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Katakolon, Greece, for Olympia


Iluvcruising2
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We were on the NCL Jade, sailing to ports in Greece and Turkey in Dec 2014. Our first port of call was Katakolon.

 

Prior to this cruise, the ignorant me was unaware that suck a port existed. Now that I have been there, I know that it is the gateway to the ancient city of Olympia. Fascinating!

 

I created a short 'teaser' video showing what we did in Katakolon. The video is under 2 minutes -

 

Some interesting facts from http://www.katakolon.org/history.html. A small Greek town, with a population that is just over 600, Katakolon overlooks the Ionian Sea and is located on a peninsula on the western IIia in Pyrgos.

 

Katakolon's glory days were in the end of the 19th to the mid 20th Century. The port was constructed to facilitate the transportation of goods to other major European ports.

 

Today, I think Katakolon serves primarily as a port for visiting cruise ships. During summer season, our driver told us that there would be 3-4 ships in port. In winter, however, very few ships would come.

 

When planning for this port, we considered hiring a car. This option was highly recommended as the distances to travel were not too far. We even got a quote from AVIS. A 1000 cc car, 4 seater, Automatic transmission with A/C would cost 50 Euros for the day. A 1600cc car, Automatic transmission, A/C, would cost 65 Euros for the day. A GPS hire would cost additional 12 Euros. Paper maps provided for free.

 

Olympia was only 38km away from Katakolon, and the drive would take about half and hour. There was free parking at the Olympia Village.

 

However, we ended up booking a private van with driver as there were six of us. Our ship arrived in port as per scheduled. Getting off the ship was very easy, there was no rush at all.

Edited by Iluvcruising2
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The ship arrived at 8am. Picture of the NCL Jade in the morning. This was winter and the sun was still trying to rise!

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Our ride for the day was a very new 8 seater Mercedes Van. The driver was Mr Theo, of Mamousis Private Minibus Taxi Services. This is Theo's business. He told us that he used to drive a registered taxi in Olympia, but recently, he managed to get an upgrade to a larger passenger van. He also said that there were very few of such larger vans operating in Olympia. This is Theo.

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Theo speaks fairly good English and provided us with good service throughout. I made a video of Theo -

 

Meeting Theo was very easy. It was at most a 100M flat walk from the ship to the waiting point where all the buses, taxis and vans were waiting. Very convenient. From this picture, you can see how close the van was to the ship!

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The cruise ship calls at this port, because Katakolon is the most convenient gateway to Olympia. Olympia is one of the most famous places in ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks honoured their God, Zeus, with athletic challenges called the Olympics.

 

Naturally, our first place to visit was the ancient city of Olympia. The traffic was very light and we got there in less than half and hour. Theo told us where to get the tickets. We got a combined ticket for 9 Euros, for both the ancient site and museum. The prices were reduced for kids, but I can't recall how much.

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We were early and there were no queues, and hardly any visitors. All that would change about one hour later. We had no guide so we wandered around the ruins on our own. When I travel, I use a mobile app on my iphone called CityMaps2Go. I have to download the relevant maps of my destination first and then I can use this app without the need of a data connection. It relies on the phone GPS and it will show me where I am. Using this app as well as a paper map of the place, I could navigate around the ancient site quite easily.

 

According to the official Olympic Games website, the ancient Olympic Games were initially a one-day event until 684 BC, when they were extended to three days. In the 5th C B.C., the Games were extended again to five days. Events included running, long-jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankration and equestrian events.

 

Pankration was a blended boxing and wrestling event with scarcely any rules. Other than biting and gouging of the opponent's eyes which were both not allowed, anything goes. I don't think there is any equivalent in the modern Olympic Games.

 

The Ancient Olympic Games were stopped in 393AD after being held for over 1,200 years. Roman Emperor Theodosius decreed in 393 A.D. that all such 'pagan cults' be banned

 

They put up these signboards and plaques at every major part of the ancient ruins. Very useful. That way, we could figure out what we were looking at. The ancient stadium and running track was quite obvious though. I read that they ran 200M sprints along a straight line.

