Greece

A change of plans today. We were originally going to stay close to Katakolon and revisit Olympia when we return in a few days, but it was such a picture-perfect day with temps in the low 70's, we decided to take advantage of it. It was far too late to book a ship tour back to the archaeological ruins in Olympia, so around 10:30, we bought roundtrip train tickets for the 45-minute ride - arriving 11:15, with the last train back to Katakolon at 3pm. All aboard was 5:30. 

Now...here's another prime example of a ship tour vs. 'on your own'. The ship charged $129 or $258 p/couple for a bus ride to Olympia, & tickets to both the archaeological ruins and museum.

We paid $20 for the train tickets, & $24 for the ruins & museum - total for both of us: $44, plus 0.50 for a bottle of water. $258 vs. $44.50 for the day. The bus trip took an hour each way, the train 45 minutes. The train station in Olympia is two short blocks from the entrance to the ruins & museum. The train was clean, comfortable, air-conditioned, a 15-minute walk from the ship, and clipped along at 60 mph. You just can't beat it - plus, most all of the ruins are well-marked, well-signed, with details in three languages - much better than trying to listen to a guide with a group of 50 folks. Of course, I share this NOT to criticize Holland America because they truly do a great job with shore excursions, but rather to help you plan & consider alternatives during your visit.

That being said, some of the first photos aren't very good quality - trying to snap decent pics from a fast-moving train is a bit of a challenge combined with luck - but did the best I could to give you a flavor of the countryside.

Ancient Olympia, the beginning of the modern Olympic games is absolutely stunning. Without question, it's the cleanest & best maintained archaeological site we've ever been to. And excavation is still active to this very day. The dirt competition field still remains as you'll see in a couple photos, and the stone starting line for races and other activities still intact. With the exception of a few large stones for judges to sit on, there were no other seats in this large arena - folks sat on the grassy knolls on either side of the field. The most prized exhibit is a 4th-century Parian marble statue of Hermes of Praxitelis - just a masterpiece of classical sculpture from the Temple of Hera. Also on display is a sculptured head of Hera and the pediments and metopes from the Temple of Zeus. Although you have to use your imagination in many areas, a walking tour of about 90 minutes is really all you need - you can almost see the athletes as they try to prove their prowess against worthy rivals...or the crowds of loud fans on the hillsides...and they say they could get roughly 45,000 around the field. If the ruins could only talk...WOW!

We met with the future cruise consultant earlier this morning to see if we could string a series of cruises together out of Amsterdam that would enable us to complete our bucket list in covering the entire globe without a series of duplicate stops. After looking at several options, we hit on a package that takes us up the north cape beyond the arctic circle & into the polar ice caps, plus Liverpool, Dublin, Waterford, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Berlin, and several other ports. The downside is, we'll leave around Memorial Day & conclude the middle part of July, which means we miss a good chunk of our drum corps season and our beloved Crown family. I'll miss doing work on the food truck and repeating the great times with all the other awesome volunteers, but there are only certain times of the year these cruises are available because of weather conditions. On the upside, we'll be back in plenty of time to attend our home show at Wake Forest University plus the World Finals in Indy. The other plus, is that we'll miss a lot of the scorching Arizona heat, though the cruise consultant advised us to be prepared for some cold, wet days...but actually, that works well for us!

Sailing now toward Kerkira (Corfu) - a new destination for us - another substitution stop in place of Turkey. We've booked nothing - the place seems small & safe enough to figure out on our own...I hope! They say there are a number of ancient palaces...one such is the Achillion Palace, built by the Empress Elizabeth of Austria. Ship prices go as high as $199.95 each for a 4-hour tour - I think Cheryl and I can entertain ourselves for a lot less - and we will!