Italy and Greece Day 11
Italy and Greece
Day 11 - Tuesday, September 18, 2001
After crossing the Ionian Sea at night, a very smooth trip, we got up at 8 AM and got ready.
Some travelers slept on deck if they could not afford a room. Others slept in a room that had airline like seats about 7 across. There were lots of people on this ship.
We had breakfast in the ferry's nice restaurant with cereal, juice, bread, coffee, scrambled eggs and 3 pieces of bacon.
We had to be out of our room by 10 so we went upstairs near the top deck and sat there waiting for the boat to enter Patras, Greece. We sailed through several Greek islands that are sparsely settled and very dry.
We arrived at Patras at 12:30 and it was very HOT! We got off the boat, did not have to go through customs as Greece is part of the EU, and just waited for the luggage to come out of the hold. As they drove out they dropped several on the parking lot.
The new bus driver, a Greek, had to load them on the bus and had difficulty as everyone has one large piece. He perspired heavily.
We then left Patras and drove to Olympia. At the outskirt of this small town we had lunch, 2:30, a eggplant dish and Greek salad. Gennie and I shared a diet Pepsi and peach ice tea. Lots of food.
We got back on the bus and drove 7 minutes to Olympia. It was a city that had been lost and at one time had been buried by silt when two rivers flooded in 600 AD.
It was rediscovered 1875 when the Germans did the excavations. Because so many people had written about it back in the BC period they had a good idea what things were. Excavation is still going on today.
We had a another guide give us a tour of the ruins and then she took us to the museum. The Museum had interesting pieces, with helmets, statues, parts of building, etc.
The city was not as developed as we saw in Italy. Yet one could get a feel. Most of the stone there is limestone so it gets worn very easily. We saw the spot where they light the Olympic flame.
One Aussie on our tour had carried the torch when he was a little boy. Most of us were uncomfortable because of the heat. About 90 degrees and humid.
We left the museum at 6 PM and got to the hotel at 6:15 and our luggage was waiting by our rooms.
We had dinner where we bought a bottle of local wine. We had vegetable soup, bread and butter, rice and cheese dish that they said was spaghetti, tomato and feta cheese salad, then lamb, potatoes, and rice. A spice cake for dessert.
We did not get over with dinner until 9:25 so we decided to call it a day and not go to the Greek folk dance in town this night.
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