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This is the site of the running stadium. Nothing much was left. Still, a good place to walk and run!

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More ruins. It looked like it was about to rain, but we were fortunate that the weather held up, and the sun started to come out.

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By now, we had walked around the ancient site for about an hour, reading the signs and taking photos/videos. We saw more tourists, many from the ship.

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The placed looked bettter when the sun was out. But this being December, we were just glad that it didn't rain on us! Take note that this place is completely unsheltered, so bringing an umbrella or raincoat along may be wise. Our jackets were water-proof and had hoods, so that would shield us from light rain.

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We spent about 1 hour at the ancient site. As we left, many tourists were just starting their tour. We next headed to the museum, which was a 5 minute walk away.

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The walk was very easy, along this path.

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The combined ticket looked like this. The left part had already been used, that was for the ancient site. The right part would be for the museum.

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This is the entrance to the museum, a short walk from the ancient site. It was rather quiet when we got here, as most of the cruise ship passengers were still at the ancient site.

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Visiting the museum together with the ancient ruins site was a good idea. The artefacts in the museum were all from the ancient site. This plaque was a description of the west pediment of the temple of Zeus.

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And that was supposed to be Apollo. The height of his statue was 3.09m. I don't know much about Greek mythology but I understand that Apollo was an important yet complex God. Wiki describes Apollo as the God of music, poetry, art, oracles, archery, plague, medicine, sun, light and knowledge. At least they found the head of this statue. There were many headless statues on display.

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Take a look at these statues, for example. The centerpiece was supposed to be Zeus, the King of Gods who oversaw the universe. Unfortunately, his head was missing.

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The museum was spacious and the exhibits were fascinating because they were all linked to the ancient site of Olympia, where we just came from. Definitely worth the visit, since we were already at Olympia. We didn't take spend too long here, probably about 45 minutes.

 

After a toilet break, our driver guided us to walk to the modern village of Olympia, an easy walk of about 10 minutes. The modern village of Olympia wasn't very big. Just one major street, with some hotels, eateries and shops. We spent about half hour walking the street, checking out some shops and buying some souvenirs.

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We decided that we needed a break and walked past several cafes, but none looked enticing enough. Until we found this cafe which was at the end of a side street. I don't know the Greek alphabet, so is this Cafe Pogo or Cafe Podo or something else?

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This was the menu. Prices looked reasonable for the location. A Cappucino for 3 Euros. Margarita pizza for 8 Euros. More important was the fact that the cafe was fairly busy, with a good number of local patrons. The other cafes we passed had hardly anybody, most were empty.

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This was the Margarita pizza we had. Enough for everybody. We just needed a quick bite. The cafe provided free Wi-Fi and very clean toilet. That was most useful.

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After the rest stop, our last destination before returning to the cruise ship was a monastery called Kremasti Monastery. At first we thought there would be monks, but it turned out that the Monastery housed nuns, in the Greek Orthodox tradition. The monastery was located about 15km away from Olympia, up on a hill, with gorgeous views.

 

We spent about an hour here, viewing the place and taking in the views. Soon it was time to head back to the ship. Overall, it was a great day in port for us.

 

Here are the more detailed videos from the day in port.

 

Video 1 - Off the ship and headed to the ancient Olympia and Museum

 

Video 2 - Modern village of Olympia, Cafe Podo

 

Video 3 - Visit to the Kremasti Monastery and back to the ship

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Thanks for the detailed review. We will be traveling on the Jade to Olympia in Feb. Your review is very helpful in our planning.

 

Glad that you found the review useful and thanks for leaving a comment.

 

This website contains some useful information too -

 

http://www.katakolon.org/

 

have a Blessed Christmas!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thank you for the review. We will be there in Oct., would to do simple walk around in the town rather than a tour be interesting. We do have some walking problems, but can manage if there are places to stop and visit. Since our cruise is a port intensive cruise we need some days that are easy. I hope this question makes sense. Can we add Rhodes, Greece as port that is manageable just to do a walk around.

Edited by boards
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  • 4 weeks later...

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