Greece Trip (Part 2)

Day 4 (13th of April)

Look at that scenery! Don't you just love spring? Beautiful trees, lovely weather... This was actually taken in the ancient Olympic Stadium in Olympia (not Athens), our 1st destination that day.

This very place is where the first Olympic games ever started. Olympic games, at ancient times are only for Greek men. No women were ever allow to take part or even step into the stadium. Why? That's because all men at the games were supposed to be naked! Ew... men are weird.

There are lots of beliefs and myths in Greek history, therefore, there are temples in most of the places that we visited. In this Olympic stadium, they have a huge temple of Zeus. Again, due to earthquakes, war and flood, its pretty much broken down now. Well... out of more than 20 columns, they only did restore one.

Isn't that huge compared to the tiny me??

And my sister is actually holding it! Gasp!

This is how it looks like when the columns fall to the ground. That shows us how its actually been made up too.

In the photo above, its the runway.... or whatever its called :P They don't have an oval-shape runway like what we have nowadays. The line you see behind us, its the starting line. One interesting thing is, our tour guide told us that in ancient times, they don't had the tradition to lit any Olympic games fire before the game. It was during the modern Olympic games that they started doing it.

Next, we headed down to the Olympic museum where they preserved most of the monuments. Photos without camera flash were allowed, however, they don't allow us to pose in front of the camera with the monument.... well... with no apparent reason it seems. A very weird rule indeed. Even our tour guide who didn't agree with it, went on to scold the museum people. haha.. our tour guide is cool.

Then, we went on to food. Greek food, I wouldn't say I like it that much actually. Their normal course meal would always have Greek salad with Olive oil and vinegar. For starters, they would have musaka (eggplant, mince meat and cream), cheese pie or spinach pie which are all quite creamy and slimy.

Their main course meal would usually be Kebab (pork on a skew), or grilled chicken, which can be quite dry, with vege fried rice as a side dish. In our 9 day trip, we were served this meal for more than 5 times! The truth is, most of us are pretty glad that we won't be having it anymore.

We drove on.... for another 5 hours.... On the way...

We stopped near this huge church for a cup of hot chocolate. hmm~~ *thumbs up* for both the smooth creamy hot chocolate and the church.

A fortress at the Town of Nafpactos.

Ahh~ finally after the long bus ride, we arrived at our destination! A nice little town called Delphi where we stayed the night at a very nice Hotel, in an attic room with sky view! hehe! Ain't that cool?!

I really liked Delphi. This town, located halfway up the mountains, has a very cooling temperature. Serene and peaceful, it has a beautiful view too.

The sky is so clear, its filled with stars at night. The people here are friendly too! And not to mention, Greeks are mostly good looking! :P

Day 5 (14th of April)

Today, our main agenda is to visit the Temple of Apollo. So we packed our luggage early in the morning and left our nice little attic room. hmmm... I'll miss it.

First, we went to the museum where they preserved all the statues and monuments.

Here, we could see that some of their statues actually looked like the sphinx or mummy. I don't know about you, but it gave me the Scorpian King kinda feel. I know I watched too much tv. Anyway tour guide said that's actually because sometime in history, some Egyptians migrated to Greece and brought along their art.

This is our tour guide, a very knowledgable person. He's an artist actually, working only part time as a tour guide.

And this is where we're heading to later. The temple of Apollo had a myth. It was said that long long time ago, there hid a snake in a bush which kills anything that passes its way. One day Apollo's mother went to rest near the bush and was attacked by the snake. Upon hearing the screams of his mother, he came and slew the snake. And that's the foundation where temple of Apollo is built on.

In this place, other than just worshipping Apollo, they held other events too. They have a theatre and a stadium, too. The picture above shows one of the treasury that had been restored. People from different areas that came to take part in the games brought along treasures and gifts, and places it at their respective treasuries.

That's temple of Apollo behind us. And yes, that's all that's left.

That's the theatre behind me.

Not far away from the temple of Apollo, this is where atheletes do their training. Overlooking the lush scenery.... Just lovely!

After yet another Kebab meal, we journey on for another 5 hours drive to our next stop for the night, Kalambaka, a small town situated at the foot of Meteora, gigantic rocks.

Although tired from the bus ride, we still came out for a walk around town. The amazing thing about these rocks, people here actually believed that these rocks are meteors from long long time ago, hence its name, Meteora. History or myth? We have no idea.

Take a look at in between my sister's fingers. That's a monastery built on top of the rocks! That's where we're going to visit the next day. haha.. if you can't really see it, no worries, don't tire your eyes, there are more photos coming up!

We went on to explore the town, bought some Greece chocolates and snap some photos. Although the town was quite small, it is quite happening with quite a number of pubs around. Before going back to our hotel, we stopped by at an ice cream shop for Greek yoghurt, which my sister claimed was really good.

Now, doesn't that make your mouth watery? :P~