November 4, 2008

Patras

We tried to wake up early, but didn't quite manage it. So, we rushed through our morning routine and ran out to meet the bus. We were then on our way to
Olympia and the site of the original Olympic games. It was an amazing site. Our tour guide, Amalia once again, led us to each of the major sites. We saw the Temple of Hera (originally Zeus and Hera), the Roman baths, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and the stadium. We were able to see where they currently light the Olympic torch every two years. It was interesting to find out that Hitler was the first to come up with the idea of an Olympic torch. After the explanation of the events surrounding the Olympic games including events in which men, women and children participated, we had "20" minutes of free time to explore the site. We saw the ruins of the house that Emperor Nero lived in while he attended the Olympic games.







































It was then a short walk to the Olympia Museum where we were able to see
treasures excavated from the site. We saw some exquisite statues including Hermes of Praxiteles, Nike of Paionios, and sculptured ornaments from the Temple of Zeus. It is unbelievable that these works of art have survived all of these centuries, and that we are able to enjoy items of ancient Greece. It is too bad, though, that the statue of Zeus that stood in the Temple is lost. According to our guide, this statue was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. We were able to see some of the casts that were used to create the statue and were recovered from the excavation site at Olympia.
























We then had a couple of minutes to shop for postcards, and then it was on to the Hotel Europa for lunch. Finally! I was able to have a real vegetarian lunch! Lunch for everyone else included cabbage salad, a wonderful cheese pie, pork and rice, and lemon cake. Instead of the pork, I had zucchini, carrots, and a stuffed tomato. It was excellent. I even managed to convince the waitress to give us a "to go" cup for some more wine for Didi. Before going back to the bus to head back to Patras, we all needed to visit the ladies room. Unfortunately, I heard Didi's warning about not locking the stall door too late. I was trapped! Fortunately, Didi and Helen came to my rescue, eventually, and managed to unlock the door for me. Who ever heard of using a key for a bathroom stall door? We then went back to the bus and proceeded to fall asleep for the two hour trip back to the boat.

After we came back, we quickly went up to our cabin so Helen could change out of her shorts and Didi could get her shawl so we would be appropriately dressed to go into the St. Andrew's Cathedral. We walked from the port to the church and looked around inside. It was stunningly beautiful. The claim to fame for this church is the fact that it contains pieces of the cross on which St. Andrew was crucified and his head. The head was returned by the Vatican to the church in 1964 and is interred in a silver reliquary.





We then walked back to the port because we wanted to be in time for lecture number 2 by Heinrich. Today's lecture was titled, "History of Ancient Greece. Athleticism and Olympia." Once again, Henrich didn't disappoint us, and we learned a lot of interesting facts about Ancient Greece. He discussed the historical timeline: the Geometric Period aka the Dark Ages 1150 - 750 BC, the Archaic Period 700 - 480 BC, the Classic Period 480-300 BC, and the Hellenistic Period 300 - 100 BC. Each period had its own distinct artistic and political characteristics. He showed us examples of the art and architecture, and promised that he would give us a copy of his presentation if we brought him a memory stick. He also talked about the spread of the Greek civilization through both conquest and colonization.

After the lecture, we headed back up to the deck 6 for yet another exciting interpretation of an ethnic cuisine. Tonight was "Greek" night. I'm not quite
sure, other than the tsatsiki, what was Greek, but at least the salad was vegetarian this time, and I got fresh fruit. There was also Pizza Margherita (Italian), fried calamari, liver (huh?), chicken with onions and peppers, "risotto" with mushrooms, and mystery lunch meat. After dinner we headed to the internet cafe in town to finally blog about our experiences. We ended up at one that had "ladies night", so we paid only 2 euros for our computer. Wow, we feel special. Three hours (and three days of information later), we are finally caught up. After this we plan to go out. We'll see...