Olympia

Posted On: Oct 4th, 2015 at 21:46

Greece
Day six: Olympia
I am currently in Argos.
I thought I’d leave that sentence as many of you will think I am shopping, but alas – the founder of one our most well-known stores was himself in the city of Argos when he came up with the idea of buying goods with cash instead of stamps (he was the founder of Green Shield Stamps and rebranded that company as Argos).
That’s another story.…
Last night I discovered why the Sat Nav was ‘malfunctioning’. It was in ‘walk’ mode instead of ‘car’ mode! No wonder it was sending me down dirt tracks – it was offering the most direct route possible!
Olympia needs no introductions and it is a very special site indeed. The highlight, of course, was the stadium itself – the very first Olympics being held there some 2,800 years ago. It was quite a feeling walking through the famous entrance and out into the stadium. By luck or by design I had the whole place to myself for a few minutes which meant some excellent photos were taken. The massive temple of Zeus also caught my attention with its single column resurrected for the 2004 Olympic games held in Athens. Another highlight was the altar of Hera where today the Olympic torch is lit before each games every four years. Again, a more detailed account will appear in my travelogues…

Massive Doric temple column from the temple of Zeus

Entrance to the Olympic stadium

The original Olympic stadium held 45,000 spectators

Doric temple column from the temple of Hera