Modern Greece And Ancient Greece

Thursday 25^th May.

After a very busy morning on the computer (more on that much later) we lazed away the afternoon on the beach and by the pool, before another good dinner in the restaurant with Sue and. Mike.

Friday 26^th May

Activity is required for old bodies. So at 9:45am the four of us set off on our bicycles. We headed inland, then east finding Loutra Kyllinis and a nice beach bar for a cooling drink.  Next, we cycled back inland, up and over a hill, back down through Glyfia to the beach.

After a second cold drink, at a second beachside bar, we cycled back to the campsite and strapped the bikes back on Reggie. Twenty kilometres cycled with lots of good chatting on route.

Saturday 27^th May

So much sadness. We were sad to leave one of the best campsites we’ve ever stayed in; brilliant bathrooms, lovely restaurant, great layout of pitches and a nice swimming pool. We felt sad to think we were back on the road driving and navigating again (currently with no road atlas) and there’ll be a lot less relaxing than the last three days.  And we were so sad to be saying goodbye to the lovely Sue and Mike…….we’re on our own again.

So with Reggie readied to be back on the road, we set off to Olympia and at 10:30am, found a good parking spot close to the ticket office to Ancient Olympia. We ambled around the ruins of the archaeological site, the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of the History of the Ancient Olympic Games for about four and a half hours, with only a short stop for lunch.  It was 27c in the shade and burning hot in the sunshine, but we are definitely not going to complain about hot weather after what we had before! The beautiful setting of Ancient Olympia is amongst glades of olive trees below the wooded slopes of Mount Kronion and rather lovely to experience.  Heaps of photographs were taken so it will be hard to narrow it down for the blog….bear with me.

Both of us were too tired and overheated to have a look around the village of Olympia, so we drove up a rather steep hill to Camping Alphios and grabbed what seemed to be the last pitch.  The desk fan was pulled out of its resting place and we tried to cool ourselves and Reggie down.  Large raindrops suddenly started spattering on the windows, so we quickly slammed the doors and windows shut and then the thunder and lightening started to crash around us.  One exploded so loudly above us that we jumped out of our skins!!! By 6:30pm the birds were tweeting again, and the temperature had dropped dramatically; what a relief.