And we’re on the move again….
Looking back on Sorrento to say goodbye |
It was a tearful goodbye from the kids when we said
goodbye to our new friends at the Palazzo Montefusco. They took such good care of us we felt
like family, but it’s time to be moving again. By mini bus from Sorrento across
Italy to Bari, on the Adriatic Sea where we pick up our next ship to tour
Greece and the Adriatic.
Driving across Italy is a treat. Leaving Sorrento we pass
the backs of the rocky mountains that make up the Sorrentine peninsula and pop
out at Salerno, the southern end of the Amalfi coast, before heading east to
make for Bari, the second largest city in the south of Italy. At first it’s a
land of hill top villages and mountains, Liam gets to be on lookout for fortresses, but gradually the land turns into wheat fields
and wind farms. After about three hours we get our first glimpse of the blue
ocean and next thing we are winding through the industrial town of Bari to the
docks where an enormous ship awaits.
We’ve booked on MSC lines for a quick highlight cruise
that will give us a glimpse of Greece, Croatia and Venice. Kids travel free so
it was a fairly economical way for us to get the flavour of this part of the world.
I was all for staying on a Greek Island for a month and getting a full dose,
but the budget had to stop somewhere!
So as we settle in on our Italian ship the rain clouds
come and wash away some of the dust of this land and get us ready for our first
view of Greece tomorrow morning.
OLYMPIA – home of the Olympics….
About midday we dock at Katakolon in the western part of
Greece. It is a seaside town that is the gateway to the ancient city of Olympia
– home to the first Olympic games.
Leaving Clara and Juliet on the ship we head out with just
the big kids. Liana is practically vibrating with excitement. It’s finally
getting to the part of the trip that she picked. Liam had input into Petra and
Vatican City, while Liana was desperate to see Greece and Notre Dame Cathedral
in Paris. She’s studied the Greek classics, can tell you most of the stories, and knows a great deal about ancient
mythology so today was her first exciting foray into the land of Homer, Herodotus and Hercules.
The remains of the temple of Zeus |
We get our tickets and head into the well kept archaeological site. Liana squeals when she
sees her first Greek text. It’s hard not to feel super excited when you are
surrounded by antiquity.
The first remains found here date back to the 10th
century BC and the first Olympic games were officially held in 776 BC, and
were played continuously at this sight until the last Olympiad in 393 AD, after
which the Christian emperor, Theodosius I put a ban on the ancient games, deeming them too pagan. And
when the 2004 modern Olympic games were held in Greece the men’s and women’s shot put
competition was held right here in the restored Olympic stadium. How amazing would that have been for those competitors!?
In the well laid out ruins that are the modern
archaeological sight of Olympia there are many different time layers within the
buildings. It was a bit of a pilgrimage sight for many people in the ancient
worlds. In fact it was said that wars were put on hold so that competitors could
travel to the games. They were sacred of Zeus and the ruins of the massive
temple in his honor are still some of the most impressive of the sight. There are Roman ruins as well as Macedonian ruins, all put together with the Greek ruins. It's similar to any working sight that is continually improved upon.
But no matter how much time you spend wandering around
the ruined temples, ancient training halls, places of worship and places of
feasting, every tourist ends up at the Olympic stadium.
Inside the ancient stadium |
Not too many people can say that they’ve run in the
Olympic games but here you can pass through the archway that ancient
competitors would have strode through and run in the old stadium. Even us women who would have been forbidden entrance to the ancient games. After overcoming his horror upon hearing that all competitors ran in the nude, Liam was keen to become an olympic athlete and we caught him on video racing in his first Olympics, which he did with his usual grace and comedy. That's my boy.
There were also other
tourists and a few Greek school groups who were doing the same thing. How
amazing would that be to go to school, learn your history and then walk out on
your own doorstep and be able to touch and feel the spirit of your ancestors
and walk (or run) in their footsteps. It makes you think that you’d have a bit
more appreciation for the timelessness of history. Or maybe not, and I’m merely
looking at it through my own filter of experiences.
All in all, we only had a few hours to introduce the
kids to Olympia, but it was enough. They got the spirit of the ancient Olympics
and feel the difference of this place over the other cultures we’ve visited so
far. We are only a few hundred miles from Italy but the feeling of the land and
culture is as different as Oman was from Italy. A good lesson that geography
does not necessarily dictate the spirit of the land.
After returning to Katakolon we had a bit of time before
ship was due to leave so we spent the time doing a bit of wandering and
shopping in the touristy shops. I bought some cute dresses for the girls and
some aspirin to help with the lingering aches from my earlier illness. Randall
and the kids added to his growing dagger and sword collection. And finally we
pass a gyros shop. Stopping in our tracks it’s time for the kids to discover
true gyros. Sauce dripping, steaming, onion filled gyros. Oh yum. Hot fresh
pita bread filled with greasy meat, fries, onions, tomatoes and tziziki sauce
it’s an instant hit and we gorge our way back to the ship. For me the perfect way to end our afternoon.
A brief stop here on the western Peloponnese and it’s back
on the road south to more Greece, blue seas, gyros and sunshine.
But not before we have a night out at the club on the ship so our girls can tear up the dance floor....
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