23rd September - Palace of Nestor and Ancient Olympia

 Standard start to the day with breakfast at the hotel before being picked up at 9am. We headed to the Palace of Nestor and the ancient Mycenaean Tholos tomb. There is an archaeological site next to the Tholos that is still a work in progress and we were unable to take photos but they found great amounts of gold in one grave only 100m from the entrance to the Tholos. Close by there is also an ancient spring that feeds a water fountain and is now a bee watering station.





Nestor was the legendary wise king of Pylos, who took part in the Troy campaign. His palace was only found in 1939 and dates back as far as 4000 BCE. It is the only Mycenaean palace with evidence of a bathroom, having a fully formed bath and jars for perfumed oils and water.


Bathroom showing bath and jars containing oil and water in the far corner
Next stop was for a swim at Voikokilia beach. It is a very popular beach and apparently one of the most beautiful and impressive beaches in the Mediterranean Sea.

We had 30 minutes at the beach and had a shower and a coffee at a place just outside the protected area before setting off to Ancient Olympia for lunch. It was another huge, delicious lunch at a local restaurant. Feeling very full after our lunch we set off for the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. There were so many displays of statuary found in the ancient site on display. The helmet of Miltiades from 490 BCE dedicated to Zeus after his victory at Marathon was one famous display as was the statue of Nike and the statue of Apollo as well as the statues from the top of the temple of Zeus. We tried to get a perspective of the size by standing in front of them but due to being in front it does not do it justice.
Nike of Paeonios

Bronz helmet of Miltiades

Hermes of Praxiteles 340-330 BCE

East pediment of the temple of Zeus

West pediment of the temple of Zeus

Me in front of Apollo

We had an hour to wander through the Museum before heading over to the archaeological site Olympia. This is another UNESCO world heritage site and we visited the Temple of Hera where they light the Olympic flame every 4 years for its journey to the host nation. Then we headed to the stadium where the Olympic Games were held. David and Caroline had a run on the track which is 212m long.
Temple of Hera




Next on our list of things to see was the temple of Zeus which is one of the ancient wonders of the world. It seems we are now ticking off those as well. We have now seen 3 including the temple of Artemis in Turkey and the Pyramids at Giza. One of the columns was restored in 2004 for the Athens Olympic Games.
Fallen columns in front of restored column

Me showing perspective of how large the upper portion of the columns are


We finished the day by visiting an amazing Kotsanas museum of Ancient Greek technology which I would definitely recommend a visit to. We all wished we had more time here. 

Model of Zeus showing perspective with life size person in foreground 








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