Friday, 23 September 2016

Day 14 - Olympia

Day 14 - 23 September 2016

Ancient Olympia

I can't believe that I have been here for two weeks today. I've done so much that it feels like I've been here for ages. Booked out of my hotel (€120.00 for two nights) and went to the bus station.
The journey from Patras to Olympia is in two stages. The first is from Patras to Pyrgos at 09:30 (€12.60). It's only 97km but we eventually got to Pyrgos at 11 :40. It stops EVERYWHERE to pick up passengers. It really was a busy little bus. Jumped off the bus as the bus to Olympia left at 12:00. Just had time to pick a latte with a dash of cinnamon - my new favourite drink. the ticket to Olympia is only €4.00 as Olympia is 25km away. Stopped everywhere again. A lot of the locals had done their weekly shopping and wanted to go home. Not complaining, just so interesting to see how the locals go about their daily business. The driver was fantastic. Some really old people got on and he was so patient with them. waited until they sat down and were settled in before driving off. In PE they simply shoot off and you have to hang on for dear life. We eventually reached Olympia at 12:40. My pension, the Pension Poseidon, was a 5 minute walk from the station. It really is a compact little town. When I booked in, I asked the owner of the pension about arranging a trip by taxi to Bassae. He phoned around and got a deal for me. €90.00. I'll be driven there, the driver will wait an hour and drive me back. I will be collected tomorrow morning at 09:00. I spent the afternoon walking around town
and checking out where to go and where the museums are. I'll hit them from tomorrow afternoon. According to Geōrgios, the pension owner, there were about 5 000 tourists today. I counted 37 tour buses at the museum. A lot of the tourists are on excursions from their cruise ships. The question is where to eat in this town. All the restaurants are geared towards tourists i.e. very expensive. I eventually went to the Taverna Orestis, two blocks up and away from the main tourist area. You get delicious toasted bread with olive oil, salt and dried herbs.
I had fried feta and honey for a starter.
Lamb chops and chips for a main
and semolina cake for dessert (on the house).
Throw in a sprite and the bill came to €13.00. Very reasonable. I'm going back tomorrow night to try the Greek specialties. I went to a small side street cafe for a coffee. Geōrgios was there because it belongs to a friend. It cheap and the locals go there. When I wanted to pay, he said don't bother because he had taken care of it already. All I could do is say thank you. That's my day done and dusted. I'll update tomorrow again.

Olympia

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