Katakolon & the Oylmpic Village

Monday, June 9, 2008

We took the full day excursion through Katakolon to Olympia today!  Our tour guide spoke non-stop during the drive there, which at first we thought was a great thing…we entered the Olympic Village, and promptly sat down in front of the gymnasium for another long-winded talk.  He did share a few stories which I will relay to you now.    The first story, the most important in all time, is this: the word gymnasium is derived from the Greek language, and when broken down or translated, it means exercise in the nude.  So if you ever call me or any other teacher a “gym teacher” then I would assume you would like me (or the teacher) to lead or instruct exercises and implement activities in the nude; meaning all the participants would be in the nude while participating.  So, keep that in mind when you say gym teacher-assisting nude students to exercise.  In the first games, no women were allowed to enter the village or to watch the games; it was for men only.  The reason for this was because the men practiced and competed with no clothing.  The “judges” of such competitions felt it would be more fair for all competitors if they did not see clothing due to the various social rankings of the athletes-there were rich ones, poor ones, and working class ones too, thus making it unfair if the judges were to be able to tell which athlete came from which rank.  Thus the reason women were not allowed into the village; this rule, or law, was punishable by death.  Although this was the law, which was never broken, they did allow one female to watch the games; she came from a long line of great Olympians and her son was competing, so she snuck into the games to watch him; she was caught, but due to her family’s status, they let her continue watching and did not punish her. Women were not allowed to compete in the Olympic games until 1928.  However, women in ancient times did participate in their own games, always in opposite years of the men’s games.  The first games only had running races of 500 yards and the women wore clothing during the competition.  In the 1928 games more events were added for the women, such as tennis, but not as we know it today. 

We saw Zeus’ temple, which of course, was a lot of stone ruins, but with a little imagination, you could envision what the structure looked like and what transpired within it.  We moved on to the coliseum, which was spectacular.  They did not of measurements in those times, so they used the standard “coliseum” as a means of determining the length and width of an area.  They held boxing, wrestling, weight-lifting, running, discus, and javelin within the coliseum.  The chariot races were not held there, as is depicted in most movies; they were held outside the coliseum. After spending some time in the Olympic Village, we moved on to the large museum.  Again, the tour guide spoke way too much, making you want to stab yourself in the ear!  He would speak so much I couldn’t even hear him after awhile, but worst of all is his speaking would curtail us from seeing everything and being able to take pictures.  After getting tremendously bored, Ariel and I wandered off on our own.  We discovered some very interesting relics and artifacts as well as statues and images.  You would think that after this museum we had seen just about enough, however we were forced to go to another museum.  This one was so hot you would think that one could die within the constraints of the walls.  On top of that, there was not a whole lot to see; a few things…we were able to see some discus that the athletes had thrown, which was rather cool.  We also saw several other interesting pieces, statues, and such.  Again, the guide spoke way too much and we lost interest, thus moving ahead on our own, then exiting the hellishly hot building. Part of the trip included a meal at the most exclusive resort in the area, which was quite beautiful.  The dining room was a classic indoor-outdoor style room, overlooking the endless pool and countryside.  The views were spectacular with the horizon filled with the rolling hills and mountains, and just below all the farm land and other green patches scattered throughout.  It was a place I would have liked to lounge at for days, catching sunrays and cooling off in the crystal blue water.  The only problem with this magnificent resort was the food.  Yes, the food…it was so disgusting!  They fed us this gross, I don’t even know what it is, crap, which had a layer of mushy bread-like substance with what they considered cheese, then a layer of smashed, ground meat of some sort-let me tell you, it was probably one of the worst things I have tasted ever!  Then a Greek Salad, which of course I did not eat because all it included was tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, and some funky sauce.  Then came the main meal, dry veal, potatoes and rice.  I passed on eating lamb, since I think that is the worst thing anyone could possibly eat, how can someone eat a lamb?!  Then came the dessert, frozen yogurt, which I could not eat since it was not sugar-free, but my understanding is from others, that it tasted like it had no sugar in it.   Off we headed for our time in town, which was cut short by almost a whole hour because our guide spent so much time talking!  30 minutes to spend in the town to purchase souvenirs and look around is really not enough time to really even look at anything or go into any stores.  This made me the most frustrated since we could have had more time had the guide just shut his mouth at any time during the tour! This was the case at every stop, too much talking, not enough time exploring and looking at “stuff.”   

On the way back, the guide informed us that the two people on our tour, who he lost earlier in the day, had still not shown up anywhere, not on any other bus, and not back to the ship either.  He continued to talk nonstop on the way back, some of his stories were interesting and informative, so it did make it a tad better.  Just in case you were wondering if the missing people ever made it back to the ship, I don’t think they did since we heard their names being called over the intercom repeatedly and then the ship pulled out of port. Although I am stoked to have been on the original grounds of the Olympic Village, and the history of the Olympics was able to come alive for me, the tour itself was one of the worst ones I have taken.  Definitely would have been better with a private tour guide or done on your own!