May 31, 2025: Olympia

(Written by Brian on June 1st)

We started off getting up pretty early to head to Olympia for our excursion on May 31st. Unfortunately, Gabe’s track record of sleeping in on early excursion days still held strong and we all blearily-eyed stumbled out to breakfast. It was a much shorter bus ride this day and we got to Olympia after only 45 minutes or so. I think Devri and I (and possibly everyone else) thought Olympia would be a filler excursion before the “big hitter” of Athens/the Acropolis, but we were all blown away by it. 

We toured the archeological site first and saw the gymnasium, the Temple of Zeus, the temple of Hera, and the Olympic field itself. 

The Gymnasium

The Palestra

The Palestra

Column from the Temple of Zeus

The Temple of Zeus, opposite side

Chillin' on ancient pillars

Arch into the stadium

While not as impressive as modern stadiums, the field was quite large. Michael challenged me to a race, and of course I couldn’t turn that down. Gabe joined in as well. This is the first time I can recall being able to run as fast as I can and Michael still left me in the dust. Apparently those speed drills are finally paying off for him! The field is also much longer than you would think it looks. It’s longer than 2 football fields! As it turns out, Rachel tried to join in as well, but missed our start, so she joined us for another race on the way back from about half field.

The O.G. Olympic Stadium

Michael being crowned winner of the race

Olympic Stadium

The Victor leaves the stadium in glory

After licking my wounded pride a bit, we headed back towards the temple of Hera and found the site where they light the Olympic torch each year. Gabe re-enacted holding the torch, though it looks like he’s just doing a salute with his fist. Apparently he’s never seen the Statue of Liberty and doesn’t know how to impersonate her torch holding abilities (never mind that he saw the mini Statue of Liberty in Paris by this point already).

Where the Olympic Flame is lit

Gabe lifting the imaginary Olympic Torch after it was imaginarily lit

Temple of Hera

Us in the Temple of Hera

Tholos (Temple) of Philip, only temple in Olympia built to honor a human

AKA the Philippeion

We headed inside to the museum and saw all kinds of artifacts and statues from the archeological site. 

Terracotta architectural elements from different buildings of the sanctuary 

Pediment from the Treasury of Megara

Easily the most impressive statues were Nike and Hermes. Even more impressive was Hermes from the back. He must work out.

Nike of Paionios, oldest surviving monumental depiction of Victory

Sculptures from the pediment of the Temple of Zeus

Hermes of Praxiteles, 330 B.C.

Corinthian Capital

Model of what Ancient Olympia looked like

Sculptures from the pediment of the Temple of Zeus

Sculptures from the other pediment of the Temple of Zeus

After the museum, we were taken to an Olive mill where they make olive oil (there’s olive oil, see?). The machines were impressive and so spotless that we wondered if they even really used them at all. After a short presentation, they let us try the different kinds of olive oil. In our heads when they were telling us we would try olive oil that day, we were drinking the olive oil straight from a cup, but fortunately they let us dip bread into it. In my vast experience of eating stuff cooked with olive oil, it tasted exactly like olive oil should taste. I just wish they had given us balsamic vinegar too. Then we really could have enjoyed the oil more. They also had an olive for us to try. I thought, “maybe I’ll like olives practically straight from the tree better than olives at stores in the US”, but no, I still hate them after choking one down. Rachel took a tiny bite and actually spit it out. Gabe didn’t even attempt it, and Devri and Michael ate them since they actually like olives. Weirdos.

Held hostage at the Olive Temple olive mill

Here’s Devri posing as a Greek goddess in front of all of the different kinds of olives.

The Greek goddess Imitating the Greek goddess of modern olive production

We ended the tour after only about 5 hours and were back on the ship just after 1 or 2. Mom and Dad (Nana and Papa) and Lara Greg took the extra time to shop in Katakalon, but our entire family just wanted to get back on the ship to relax. Plus, I don’t think we could have fit anything else in our luggage, or at least anything else that we wanted to carry around for 4 more weeks. The view from the ship was still beautiful.

Katakolon Port from the ship

Gabe and Rachel went swimming and went down the water slide, and Devri and I sat up on deck and baked a bit.

I decided to take Gabe to an early dinner at the buffet so that he could see the pickpocketing/magic show, and even though that was a bust since the buffet wasn’t even open yet, we enjoyed the show. Everyone else went to the normal dinner and the later show and then turned in for the night.

The generous grapes of the MSC Cheese Plate