Today started out with a trip to the site of ancient Olympia. A lot of the temples and monuments at the site are in complete ruin. We got to see where everything would have been in the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. but it was kind of a bummer that there wasn't enough of it still standing to really justify the enormity of it. They have erected one of the columns in the temple to Zeus for people to kind of get an idea for the sheer size of this temple alone, but other than that ancient earthquakes have leveled everything. The weight of the drums alone though (the pieces of stone that make up the columns) were up to 1,000 lbs....HUGE! The cult statue inside would have been over 50 ft. high and towered over everything in its path. The really cool part about Olympia though was the original track that the footraces would have been held on for the original Olympics is still intact. You walk under the archway that the ancient athletes would have on their way to their race. We actually got to run on the original Olympic track ever! How many people can say they have done that?! I love having Irini as our tour guide because while all the other obnoxious tourists were taking pictures in the starting position that we see now in modern track and field, she knows her stuff and was telling us the proper way to start the race in ancient times. It's a little bit different as you can see in the pictures below. In the original Olympics there were only four events: the foot race, boxing, wrestling, and pankration (a mix between boxing and wrestling). All athletes competed nude, and spent weeks training and worshipping in Olympia to prepare for their events. Women were not allowed to compete (except in one foot race set aside just for them) or attend the games at all. The athletes would often anoint themselves in olive oil before the games and afterwards would wipe the oil, sweat, and dirt off which would then be bottled and sold as tonics to other people....completely gross. After Olympia we headed out towards Delphi. It was four hours by road, and I was completely carsick the entire time. The roads in Greece are all winding and turning as you go up and down mountains and it is horrible. Delphi is a quaint little town set up on the side of a mountain that has amazing views of the water and mountain range. We will be here for two days...thank goodness because a new hotel everyday is wearing me out! Relatively lax day, and those are such a nice change of pace!
Had a minor crisis on my hands when I ran out of eyeliner yesterday and practically discovered that nobody in Greece wears makeup because they don't sell it ANYWHERE. Finally hunted some down in Delphi at the pharmacy. Crisis averted.
Ancient runners' starting position
Kelsi was celebrating a win a little too early haha
View from restaurant in Delphi
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