Kotolokon is the port for the ruins of Olympia in the west central portion of the Peloponnese, the peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean south of Athens. It is much quieter and more picturesque than the busy commercial port at Pireaus. A 30-minute bus ride over the hills takes us to the small modern town of Olympia and its magnificent archaeological site. In the Greece of the 5th Century B.C., this was a religious precinct containing major temples to Zeus and Hera. Every fifth year sporting competitions were held in honor of the gods—which eventually gave rise to the Olympic Games, both classical and modern. The ruins are set among green lawns and evergreen trees. There is also a huge grove of Judas trees which bloom in vibrant shades of purple and pink in the spring. Although it is October now, I was lucky enough to have been here in late April 1993 when everything was in spectacular bloom. Today there is light misty rain (the only rain of the trip so far), which adds a veneer of soft silver light to the scene of the ruins.
There are two museums that are alone worth the trip here: the new Olympic History Museum and the older Archaeological Museum. The first contains sculpture and artifacts illustrating the history of the sporting and religious aspects of the games. Much of what we know about this period in history comes from the wealth of information in the sculptures and in the implements of sport and worship used at the time. The two most important and beautiful works are the Nike (“Wingless Victory”) and Praxitales’ Hermes, a work that matches Michelangelo’s David in its depiction of the youthful male form.
The Archaeological Museum is built around a room that matches exactly the dimensions of the temple of Zeus, located nearby in the ruins. While the base and some of the pillars of the original temple are still in place outside, this room contains original sculptures that lined the friezes of the temple, each statue placed exactly where it would have stood on the original building.
After visiting the ruins and the museums, we are ready for a relaxed lunch at a resort hotel just outside the city. In the late afternoon we return to the ship, worn out physically, but rejuvenated in spirit. We decide to skip the dining room tonight, and opt for pizza cooked to order in the Lido. We turn in early looking forward to the extra hour of sleep we gain tonight as we turn back the clock on our way to Dubrovnik.
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