True Olympian

Today I did something I never dreamed of doing. I ran a footrace at the Olympics.

(Well, I ran a footrace in the stadium at Olympia, where the original Olympics were held. And yes, I did come second to the ten-year-old red-headed Canadian girl, but I beat the 80 year old American woman, so I figure that still earns me the bronze.)

The port of Katakolon is an unremarkable fishing village that seems to make most of its money hosting cruise ships visiting Olympia. 

Now Olympia - that's remarkable, Genuinely unique, being the site of the ancient Olympic Games. 

The first games began almost 1,500 years ago, and were one of the major cultural events of the ancient world, attracting competitors from the Greek-influenced parts of the Mediterranean - which was pretty well all of it. The largest structure was the Temple of Zeus, and the massive statue within was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The games ran until 393, when they were abolished by the Emperor Theodosius, who figured games devoted to pagan gods might not be in the best interests of establishing a Christian empire.

The site was abandoned, largely destroyed by earthquake in the 6th century, and then buried after a massive flood. It was only rediscovered in the 18th century, and the Olympia Archaeological Site is still active.* 

They've done a marvellous job excavating and reconstructing the original site. Many of the training areas and roads have been found, the Temples of Zeus and Hera, as well as the stadium.

Of course the buildings aren't in the condition they once were. For many they consist of the base walls, and often that isn't complete. The Temple of Zeus only has one fully-standing column, and some of that is reconstructed - but it still gives a sense of scale.

And it's the real deal, not some faux amusement park knock-off.

When we made it to the stadium I had to have a run. It's the closest I'll ever get to competing in the real Olympics, unless the IOC decides to introduce Cruise Ship Blogging as an Olympic sport.

The tour was due back at the ship at 3.45pm. This had the potential to be very interesting as the ship was due to sail just after 3.30pm.** We were the last bus back, and Mario heard one of the officers grumbling that the bus being back past the final boarding time was "Brian's fault". I assume it was a different Brian as I had very little to due with tour departure times.

Exhausted from my magnificent second-place, I elected to reward myself with a treat back on the ship. It turns out that we discovered there's a gelato bar onboard, hidden just around the corner from the 5th floor cafe.

Olympians who won medals in ancient times would receive free meals for life. I had to pay $1.50 for three scoops of gelato. But then I did only come second, so it's probably fair.

Pretty awesome day, with more awesome ancient-world stuff tomorrow.

(Hint for the day: it involves Athens.)

* It's taken an enormous amount of work to get the site to the state it's in today. Some parts of the site were buried under 150 feet of mud/dirt. That requires a painful amount of careful digging to find the original ruins without damaging anything

** One of the advantages of booking tours through Princess is that the ship won't leave without you if the tour it late. Book your own tour and a delay may see you trying to catch up with the ship in the next port. This can be particularly challenging if your passport is still onboard the ship and it's sailing to a different country.