Although it was a long drive we drove from Naphli to the town of Olympia.  We saw one funny thing when we were driving.....  There was a butcher show with rows of pigs hanging in the window.....  I was the only one who saw it and I made Robert turn around so I could take a picture.... I was embarassed to see a man inside... I indicated that I wanted a photo and he laughed and nodded OK....  It is such a neat shot!

The museum was really good. The actual Olympics had a museum and there were two others nearby.....  David loved the statue of Hermes and Dionysus... Hermes was feeding grapes to baby Dionysus... The grounds had a second museum that showed the history of the Olympics. We thought it would be boring but it was really fascinating.  It was a really big cultural event every four years.  Any wars were stopped two weeks before and after the olympics to allow the athletes safe passage .... (I like that it was not political then.....)

We visited Olympia archaeological site in july 2007, just before the forest fires (luckily!). The site is very large and although it is very hot in july over there (40C) there is a lot of shade because of the trees and if you bring enough water you'll be fine. My tip is to get a guided tour, because you will get a good idea how everything must have been when the Olympics where there. Because the site is very large, you never feel like it is crowded, although there are lot's of people. There is also a museum, which is worth a visit. If only they could have a proper airconditioning system (or it could have been broken.)

Vandaag moesten we de tenten weer afbreken. Dat hield in dat we niet al te lang mochten uitslapen, maar dat geeft niet. Al snel waren de tenten afgebroken en was de bagage ingepakt en konden we aanvallen op het ontbijt. Dat ging er zoals gewoonlijk weer prima in zodat we er allemaal weer goed tegen konden, want er moest weer een heel eind gereden worden.

Om een uur of tien kwamen we aan in het dorpje Olympia, waar we even een uur de tijd kregen om wat rond te kijken en om geld te wisselen en koffie te drinken. Na dit uurtje werden we naar het oude Olympia gereden waar we met een plaatselijke gids de aldaar gedane opgravingen gingen bekijken. Dit is trouwens de bakermat van onze huidige Olympische Spelen. Ook brachten we nog een bezoek aan het museum, dat even verderop stond.

Sorry its been so long since i've updated, its been hard to get to the computer. I am dripping sweat in Greece right now, but its ok because i love the town we are in--it is so beautiful! We took an overnight boat last night(so much fun!) from Brindisi, Italy and arrived in Greece around noon today. We have our own private charter bus for the entire time we are in Greece(amazing), which drove us an hour down the coast to a small town called Olympia. I am SO happy that its a small, cute town and not a huge crazy city. The sky is pure blue, and so is the ocean. There are tons of flowers and trees too, which is a huge difference from the dirty italian cities. Basically everyone is thrilled to be here. Our hotel for the night actually has a pool, which is a godsend considering its like 100 degrees. We are so happy to be in Greece! I just had a huge Greek meal of Tsadziki and literally THE BEST Greek salad ive ever had. Thats all for now, but I will update more when i can. I miss everyone!! 

The ancient site of Olympia never fails to please, especially seeing the site so close to the Summer Olympics returning to their homeland, but in the modern city of Olympia, we were also blessed with a glimpse into the future.  During our visit the city hosted a contest for solar cars, both their design as well as their performance. We were able to get fairly close to some (we didn't have participants' passes) to see what our future holds.
They were demonstrating mostly unmanned cars on the day of our visit, and the "race" around the city was surreal as the cars made so little if any noise, and often the crowd would stay silent to listen.  To be in a crowd of hundreds lining a racetrack with cars whizzing by and having it virtually silent raises the hairs on my neck even now to remember it.

"I've seen what you can do. I've seen you make miracles and hopeless dreams come true." -To Make Her Love Me, Rascal Flatts

I think once a person steps out of familiarity and into something truly out of their norm they really can discover the awesome and amazing power of God. I know that I am so much more physically aware of God's amazing abilities here in Greece. As we're driving through the countryside, up in the mountains and just all over the coast I see all this scenery I have never seen and it just amazes me that it exists and the God that made it all wants to be in a relationship with me.

