Bicycle Tour of Peloponnese, Greece,
From Korinth to Olympia
September/October, 2018
Day 11
In the Morning, We Performed a Sort of Triangle Bicycle Ride from Olympia,
to Vassilaki, to Near Kréstena, and then Back to Olympia. In the Afternoon, We Had a Guided Tour Through the Ruins of Ancient Olympia In the Late Afternoon, We Visited with the Museum of Ancient Olympia. In the Prevening, A Nature Walk by Terry. In the Evening, We Had a Farewell Dinner.
Preparing for the Morning Loop Ride from Olympia, to Vassilaki, to Kréstenato and Back
Above Left: The Bee awaited us. We met the couple with the other 2 bikes, they biked in last night on their own self-guided tour.
Above Right: We were getting ready to ride.
Above Left: Terry and others are getting into cool weather ride configuration.
Above Right: Our view to the south, we will ride to that valley and then turn east to Vassilaki.
Riding the Bee through the Ancient Ruins of Olympia
Above Left: Ancient Olympia Site Map (borrowed from antiquemapsandprints.com) showing the relative position of the next three photos.
Above Right (Photo #1): Our group got to ride our bikes on the Archeological Site's road through the Ancient Ruins of Olympia! That is Ron ahead of us.
Above Left (Photo #2): Old forest.
Above Right (Photo #3): The actual Stadium of the Ancient Olympics!
Above Left: Departing the Ancient Olympia Archeological Site.
Above Right: The sun was trying to peek through the mountain mist.
Above Left: That's Ron again, he dropped back to talk for a bit.
Above Right: The morning mist is prevailing.
Above: First attempt of Helios to Appear.
Above: Second attempt of Helios to appear.
Above Left: That is Ron, ahead.
Above Left: The hill climb has started. I think that was Lily and Jerry
Above Right: Looking up at a Mountain Village.
Above: Yay Helios!
Vassilaki
Above Left: Everyone was already at the restaurant in Vassilaki, taking a break.
Above Right: Turkeys, directly across the street from the restaurant in Vassilaki.
Above Left: We rode east out of Vassilaki and entered a kind of National Forest.
Above Right: Within the Forest Land we turned Southwest, in general, to head toward Kréstena.
Above: Cyclamen bring such joy to passers-by.
Above: Still enjoying the Forest Land.
Above Left: Dennis and the Bee pose at the top of a long hill climb by a church.
Above Right: Dennis and the Bee.
Áspra Spítia
Above: Entering the village of Áspra Spítia.
Above: The little village of Áspra Spítia is known for its use of broken marble as street paving stones.
Travel Observation: The letter K is as important to the Greek Alphabet as the letter M is to the Zulu Alphabet.
Above: Looking southeast to south.
Above: Looking south over the Alfiós Valley (Peloponnese Peninsula, Greece).
Above: Crocus.
The Alfiós Potamós
Above: Crossing the Alfiós Potamós. The Alfiós is the same river that passes just southeast of Olympia and it is the same river that we crossed yesterday at its hydroelectric plant.
"Alfios River. Alfios or Alpheios (Greek: αλφειός, meaning "whitish"), the longest river in the Peloponnese was in Greek mythology a god-river and fell in love with the nymph Arethusa. Alpheus was also the river which Hercules, in the fifth of his labours, re-routed in order to clean the filth from the Augean Stables in a single day,..."
Source: visitgreece.gr/en/nature/rivers/alfios_river
Above: A Rest Area Monument to the cities that depend on the Alfiós Potamós and, of course, it has a good view too.
Above: Irrigation ditch/canal and drop gates.
Above Left: Many tiny bugs stuck to my arm. For about an hour, we were in and out of clouds of tiny bugs that liked to fly into one's eyes, ears, and mouth. The silly bugs would stick to the sunscreen or sweat on the skin. There were several little breaks that included wiping the bugs off, apparently this effected the Captain more than the Stoker.
Above Right: Solar panel farm.
Above Left: We turned right, toward Kréstena.
Above Right: Passing through a village.
Near Kréstena
Above Right: We turned right but we bypassed the metropolitan area of Kréstena and more or less headed northwest toward the bridge that crosses the Alfiós Potamós at the hydroelectric plant (from the previous day's ride).
Above: Terry is giving emphasis to how tall the cane, we rode a couple of kilometers in and out of this tall cane. We were now closer to and following the Alfiós Potamós.
Above: These were the last photos of the ride as the final leg of the ride was the same as the previous day's ride from the bridge crossing of the Alfiós Potamós at the hydroelectric plant.
Visiting the Archeological Site and Ruins of Ancient Olympia
Above: Ancient Olympia Archeological Site Map - Source:Wikipedia.
