Archea Olimpia, Greece
Today I would be leaving Athens and doing an overnight trip to Olympia. Researching my day trips there were no options to Olympia due to its distance 4 hours one way. The only option was to book a 2-3 day tour of the Peloponnese which I didnt want to do and rather have more control over my itinerary.
I only slept for 4 hours again and had breakfast around 7.10 before checking out by 7.40. The hotel had told me the bus to the terminal was only a couple of streets over. I had looked at other options of walking or taking the metro and trying to walk over. These would have proved very difficult and problematic and the best option was to take the city bus direct.
You are supposed to buy tickets from a kiosk not from the driver. As the kiosks were not open this early the driver said it was ok and let me on. Bus 051 goes directly into the terminal and was the best option getting here rather then trying to walk or take the metro. I would have easily got lost.
I was at the terminal by 8am and bought a ticket for 9am for 32.50 Eu ($48) one way. Waiting in the bus terminal was a gypsy that tried to sell me a packet of tissues and showed me she had a baby. Then another gypsy came trying to sell tissues again with another pregnant belly. Then a third gypsy came but wasnt pregnant. I stood guard over my luggage.
To get to Olympia you have to take a bus to Pyrgos then transfer to Olympia. My ticket was to Olympia and they loaded the luggage for the Olympia people on one side. After leaving 9am we stopped for 30 mins at a highway stop and arrived at Pyrgos at 2pm.
At Pyrgos they kicked everyone off. I expected the bus to continue to Olympia since I had bought a direct ticket and they loaded luggage for Olympia at one side.
I had to wait for the Pyrgos bus at 2.30 which took 45 mins detouring thru local villages. Olympia was a small tourist town. There was a bus stop where they let off and I asked directions to my hotel for the night a couple of blocks away.
My experience in Athens was that museums had been closing early at 2.30pm. I hoped this wasnt a wasted journey and the site had already closed for the day. I rushed to find my way over passing thru the small tourist town.
The Olympics Museum and Museum of the History of Olympics had both closed for the day at 3pm. I was hoping this wasnt a wasted trip and I would have to rush everything in the morning. Fortunately the archaeological site was open and said they closed at 7pm. They also had their own museum onsite that closed at 7pm too.
Part of me thought this might be a wasted trip anyway with a lot of the same ruins I'd seen in the past. But it was different and worth the extra trek to get here.
As you enter are rows of columns for the gymnasium. They used the shade to practice the sprinting, archery, and discuss.
The site is quite spread out. In other areas were bath houses. There were also lodgings for dignitaries that would travel to visit.
There were also several types of Temples. One was for Zeus and had a giant sized statue of him originally but no longer remains.
There were many collapsed columns lay spread across the site.
In one area is a giant singular column remaining in white marble. This led towards the athletics field.
To reach the athletics field you pass thru an arch of what was a tunnel for the athletes to travel into the field area. Nearby was also where the Olympic torch was lit and continued for the modern games today.
You can go on exploring the site but the late afternoon heat was getting to much as I dont like tanning or being in the sun long.
Walking a bit further distance is the Archaeological Museum. This is actually very interesting and worth spending time in, not just at the ruins. Many of the statues and sculptures have been recovered and kept indoors.
There was a lot to see in the museum too. Interesting were the carvings from the pyramid shaped roofs where they all take different heights towards the centre and ends.
After I stopped in the small tourist town for lunch and souvenirs. It ended up being worth the long trek to get here but now I would have to take the same long trek back to Athens tomorrow.
2025-05-23