HAPPY NEW WEEK!
I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Sending hugs and love to all those facing adversity.
Happy New Moon (Dark Moon) on Monday night/Tuesday morning!
Trumpeter Swans wintering at Skeedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, WyomingU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo, labelled Public Domain (Copyright Free)
Heather: I found enough wrapping paper to not need to buy any more for this year! And enough cards not to buy any - but I already knew that as I bought 40 of the same design last January, cut price! I still have some left from the previous year, too. Waste not, want not! I've already got some cute ones for the children, and some funny ones for our sons & their spouses, so just have to write on them all,now! - no pressure! Usually I've done all that before December comes...... what happened.....
--- I quite fancy a nice hot sausage roll, too, now. Its cold here in spite of the weatherman saying it will be milder......
Done a lot of small things off the To Do List. Bonnie has slept, mostly, and then when she awoke, I gave her an old bone with some Marmite smeared on the inside, to keep her busy! My OH has been out playing golf in the cold, so I'm not jealous....
Been trying to find the time to come on with more of my holiday pictures: I did try about three weeks ago, to post some, but it was on a day when things were playing up on the Site! I think I know where I left off, but bear with me if I'm repeating myself......
As I said, we had a most wonderful time on the beautiful Isle of Santorini, and admired its dramatic scenery. As we sailed away in the late afternoon, we could see other parts of the collection of Islands which make up this unusual part of Greece:
--- I loved the way you could see the layers in the geology!
The next day we arrived at one of the highlights, for me, of the trip: We docked in Katakolon, which is the nearest port to the original site of the very first Olympics.
No pics of Katakolon, as it was just a dock and a small, unremarkable town. We all boarded our coach to be taken for half an hour inland to Olympia.
The original site was discovered by an Englishman in 1766 and excavated in the 1800s by a German team. They were amazed at what they discovered had been hidden under the fields.
It took some years for it all to be revealed. Afterwards, the Greeks planted lots of trees around the site, which are still there; they did it to make it look much as it would have done in the ancient days.
It was very peaceful. Except for the large groups of tourists! At one point, I joined the wrong group as I was staring at the ruins, and had to find my way back to the right group by looking for my tall OH amongst the crowd!
We had a very knowledgeable Greek guide, who knew just about everything you could ask about it. He talked at length occasionally, which I found fascinating, but my OH kept wandering off to sit under a tree. ;-)
This is a general view: I'll come back to the columns in the distance, later.
Its a large area: There were places to live, gymnasiums to practice in, and even dining halls. The athletes would come to live there some weeks before each Games, to practice.
The first Games were held at around 776BC. They were invented in order to try and stop a lot of the infighting between different small kingdoms, or tribes, in Greece. Instead of fighting, they were encouraged to hone their fighting skills such as being fit for running, jumping, using a spear or even throwing rocks (the beginning of the discus!)
Another general view:
This was one of the dining halls:
I tried to imagine it full of life, with the trainee athletes talking and eating - wonder what they ate?!
Thank you LINDY! Have skimmed through them all and will go back later to study them x
It was very warm, but not too hot as long as you were wearing a hat and carrying a drink. Every now and then, a group passed ours with a different language being spoken: it was very international.
All major building in Greece at that time was done with a dedication to a god, and in this case it was the God Zeus. A large Temple to him was built, with decorations in gold leaf, and a huge golden statue of the god was at the entrance: it was later known as one of the 7 Wonders of the World. Of course in later centuries it was plundered and no doubt melted down. There are some drawings of it still in existence. The only remains of the Temple now are the base and some parts of the large columns. A very wealthy Greek shipping magnate paid for a replica of one of the columns as it would have looked, to be erected, to give an idea of how it would have looked, and the size and proportions. It cost something like 300 millions Euros! Here it is: (the statue was only a little shorter than this huge column, so must have been very impressive)
As I lined up to take this picture, there was a large thud to the side of me: A man had been standing on a big piece of stone and trying to take a photo, and he had fallen off! Because he was wearing a big backpack, it saved him from injury, as he fell flat onto his back. However, he was just lying there, waving his arms and legs around looking for all the world like a beached turtle -- I had to laugh before I went over to see if I could help. I think his wife was more embarrassed than he was....
The modern replica as seen through the trees, with the rest of the remains of the building going to the top left of picture:
This uninteresting looking piece of bare ground is in fact, where they have the ceremony every two years now, to relight the Olympic Flame (as they have the Winter Olympics now, in between the main one) You may have seen girls standing in Grecian robes whilst a man lights the flame from the heat of the sun upon a piece of metal - this is where The Flame starts before its journey around the world, in modern times.
The two small columns at the far distance with a bowl between was once a fountain.
Another general view: there were a lot of paths and lumps of masonry just lying around. There is a plan of the whole Site on the internet, showing how it was all laid out.
Our Guide led us off down one path, and explained these plinths, which were empty.
In the ancient times, if anyone were caught either cheating in a sport, or bribing his opponents to let him win, he was punished by having to spend a lot of money erecting a small solid golden statue of Zeus here on a plinth, with his name inscribed on the base for all to see forever more. Our guide explained that there were only ever 13 of these! over several centuries. Of course, at one point in history, other people came and conquered and sold all the valuable items so only the plinths are left, some just with the footprints of what was on them:
Lindybird: Fascinating photos. I spent some time on the 'net looking for an interactive map of the original site, but could only find small maps that I couldn't enlarge. Still, got a good idea of what was involved; I imagine walking around the original grounds must've been intriguing - I bet they even had gaggles of tourists back then too, plus food booths, etc. Wonder if time travel will ever happen! :-)
Very interesting pics and commentary, Lindy. Thank you for posting.