ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑ, Greece

This tiny costal town in Katakolon, Greece, the gateway to Ολυμπια, otherwise known as Olympia - historic birthplace of the Olympics.

Alex and I were in the minority that decided to visit Olympia on our own.

We took the train up from Katakolon (€2 return) and paid at the entrance to the archeological site (€6).

We decided this was better than the guided trips (€48), and it meant we could enjoy it in peace instead of with the whole flying circus.

The ruins at Olympia are really impressive - much more so than I thought they would be.

The area was roughly the size of a high school, and it was packed with ruins.

The occasional piece they had restored so you could imagine better what it was like in it's prime.

This building was the temple of Zeus. The one that housed the statue of Zeus that is one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world.

It must have been an amazing sight...

What also must have been amazing was the earthquake around 500BC that brought it crashing down.

That's the columns lying like a packet of Krispie biscuits. The scale is quite something.














Me doing my best to look suitably elegant amongst classical Greek columnade.














Me trying to be Greek goddess again. I so love it when Alex uses his 'pretty' lens - not like the 'ugly' lenses they use for passport pics. Sweeeeet.

I will leave you with pics from our mini Olympics. Sprints on the ancient athletic grounds. Both shattered at the end, thought it was only 2 x 100m - turned out to closer to 2 x 200m...ouch.