Today has been as action packed as yesterday was dull.

Our alarm clock is Mabel. Mabel wakes us every morning, so whether we get up early or late entirely depends on Mabel. Today we were off to Olympia so we needed to make a move early. Unfortunately Mabel is not aware of the hour change and so Mabel decided to have a lie in and didn’t wake us with the distinctive sound of her spaniel tail wacking all of Basil’s interior surfaces with excitement, until 7.45.

We got going as quickly as we could and made a quick stop at a supermarket. Sarah stayed with the dogs and when I emerged from the shop she and the dogs were surrounded by begging children. I have not seen this before in Europe. One of the children had no shoes and all three of them were filthy. A Greek warned us that they were trying to steal, but instead they seemed to be trying to be helpful. We gave them the trolley to retrieve the money, but when we tried to leave they banged on Basil’s window and openly begged. We are all too familiar with this in the touristy parts of India, where it heart wrenching, but it was somehow even more shocking to see in the heart of the European Union.

We finally made it to Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic games. The games were held here for almost 1000 years, starting in about 776 BC, 2800 years ago. Just as in modern times they were usually held every 4 years and continued into the Roman era. The ancient olympics was more than just games, it was also a big religious event, market and general festival.

Olympia

The site is not in a great state of preservation. A few columns stand erect, but mostly nothing is above about 2 feet in height. Unfortunately dogs are not allowed in, despite the site being full of feral dogs, so Sarah and I had to visit seperately. It is a pleasant enough place to visit but lacks the impact of the Italian site of Paestum we visited earlier in the trip or Agrigento in Sicily. The stadium itself apparently only ever had wooden seating so it is now actually the barest part of the site. It is clearly as site of great historical importance, with up to 200,000 people visiting the festival, but it failed to ignite our imagination.

Tim competes in the Olympic Stadium

On our walk back to Basil Mabel suddenly showed a great interest in a particular bush. Eagle eyed Sarah saw that Mabel had discovered a wild tortoise. We have seen wild tortoises in Greece and Turkey previously but it is always a pleasure to find such an exotic seeming creature.

Tortoise

We then set off into the mountains to our overnight stop at Dimitsana. I had begun to think that Greek roads were better than Italian, but that opinion soon changed as Basil rattled and banged up precipitous potholed roads with vertigo inducing drops. The bridges were mostly only one vehicle wide and when we saw some of the bridges we wondered whether they would take Basil’s weight.

There were herds of sheep grazing the roadsides with a shepherd always in attendance and likewise small groups of goats. Beehives were everywhere in big colourful clusters on the mountainsides. With the wild rosemary and other herbs I suspect the honey would be delicious, so we may try to procure a pot before we head back to the coast.

Basil’s parking spot for the night

Our overnight spot is the car park of an open air water power museum (37.584661, 22.046245). We may visit the museum but it is also the starting point for some walks in the spectacular Lousiou Gorge. There is a waymarked 75 km trail through the gorge, made up of 8 linked walks. All the walks are unfortunately linear, so we will have to walk for as far as we fancy and then walk back. I suppose the views will be different in each direction. Sarah has had a bad back today, so walking tomorrow will depend on how she is.

Olympia

Olympia

Olympia

Remains of Zeus’ Temple at Olympia

Entrance to the stadium at Olympia

Olympia