The mountains, the valleys, the jagged rock faces, the clear water in the bluest sea I have ever seen in my life, the varieties of flowers and colors...its such a beautiful country. And its such a part of my history. Not bloodline but spiritually. I'm walking on the same ground as some of the most influential figures in the Christian faith. I stood on Mars Hill where Paul preached from; I walked the ancient streets of Corinth; I stood in the same location where Paul was brought to trial. If these moments aren't enough for a spiritual experience I have no idea what is.

In the middle of the Greek peninsula Peloponnesos is the location of the ancient Hellenic city of Olympia. Olympia was a major religious, cultural and sporting centre, a pole of attraction for Hellenism, and the bond that linked motherland Greece with the colonies. Here, in front of the ruins of the Hera temple, the Olympic flame is born each Olympic year. Best Western Europa Hotel is situated on walkable distance from the ancient sanctuaries. The hotelcomplex consists of several buildings, separated by a small road with little room for pedestrians. My smart room was opposite the pool at the other side of that road. It was quite large and had a split level, which made it very cosy. The balcony had a great view of the valley. The bathroom was spacious. The swimming pool is large enough and has much space for the provided seats. At the side of the pool is a recreation area with a barbeque and an open-air restaurant. I had very pleased evenings here, a very relaxing dinner! The food is okay and so is the staff. Recommended!

Kalimera! Ok, so, the bus to Olympia ended up being 4 buses and about 8 hours total… By the time we got to Olympia it was 7pm, the rain was absolutely pelting down, and I had no idea where we were cos I was trying to find my way there without a map… I mean, really, who travels without a map! But we jumped off the bus, and tried to ask the man at the local shop if he knew where the hostel was, or where Praxitelas Street was, but he didn't speak English so well (or at all!) So, it turns out my stupid Greek ex-boyfriend was good for something, cos in broken Greek I managed to find out where we were. Woohoo! I didn't realise how much of the language I still remembered until we were here and I found myself listening in to everybody's conversations! So anyway, set off to find the hostel, with a little more help from another local (he only helped us cos he wanted to take me out for a drink) we found it, and then it started hailing… It was a real cold night, and the next morning I woke up itchy as, well, I don't know, just real itchy. Of all the times for me to have a massive allergic reaction, I choose now. Went to the pharmacy, they sent me to the hospital where I had a needle in the ass, tablets, and cream. What a nightmare - did I ever tell you how much I hate needles? And really, was it necessary to do it in my butt, or do they just do that for fun…? So yeah, sore ass and covered in hives, I was so lumpy that I kinda looked like I was stuffed full of grapes. The antihistamines threw me a bit, so, stayed in Olympia an extra day til I was at least strong enough to carry my pack again.

Spent a very relaxing day shopping and hanging out there, the town is beautiful. Compared to the hectic life in Athens, it's a really nice change. It's a tiny little town, at the moment it kinda seems like it's surrounded by a big shadow - everything is black an account of the recent bushfires, you can see the devastation every way you look. The people are friendly, and the hostel is simple but nice (yay for free hot showers!).

The other day we were wandering through the tourist shops and came across a lovely little round man… Everyone here talks A LOT, I think at this time of year the only people that are visiting are bus tours, we quickly learned to run for our lives when they arrive - they are absolute mayhem (hundreds of American tourists who are far to loud and arrogant for my liking…) So anyway, this man starts telling us about carrying the torch in the Olympic torch relay when he was a boy, and showed us photos and everything. Then he showed us the torches he's been collecting for years, and I got to play with the torches from 8 different Olympiads! I even had my photo taken with a couple of them. It was fab, and distracted me from scratching my hives for a few minutes. It was nice to be able to spend a day with absolutely nothing to do, in the few days we were there we met pretty much the whole town, and it seems like everyone wants to take you out for a drink, but it's still lovely.

