Monday, May 29

After a long day of travel, we are woke up bright and early in the morning and headed to the Olympia archeological site. What is important to note is that Olympia was not a city, but rather a site dedicated to religion and sport. Here, we met up with a tour guide that took us through the excavations as well as the museums with artifacts excavated from the site. When we first walked in, we saw archaeologists digging near the entrance trying to find more of the gymnasium. We first walked through the other parts of the gymnasium which have been dug up already. This was where the athletes would practice their sports prior to the Olympic Games. We then walked to the palaestra, where the athletes would wrestle one another. After going through the gymnasium and palaestra, we walked right up to where the Temple of Zeus stood. There was one complete column which was restored in 2011 to show the size the temple would have been. Many of the ruins on the ground were remains from the buildings that got destroyed by an earthquake in the 6th century CE. We eventually headed over towards the Temple of Hera, which is the oldest structure at the site, and third oldest temple in Greece. We then went to the stadium, the world’s oldest. We all lined up for a race along the stadium which is about the length of two football fields. I got off to a slow start, but I came back and finished strong, winning the race. After that, we were able to walk through the Temple of Hera, one of the few temples in Greece that people are actually allowed to run through. 

We then left the archeological site and ended up going to the museum near the site. The museum was actually quite similar to the Greek sections of the British Museum and Louvre which wasn’t all that surprising considering the British and French claimed many artifacts that weren’t actually theirs. So, we saw similar pots, figurines, and sculptures as we saw at those precious locations. However, no matter how many times we see these artifacts, the detail on the sculptures with the expressions of faces, perceived movement of the static sculptures, and the preservation and restoration of many of them never cease to amaze me. We then headed to another museum which was more tailored towards the Olympic athletic side of Olympia while the previous was more religiously focused. In this museum, we saw many of the same types of artifacts, except this time much more athletically focused. 

After going to the archaeological site and museums, we headed toward the streets of Olympia and got lunch. We ordered many appetizers for the table, including tzatziki, roasted feta, and Mediterranean triangles (which were my favorite). I ordered a pork souvlaki which was delicious and came with more pita and tzatziki which was delicious. 

We then got to shop for a bit along the street, where I ended up buying a Greek (Hellas) Giannis Antetokounmpo jersey. What is incredible is that the prices here are so cheap, especially considering we came from Switzerland where prices are higher. 

We then went back to the hotel and went swimming for a bit at the pool which was a solid time. We then left for Delphi on our bus, where many of us sat in the back playing cards and vibing together listening to music. We eventually arrived after a 3 and a half hour ride, and soon after we went out to dinner together. I ordered some chicken on pita which was a great way to finish the night before heading to bed for an early morning. 

Monday 5/29

 Today was our first day in Greece. We were all very tired from our long travel day yesterday. We had to get up and pack all our stuff and check out of the hotel before we headed out for the day. 

We headed off to Olympia and met up with our guide, Joanna. She was very knowledgeable and told us all about the ruins sites as we walked around. She even showed us some sites off of the main spots that still need to excavated. It was really cool to see people doing excavations while we were there. They cannot use any power tools because they don’t want to risk damaging any of the ruins. Joanna was showing us pictures of what the sites would have looked like when they were built as we went through the sites. I can’t even imagine the buildings actively being used during the ancient games. I really enjoyed hearing about the temple of Zeus. The statue that was built for him in the middle of Olympia was solely to worship him. The statue that was built for him was almost 40 feet tall! I also really enjoyed seeing the stadium where the games were held. There is a walkway leading into the stadium that used to be lined with statues of the cheaters of the games. I love how they made statues of the cheaters and not so much the winners. Then you walk through and arch into this 600 ft long dirt area. The whole group lined up on the starting block to race. We all charged to the end and Kyle won! Some of us then lined up again and did a girls versus boys rely race.. the guys won. 

After the archeological sites we went to the first museum. I really enjoyed the first museum because it had a lot of the statues that were excavated and put back together. It’s amazing how archeologists can piece these statues back together so well most of the time without having all the pieces. My favorite room had the statues from the pediments of the temple of Zeus. There was almost no sculpture that had all its pieces but they were all positioned and put back together so well. The second museum was mainly about the ancient Olympic Games and how they started. We learned a lot about this in our lectures at the beginning of the trip. I liked to see all of the armor that the athletes had to wear. For the races that were in full armor the athletes had the wear almost 30 kilograms of armor!

We then headed downtown and had lunch at a Greek cafe. I have never really had Greek food before and I really enjoyed it. Whens a better time to try Greek food than in when in Greece! We spent some time shopping down town then headed back to the hotel for a swim in the hotel pool. After we dried off we headed back on the bus and drove the Delphi!