Katakolon and Olympia
Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Sun 7 Sep 2008 16:00
37:38.893N
21:19.084E
Finally left
Zakynthos yesterday. We stayed longer than planned because we were able to
get the Raymarine part that we needed and the outboard motor fixed. We
knew what was needed for both, but it took a couple of days to get hold of the
right people for the jobs. It's frustrating waiting around as it means you
can't leave the boat in case someone turns up. We were envious of the
German couple in the boat next to us who hired a motorbike for the day and
toured the island. There are, however, worse places to be stuck in and
worse ways of spending a day than reading rubbishy paperbacks! So
whilst it may sound like we are whingeing, we're not really!
A nice, short and
leisurely sail of 25 miles to Katakolon, during which the cruising chute put in
an appearance for the first time since Portugal. We have learnt our
lesson regarding taking the chute down before the wind builds too much, and
so just got it down in time to round the headland with gusts of 23+ knots
on the beam. On our approach to the headland we were wondering what these
five white poles were that just appeared above the hill, and on rounding
the headland discovered they were the masts of a ClubMed cruise ship!
Apparently they stop here in Katakolon so that their passengers can make the
trip to Olympia.
Suspect it needs
a bit more than 5 knots of wind and a cruising chute to get this one
moving!
We were tied up by
early evening, and set off to explore the town - all two streets of it! An
early night ready for an early start this morning as we were catching the 08.30
train (Steve thought he was back at work - especially since the station we
were catching a train to was Olympia!) Katakolon station is 100 yards
from the boat, and 3 euros bought a return ticket to
Olympia.
Not far to walk
to the
train...
and that little hut to Steve's right is the station!
Olympia was well
worth the visit. The remains of the sanctuary where athletes prepared,
practised and competed as far back as the 10th century BC are extensive.
The site of the lighting of the Olympic flame is a little less impressive than
one would expect after a lifetime of hearing television commentators talking
about the flame that has been carried by athletes all the way from the mountains
of Greece. but then I'm not sure what we were expecting!
The site of the
lighting of the Olympic flame (in the foreground).
It was amazing to
stand on the site of the Olympic stadium, knowing that over 2000 years ago
athletes had competed there. It seems that if you cheated they put your
name and the nature of your infringement under a statue of Zeus on the path
leading towards the stadium - the original naming and
shaming?!
No seats in this
stadium - only for the judges. Spectators sat on the grassy banks -
apparently it could accommodate 45,000 of them.
The museum that
houses the finds from the site is very well presented and an interesting place
to browse. We would highly recommend this visit.