From Olympia, my brilliant plan was to get a bus to Pyrgos, then a connecting bus to Athens, then a bus to Piraeus and then jump on an overnight ferry to an island, any island would do, but I decided on Chios, cos I can get a ferry to Turkey from there. Now, remember me telling you about the 8 hour trip from Athens to Olympia? Well, left the hostel at (10:45am), waited for the bus which went to Pyrgos (11:15). On the bus we were told that the next connection to Athens was at 2:30pm cos we'd never make the 12:30 one. That would screw my plan up entirely. Arrived at the bus terminal (12:29pm) and made a mad dash to the ticket office, and just scraped our way onto the Athens bus (12:30). The bus ride was long and boring, we'd already seen all of the scenery on the way there, and the bus was packed so there was no room to breathe, let alone curl up for a nap! But, eventually we arrive at Athens (5:20), caught the bus to Omonoia (5:22) which took us to the Metro (5:40) then caught the metro (5:45) to Piraeus Station and made a mad dash to the ferry ticket office, then a courtesy bus to the boat where all of a sudden we had 20 minutes to spare. Until then, all of our connections had been a minute or 2 apart, and by the time we sat down on the ferry we were so exhausted from doing nothing but watching the clock that we just slumped out on the deck. Everyone was rolling out sleeping bags in the halls and under the tables in the dining lounge, but we're tough Aussies, and decided to spend a night under the stars. It was fun, we were the only ones dumb enough to sleep outside, and it was absolutely freezing, I'm sure my poor little toes were blue, but at least the cold wind took the edge off my itchy hives (ok, ok, I'll stop whining about them now…) By the time we arrived at 4am, we were freezing, starving, and tired, (yeah, only got about half an hour sleep, but of course I'm too stubborn to go inside once I'd decided to spend the night on deck…) In summer it would be amazing to go island hopping on the ferries, roll out your sleeping bags under the stars and camp out in the middle of the ocean, but in winter, well, only if you're a fan of hypothermia.

Chios is a nice island, it's massive, just off the coast of Turkey. But, despite having no place to stay, no map of the island, I have faith in my random travel plan. I desperately wanted to watch the sunrise, the view was amazing across the water, with turkey faintly visible in the distance, so went and had coffee to pass the time. The coffee was terrible, but a couple came in off their guts, (I'm pretty sure she was charging per hour and he was paying in grams…) and I saw her gross pimply butt cos he felt the need to pull her skirt up for a few minutes, and she didn't seem too bothered by it. It was the ugliest ass I have ever seen, so much so that it made it to my blog. People are strange here. Oh, almost forgot, on the metro train, these waaay too sickly nice americans wouldn't stop trying to talk to me, and when I told them I was from Melbourne, the guy (uneducated w**ker) said "Oh, Melbourne… I've heard of that place… Is that where you have the big shell thing?" Even the Greeks on the train were rolling their eyes. I mean, really, if you don't know where Melbourne is, don't say anything. So anyway, there was, like, a dozen of them, and one of the women leans over and says "are you into love stories?" I had already figured they were gonna start on a religious rant, so I told her I hated love stories, and she went on to tell me all about the book of John. Now, having taken all my jewellery off (yeah, cos of the hives again) I'm not wearing my cross at the moment, but who do they think they are making an assumption about my religious beliefs, and do they really think that it's their right to try to convert me or anyone else to any religion? I wanted to tell her that if anything she was putting me off religion, but that would be rude. Why can't they just be happy leaving each to their own. I don't need someone to sell me their beliefs. Ugh! So anyway, clearly I'm rambling again. I'll get to the point. If I have a point. Hmmm… J

Spent the night in a stunning apartment in Chios, right on the beach, metres from the waves, and went for a swim in the ocean in the afternoon, sunbathed for a while and drank wine in the sun, fell in love with a puppy I've dubbed Scabby (don't ask, or I'll just ramble about it) and in the morning, caught the ferry across to Turkey (the guy who rented us the apartment gave us a ride there, picked us up in the morning, and took us into town, then gave us a ride to the port! So, anyway, next time you hear from me, I'll tell you all about my Turkish adventures!

You know how it goes, miss you all, love you all, catch you all soon.

Louise, cuz, if you're reading, I hope you had an awesome birthday, tried to text you but couldn't send, cos I'm a tightass traveller with no credit!

