Olympic Odyssey 2014: Day in Olympia

Today was our first full day in Olympia after the LONG travel day from Lausanne. We woke up extra early trying to beat the tourist crowd to the archaeological sites. Nike was a huge help translating and teaching us about Greek culture while we walked throughout the Altis. It was amazing to see all the different sites like where the Olympics first started and the Temples of Zeus and Hera. The first Olympic race took place in Olympia which kicked off the ancient games. A few of us decided to race when we got to the stadium. In the end Kyle won the race because we were confused about where the finish line was so we stopped too early until Professor Ryan yelled," Keep going!" We learned about everything having to do with Greek ideologies along with a little bit of Roman. By the end of the day all of us were able to locate and name every part of the ancient site of Olympia.

After taking in all of the heat and history of the Greek sanctuary we headed to the air conditioned museum. Here we got to look at the sculptures and statues removed from the site like the famous statue of Hermes and the two pediments of the temple of Zeus. I found it very interesting that the east pediment told the tale of the contest between Pelops and Oinomaos with Zeus standing in the middle dividing the two sides. Nike pointed out that the reason why none of the figures are touching was because of the tension between the two sides. You can see the statues in the image below. It's mind-boggling to think that these massive pieces of artwork had so much meaning behind the huge shell limestone.

Once we got the academic stuff out of the way we went to go eat and swim in the pool. Professor Ryan took us to a great place to eat on the way back to the hotel. It was a great meal with an outstanding price compared to Lausanne. The pool at our hotel was exactly what we needed on a hot day like today (but a diving board would have been nice).

With one more day in Olympia before we head to Athens I am overly excited to see what happens the last days on the trip! Check for updates on the blog to see what adventures we go on in this final week!