Day Three - Olympia

Although we experienced our first rain since arriving in Greece, it didn't stop us from having an amazing day here in Olympia. Arriving here at midday, we had lunch and then visited the Museum of the Olympic Games. After checking out representations of the events that would have occurred at Olympia and the history of the games, we headed over to the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, which houses the finds from the site itself. Among the many impressive things the museum has to offer were the pedimental sculptures from the Temple of Zeus, photos of which you can access in today's album. We also were able to see the helmet of Miltiades, dedicated to Zeus at Olympia after the Athenian victory over the Persians in the battle of Marathon. We are visiting Marathon in a few days, and this will provide yet another opportunity for students to make connections between the various sites and museums we are touring during the trip.

We then headed to the site of Olympia itself, stopping first at the workshop of Phidias, the sculptor responsible for the massive chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue of Zeus that would have been housed in his temple here. The temple itself is now surrounded by its columns that were toppled in earthquakes, the lone, standing exception being a column recently restored by German archaeologists. The last stop on our visit was the stadium itself, and the rain didn't stop the students from holding their own footrace.

Having checked in at the hotel, the students spotted the hotel's soccer field and knew that they hadn't brought their ball all the way from home in vain. Everyone, including Theodore, our bus driver (and former semi-pro), eventually joined in and had a great time playing two games before dinner. Beating a rival school's group of students on foreign turf was just icing on the cake.

Thursday is Greek Independence Day, and so we plan to catch the parade in Patras before heading over to the mainland to visit Hosios Loukas, a monastery dating back to the 10th century.