I read through all the shore excursions offered by Azamara and there were decisions to be made. Lots of great choices. There was one excursion and immediately I thought, we’re doing that one. Azamara’s booking page is a little quirky for shore excursions. There is basically a page to browse and then another area of the website to book. The one excursion I was excited about was a hike in Olympia, a tour or Olympia, and snacks at a local villa. I worked on my list and choose options for each city while balancing a mix of history, culture, and adventure. I had my list. Time to book. The booking page listed all the excursions, but one option was missing a book bottom. The Olympia one I wanted was already sold out!
Luckily, there are other options besides what is offered by the cruise line. I found a similar tour through another vendor. We met our guide at 7:45am just outside the port and I was pleasantly surprised we were only a group of 12. As soon as we all arrived, we drove to Olympia. Our guide gave us lots of great information about the area on our way over. Once we arrived, she helped us purchase tickets and then introduced us to our archeological guide.
We were one of the first tours to arrive and it was nice to have the place almost to ourselves. The area is in the countryside and the air smells so fresh. Olive trees can be seen everywhere and it really is a beautiful place on its own.
Our guide is an archeologist and she was amazing. She told us so much about the area and the sites we saw. Most of what is seen is actually a replica of what was once here. The Olympic games started here in 776 BC, but stopped when an emperor banned them in 393 AD. The site was abandoned. Two major earthquakes damaged the buildings and time buried the evidence of the games. It would be over 1,500 years until the games would return.
The Olympics were a little different back then. First, only men could attend with one exception. Second, it was a nude event. Men didn’t wear clothing because of practical reasons such as the heat and running in a toga is hard. Also, being naked was a tribute to Zeus. They wanted to show off their strength and physique. Olive wreaths were the prize for winning. Also, you received a statue in Olympia. The statues of the winners were motivation to become an Olympian. There was a second way to get a statue. Cheating. There was a walk of shame area with statues. If you cheated, you had to provide a statue to this area. I asked how they cheated. Bribing an opponent to throw a game or accepting a bribe to throw a game is what earned you a cheater title. She said some athletes also cheated by consuming animal products which generally wasn’t done then, but no one who “cheated” this way got a statue.
We viewed the area where the Olympic flame is lit every two years and the stadium. The starting line for the race is made of marble and there are grooves for each foot. Brian and I of course had to run it! We ran the whole length, stopped at the other end, and ran all the way back. It’s longer than it looks!
After exploring outside, we visited the archeological museum. Here they housed objects which had been found during excavations. There was one room filled with mostly headless statues. The reason they are headless is because they recycled the majority of the statues any time a new person needed one. They would just make a new head and swap out the heads on the statue.
Our tour finished at a local shop where we tasted olive oil. They had several different varieties and they tasted very good. We were back on the ship an hour before the all aboard time.
I’m sailing on this trip as a host for Distinctive Voyages. Part of my duties is to have office hours where people can come and ask questions. Mine were held today because it’s the only day we’re not at port late. No one came, but it did give me time to organize my notes for the trip.
We got ready for the evening. I started my evening in The Living Room. It’s an area of the ship I hadn’t visited yet. It’s a happening place and I came in during trivia. I didn’t officially participate in trivia, but listened and tried to guess the movies in my head. Once trivia was finished, the area cleared out and I move to a comfy couch with beautiful ocean views. We ended the evening with dinner followed by a show.
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