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From Patra to Olympia

GREECE | Thursday, 6 September 2007 | Views [310]

It took me 7 days to travel the 140 km's from Patra to Ancient Olympia. Did i get lost, did the trike break down or was the road uphill all the way? No....when i got to the campsite at
Kato Allissos i spent 4 days there lying in my hammock, swimming in the sea (the beach was only 50m away), drinking ice cold beer and watching football at the campsite restaurant.

After 4 days i decided i should really get a move on, so i went 60k down the road to another campsite. This one was on the beach! The beer, which came in one litre glasses, was even colder than the other place. After another 2 days of sitting in my hammock....swimming...i think you get the idea of what i was doing, i got off my arse and triked for 2 hours to Ancient Olympia.

The road was easy and mostly flat. However after the 1st hour i started to enter the area that had seen the worst of the recent fires. The smell of smoke was still lingering in the air and it was strange to see the course the fire had taken. It seemed to swoop and meander along the lines of the hills. One house could be destroyed by the fire and the house 20m away was left intact, the same for the olive groves and forests.

I got to the campsite at Olympia to find it nearly completely empty. There was my tent and two others. It seems that people are under the impression that the place is shut or burned out. Its not, so come and visit!

I've been here since Tuesday ( today is Thursday). Yesterday i spent day looking around the 3 museums here. Two are of the Olympic games, modern and ancient and the third is the museum of archaeology. The fire came so close to burning the museum down (see the pictures). Today i spent the morning walking around the ruins and taking once again loads of photos. Tomorrow I'll be back on the road to Delphi retracing the journey that brought me here...could take me a while...i mean those campsites are great!

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