Relaxing Amongst the Ruins

Olympian Ruins
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The bus journey passed through some well known spots on the way to Patras, the nearest city to Olympia. Cortinth and the canals to name but two. Greece seems to be a place where names and things are familiar even though you may never have been there. That comes from being the Cradle of Western civilisation I suppose.

My arrival in Patras was greeted by much fanfare and street parades. A boat was named in my honour and I had the choice of the mayor’s five lovely daughters. Well, not exactly, but it would have been a nice change.

I witnessed the best sunsets I have ever seen, anywhere!

I found a nice little spot to stay the few nights and then went down to the jetty to book the ferry across to Italy. I could only get on a ferry that left in 5 days time though, so this left me with a problem of what to do. Patras isn’t what you would call a stunning place but it had its fair share of sights, the Castro (city castle) being one of them. And I must say, while I was in Patras I witnessed the best sunsets I have ever seen, anywhere! Perhaps the weather at that particular time was just right, I don’t know, but the partly cloudy skies became a gorgeous fiery red every night.

On my second day in Patras I hopped on a local bus and headed down to Olympia, the ancient venue of the Olympic Games and the location of a wonder of the world, the Temple of Zeus – which sadly is no longer standing.

Olympia now is a large reserve with various ruined temples, pillars and stadia strewn about. Not much has been left standing and what is left is mere broken stone and tablets, but the site itself has a very peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. I enjoyed it very much, quietly wandering amongst the fallen pillars wondering what it would have looked like in its day. I think I even fell asleep for a few hours leaning up against a tree overlooking a broken temple. I think there were plans to develop the area and reconstruct some of the buildings but I hope this hasn’t happened – it seemed perfect to me the way it was.

The next few days in Patras revolved around eating at the various little restaurants. I wanted to smash some plates but they wouldn’t let me.