Blue Lagoon Traveler

Wednesday May 31, Day 5 on tour Olympia - birthplace of the Olympic Games!  Model of the Sanctuary of Olympia 300-400 AD From the peaceful mountain village of Lagkadia, we set out for Ancient Olympia (map below). Much of the archaeological site at Olympia was built from the 8th to 6th centuries B.C. Wise men from the established Greek city-states started the Olympic Games there in an attempt to stop the constant wars. Greeks tried to educate their young men to use their energies to compete honorably instead of waging war. They were trained to be strong in body and mind. lnterestingly, society was matriarchal. Mothers were considered critically important in raising boys to become such men.  On the Road Again Mary is zoning through the mountains on the way to Ancient Olympia Roadside shrines looking like little churches appear regularly along the roads in Greece, in memory of those lost in car accidents, or in gratitude for survival. We saw many sizes and styles, but - like

Tuesday May 30 - 4th day of the Rick Steves tour.   We headed into the Peloponnese which is in the southwest half of  Greece.  Since I didn’t know Greece at all, I assume most people reading this would not either.  One of the pictures today will show where we are in the country.   We headed out of Delphi today and continued our westward journey along the Gulf of Corinth coastline.  Our guide called this our nature day. After crossing a very modern bridge that was built for all the travelers coming for the 2004 Olympics we stopped in a small mountain town called Diakopton and hopped on a cog wheel train for an hour trip up the mountain to a ski town called Kalavryta.  The trip was fun with beautiful scenery.  There were mountains, a river gorge lots of trees and sometimes a little scary of a train ride on the side of a cliff.   We ate lunch at a picturesque mountain village with a beautiful stream running through it called Planitero.  I don’t know if Christine has described it yet, but