Day 13: Olympia, Greece

Class this morning covered fetal alcohol syndrome and an hour's discussion of alcoholism, specifically. Then we got a couple of hours off between classes and docking at the port, so I went back to the room and went back to sleep. We got up around 11:30, grabbed a quick lunch at the buffet, and got off the ship for our last port: Olympia.

We had to take a bus about 45 minutes to reach the site of the ancient ruins of Olympia; this is where the first Olympic games were held. I had been there before for the Greece/Turkey Jterm trip two years ago, but again, it's a beautiful site, and Clint had never been there, so it was fun to go back.

The ruins are quite large, and they include the first Greek temple ever (to Hera) and one of the largest temples ever, the temple of Zeus, which used to hold the famous golden statue of Zeus, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. We were able to spend about an hour walking around the ancient site, then about an hour walking around the museum to see all the original statues, tools, helmets, pottery, etc. that's been excavated from the site.

I'm posting this blog entry (and adding photos to the entries from the past week) because we're sitting at a beautiful seaside cafe with fast wifi! Tonight we'll have dinner in the "regular" restaurant again, because it's our second formal night. Everyone will get all dressed up and we'll get a special fancy menu. Last time it was really great, so we're looking forward to it.

Photos below are from Olympia.