Click a picture to see a larger view.

Morning came far too early as we hurried to our ablutions and to finish packing before breakfast. That meal was buffet style, but after yesterday's late lunch, I gorged myself on scrambled eggs, small orange sausages, fruit cocktail, ham, provolone, a cake-like marble bread, and unsweetened whipped cream. They also had hot chocolate and grapefruit juice. It was strange -- I got teased for being tiny!

It was only a short drive to Ancient Olympia, a sacred area dedicated to Zeus (what about Zanus as a boy's name?) and home of the original Olympic Games.

This archaeological site is certainly the best and most impressive I've seen our entire trip. I won't try to describe it, as I'll probably do better just showing you all of my photos. One highlight happened when we went into the stadium. Margaret and I decided to race (but we went from the finish to the girls' start). Can you believe that I actually won, in Tevas, by a long shot? That's probably the first physical contest I've ever won in my entire life. I could have crowed with victory.

I guess I will mention a few of the sites after all, to help me put names to the pictures. At the beginning and end we passed the Philippeion, a round building which is being reconstructed in spite of the German archaeologists' preferences. We then passed the Palaestra, which has an excellent set of nearly complete columns. Next there was the Heroon, followed by Leonidaion, which is best distinguished be the remains of a water garden. In the photos they look like two concentric trenches.

We then circled back to see the Temple of Zeus, my personal favorite. THe columns, save a single reconstruction, were all toppled, leaving domino-like rows of the drums which compose them.

Next we went to see the Bouleuterion, passing several stones that still have legible Greek inscriptions. I think these may be the bases of statues of the champions, which our guide told us include the name of the athlete, the name of his father, and the name of his province of origin.

Subsequently we saw a new set of buildings which were being newly excavated, then we continued on to the stadium. You can still see part of the amazing vaulted ceiling of the entrance.

On our way out we passed the Metroon, and the oldest building on the site, whose purpose was unknown. That's the elongated oval pit from the photos.

We finished up with an alter including a basin and the temple of Hera.

I was just blown away. Though again more time would have been nice, I was, overall, extremely satisfied.

Leaving the site, we went on to the museum. This was even more astonishing, especially when I thought about the fact that tehse items had been removed from the site we had just visited. The museum had a large collection of pottery, bronze, and even glass. The quality of the craftsmanship awed me, especially considering this stuff is almost three thousand years old!

In the first room we saw a collection of marble depicting a battle of Lapiths with centaurs, and another scene which I've already forgotten. (Twelve Labors of Heracles).

My other favorites were Zeus and Ganymede, Nike, goddess of victory, and Hermes of Praxiteles. I oculdn't believe the accuracy and detail of anatomy!

Now we're on the bus again. We'll pass throuogh several towns on our way to Delphi, but we don't have any more major sights today.

There's an Australian couple on the bus, and I'm pumping them for info about living there for a few years...