"A winding mountain drive will take us to the site of the world's first Olympics (over 2700 years ago!)." Olympia surprised me. I confess that I am not a sports fan: when the Summer Olympics are on I usually watch just the pole vault, the diving, and the gymnastics, all modern additions. I read about the excitement others felt, standing on the start line in the ancient stadium, but I couldn't work up much enthusiasm for visiting the site myself.
What I hadn't realized was that the stadium had been only one part of a complex of temples, gymnasiums, workshops and lodgings. I had forgotten that one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, an enormous gold and ivory statue of Zeus, had been housed here. And, celebrating springtime, Olympia's many trees were covered in flowers. The stadium did, indeed, largely leave me cold. But I loved the site itself, the museum was full of good statues, and our local guide full of good stories.
The ancient Greeks spent an inordinate amount of time fighting each other, but during the Games they took a time out. As at Delphi, in addition to athletes involved in wrestling, racing chariots or horses, the pentathlon (wrestling, discus and javelin throwing, long jump and running), and a form of boxing, poets and authors competed as well.
A Christian emperor abolished the games as overly pagan around 400 C.E., and I think it a pity that the modern revival has left out the truce, not to mention the prose and poetry. We do still pillory the cheaters, although we don't build statues of them, and the winners often do quite well, even if their home towns don't provide free food for life.
After lunch, we'll drive along the sweeping Ionian Sea coast and the Messinian Gulf coast to the picture-perfect fishing village of Kardamyli." Even though I often eat vegetarian, as a borderline hypoglycemic I had been a little concerned that the vegetarian lunch we would eat on the way to Kardamyli might be short on protein, but the black-eyed peas and the feta in the Greek salad were enough. We washed down the array of other dishes - tzatziki, horta, eggplant, rice, French fries with cheese and delicious, garlicky skordalia - with wine provided by the restaurant owner. I was surprised to find, when we stopped on the way south, that I still had room for cake filled with cream and pistachio nuts.
Our next hotel, the Esperides, didn't accept late cancellations, so with two extra rooms available, each of the four single women got their own. I appreciated the extra space, although the downstairs rooms were a little dark and cold. I also appreciated the kitchenette, and went shopping for coffee and juice and chips.
Despite a big lunch, and afternoon tea, it had been a long drive, and I needed dinner too. With one of the better restaurants in town closed, it seemed most people on the tour wound up in the same taverna, even though this wasn't scheduled as a group meal. My rather overcooked, but sizable, shrimp were outshone by a small, crisp portion of spanakopita. The conversation managed to include both politics and religion without causing any hard feelings.
"After some orientation by your tour guides, the day is all yours." I took advantage the "off" day to sleep in, and finally got up too late for breakfast. No problem - I fixed coffee and juice, my breakfast at home, from the supplies I had bought the day before, and took them out into the courtyard. Sitting under the orange and lemon trees, which were already bearing fruit, I chatted for a while with Beth, who was traveling with her daughter, a Foreign Service officer.
Then I settled in for Greek salad and more coffee at Lela's taverna. David had talked to us about Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor, war-hero and travel writer, who had a house near Kardamyli, but I only recently discovered that Lela had been his housekeeper. Sitting on the taverna's terrace, admiring the most beautiful blue water, I couldn't help wondering about Homer's over-quoted "wine-dark sea", and how the ancient Greeks might have made wine. I've seen red wine that came close to purple, and the vintage port I drank the other night looked black, but I've yet to see wine the color of the Aegean Sea.
"Options include ... hiking in the nearby hills ..." Feeling that I had been eating too well and exercising too little, I consulted the rather sketchy map David had handed out and headed for the hills. Part way up the steep and rocky path to Agia Sofia, I had to step aside for a herd of determined goats, kept in order by a black and white dog - I saw no shepherd. I joined Bruce, Jim and Karla on a different path down from Agia Sofia. As I get older I find I can clamber up places I then have difficulty getting down, and I welcomed the company. Despite the rain that set in around the half way point, the views were well worth the climb.
David had organized a late afternoon wine and olive oil tasting in the courtyard at the Esperides. Now, I actually like the resinous taste of retsina, but I had been interested to read in "Lonely Planet World Food Greece" that the country now produced a good selection of more orthodox wines, and looked forward to learning more. Cheese, salami and nuts accompanied the wines, which I found quite drinkable, but too light to be really interesting. I couldn't tell the oils apart at all - maybe I should have tasted them before the wine!
"... enjoying some grilled seafood at that little taverna by the shore." After the tasting we all headed down to Lela's for an impromptu group dinner. Instead of seafood I opted for lamb to follow the usual assortment of dips and Greek salad. Greek families roast a whole lamb as part of their Easter celebrations - every so often we would see a small flock awaiting the butcher - and I had no objection to getting a head start on the holiday.
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