Until next time,

Andio,

Seh.

xox

PS - The blog posting is a little delayed, you can blame the stupid telco strike that shut down whole networks... Ugh, stupid telco's!!!

The original Olympics began as a small regional festival in the 11th century, which was dedicated to the God Zeus. But the origins of the town itself are Mycenaean who worshipped  the Goddess Rhea, sister of Cronus and father of Zeus. If you know your Mythology you may remember that Cronus was told that he would be dethroned by his own children and he devoured five of the sons Rhea had given birth to. When Zeus was born she gave a rock to Cronus and he ate that instead. Zeus survived and later dispatched his father to the underworld and Zeus became top God and founder of the Olympic games.The first Olympic games were held in 776 BC and reached their height of popularity in 576 BC. The festival was open to only Greek born men but later Romans were allowed to compete most likely because they were running the Greek world by then. Slaves and women were not even allowed to be spectators and women caught sneaking in were thrown off a cliff. The events included foot races, wrestling, discus, javelin, long-jump, horse and chariot racing, and a type of boxing called pancratium.  There were not only atheletic events but also writing, poetry and history readings, plus business transactions and treaties were made between leaders of city-states. There was no television so unlike modern Olympics, spectators were able to see all the events and not just the ones the Americans were in and had a good chance of winning. The games were banned in 426 by the emperor Theodosius II because they were pagan, and the temples were destroyed.
Because of the destruction of the site by Theodosius and several earthquakes, there is not much left in the way of buildings besides foundations, steps and columns but these are impressive and are in a beautiful setting near the Kladeos river. The area is called The Altis which means the area sacred to Zeus and the reason there is anything left is because the flooding of the river buried it until 1875 when archaeologists rediscovered it.
The most outstanding building is the 5th Century Temple of Zeus, built by Livon, which contained the 12 meter high statue by Phideas, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, which was removed to Constantinople by Theodocious and destroyed in a fire.The stadium which could seat at least 20,000 people and was the largest of its kind. The Temple of Hera is where the Olympic flame is lit from the sun and then taken by runners to light the torch wherever the games are being held, a tradition which dates all the way back to 1936AD. Even today you will notice runners using the area for fun and for practice. The museum is across the road and contains the 4th Century BC statue of Hermes by Praxiteles, familiar to anyone who has taken art history, plus a number of other finds from the excavations including the Nike of Victory  by Paeonios. According to Olympic legend she used to come down from the sky to hand a palm leaf to the winners.
The entire archaeological site of Olympia won't make you stare in awe and marvel at the ancient architecture however it is a beautiful place to visit and unlike most archaeological sites in Greece which are exposed to the sun and surrounded by vegetation that barely reaches your ankles, Olympia is shaded by tall trees and walking through the ruins can be a peaceful and profound experience. Olympia is a place you can visit any time of year and if you can come here when the rest of the tourists are gone you will find it even more enjoyable.

Where do we begin? Monday morning (Darcy’s birthday) we got picked up to start our bus tour at 6:00 am, Drove across the Corinth canal and headed south to Mycenae.  Made few stops at various archeological sites (Lou loves that stuff). After a long drive thru the Greek countryside up and down steep mountains, where we saw a lot of charred land, they had terrible forest fires here two just weeks ago.  We arrived at our hotel at 7:30 pm had dinner and drinks with some of the people that we met on the trip and turned in early.  Tuesday morning we got up at 6:00 am again got back on the bus and made the obligatory stop at a souvenir shop, we   finally made it to the Olympic temple and  stadium, this is were they held the original Olympics thousands of years ago, and where they light the torch that starts every modern  Olympic.  There is not much left of the place, just a few columns and a lot of ruble, but they do have a great museum that houses a lot of the artifacts that had been excavated here.   Got back on the bus at 1pm, the drive was unbelievable; we drove along the coast over an incredibly steep road.  The mountains here are very high and rocky  and just drop right off into the sea, it was like a roller coast ride  thru  some of the most magnificent landscape neither one of us has ever seen.  We arrived at Delphi at 7:00 pm another long but enjoyable day.