Map KEY: 1. Northwest Propylon, 2. Prytaneion, 3. Philippeion, 4. Temple of Hera, 5. Pelopion, 6. Nymphaeum of Herodes Atticus, 7. Metroon, 8. Treasuries (multiple cities/states represented), 9. Crypt (arched way to the stadium), 10. Stadium, 11. Echo Stoa, 12. Building of Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II, 13. Hestia Stoa, 14. Hellenistic Building, 15. Temple of Zeus, 16. Altar of Zeus, 17. Ex-voto of Achaeans, 18. Ex-voto of Mikythos, 19. Nike of Paeonius, 20. Gymnasion, 21. Palaestra, 22. Theokoleon, 23. Heroon, 24. Pheidias' Workshop and Paleochristian Basilica, 25. Baths of Kladeos, 26. Greek Baths, 27 + 28. Hostels, 29. Leonidaion, 30. South baths, 31. Bouleuterion, 32. South Stoa, 33. Villa of Nero.
Our Guided Walk About: We entered the site at #1, the Northwest Propylon (northwest corner of the map), and we more or less walked around the site in a counter-clockwise direction.
Above Right: Anything made of Brick comes from the Byzantine Era (Roman Technology).
Above Left: Basic Doric Column. BTW, Greeks built columns in segments and it was the Romans that built with one-piece columns.
Above Right: This is the Famous Triangular-Based Pedestal for the Statue of the Winged Victory Goddess, Nike.
Above: Famous Triangular-Based Pedestal for the Statue of the Winged Victory Goddess, Nike. Nike is the personification of Athena in Game or Battle Mode.
Above: About the Statue of the Winged Victory Goddess, Nike.
Above Left: Champions Monuments were located at the foot of the Nike Statue. .
Above Right: Cheaters Monuments were listed by bad deed and name. I noticed about a 25% monument ratio for the Cheaters. It's awful, 1 in 4 monuments are about Cheaters. I sort of wish that for the modern Olympics ...
Above Left: I took this picture because I knew what those moving pips were on the side of the base. I've seen the same thing on huge Inca Boulders. They are used for moving and transporting the stones and when the stone is in place, stone masons will remove the pips and no-one will ever know that they were there. On occasion, for unknown and probably varying reasons, sometimes they are left to remain.
Above Right: Obvious irrigation. The recovered stadium site at Nemea had the exact same irrigation stones around the 3/4 of the stadium. It takes a little knowledge and engineering to make sure there is continuous flow and even flow.
Above Left: Another grand Ionic column base for a statue to a Olympic Champion. Cities, States, Family, and/or later Nations would get behind the financing and idea to memorialize their Champion. Just as it is in today's times, Victors usually had a rich and fulfilled life ahead of themselves.
Above Right: The Crypt is the arched entrance to the stadium game arena.
Above Left: The Stadia (Stadium) overlooking the Starting Line.
Above Right: The Starting Line, the athletes (Tributors of Athena) had to start with their toes in the starting line slot (2 slots).
Above Left: A Zane monument base (at the side of the stadia).
Above Right: The Exedra was for Judges, there was no stone seating for the viewers, the viewers did have a sloped viewing area.
Archeological Museum of Ancient Olympia
Above Left: Assyrian Helmet (with lettering) and Corinthian/Peloponnesian Helmet.
Above Right: Head of a Battering Ram.
Above Left: Persian and Beat-Up Peloponnese.
Above Right (Different Display): Persian and Peloponnese.
Above Left: Zeus.
Above Right: Hermes.
Above Left: Actual Council Cauldron (Events, Religion, Meetings).
Above Right: Reproduction of Council Cauldron.
Above Left: About the Shields.
Above Right: Helms of various States and Nations.
An Olympia Nature Walk by Terry
Above Right: Bee.
Our Farewell Dinner
Above Left: Our dinner patio view just after sunset.
Above Right: Terry, aka Favorite Stoker.
Above Left (L-R): Is his jacket Blue, White, or Silver? Craig, Linda, Greg, and Sarah.
Above Right: Linda, Sharon, Craig, and Waitress.
Above Left: Jack and Linda.
Above Right: Waitress and Benton.
Above Left: Terry, Ron, and Patrick.
Above Right: Patrick, Marianne, Lily, and Jerry.
Summary
We had a very busy day. In the Morning we conducted bicycle ride. In the afternoon, we had a guided tour through the ruins of Ancient followed by a tour of the Museum of Ancient Olympia. In the prevening, Terry conducted a nature walk. Finally, in the evening, we had a magnificent farewell dinner.
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