Kalispera from Katakalon Greece!
What a beautiful day in Katakolon and Olympia! As we approached the port city of Katakolon we sailed through a pretty big rain storm. We figured we were bound to get some bad weather on the trip so we packed out our coats and umbrellas. But as we docked, the sun came out and in turned into quite a beautiful day, sunny and around 20°C.
We had reserved a car for the day. What was supposed to be a Mercedes was a Skoda, but it was large and comfortable. Though Nikko’s English wasn’t great, I think I understood 20% of what he was saying, he was quite nice. He dropped us at the archeological site in Olympia, told us to visit the museum and that he would be back to get us two hours later at 1:15. We got into the site just ahead of the numerous buses from the ship. We managed to avoid them for most of the time so we got a few pictures devoid of people. I don’t think that would be possible in September or June.
One of the funny things about our trip is that everywhere we go, they tell us that they have the best olive oil. So Nikko wanted to bring us to see how Olive Oil was made. Turns out it was quite interesting. It’s the local olive oil community press and it was functioning when we went. Nikko even mentioned that he was making oil yesterday and would be back tomorrow to make more.
The area was hit by a very bad fire four year ago where 75 people died and house and entire forests were lost. You can see the scars left behind along the Olympic Site, the hills of Chronos and the n earby villages.
WE then got to visit a very modern winery call Olympia winery. The owner showed us around and then gave us a snack and wine tasting. The Kalamata olives and olive oil were delicious. Her wines were light and tasty without any heavy tannins or sulfites. I bought a bottle of olive oil. How delicious that will be with some bread, yum!
Nikko also very kindly offered us some wine that his brother in law made as well as some olive oil straight of the press when we went to visit. Both are bottled in some plastic water bottles so we will need to sample these before we get off the ship. He also gave us six gigantic oranges he picked from his orange tree while we were at Olympic site.
Katakolon and its people left quite a nice impression on us in a very short amount of time.
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| Olives on the Olympic Site |
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| Remains at Olympia |
A few words about Nikko, who turned out to be much more than just our driver for the day. He was very proud to tell us that his family was one of the founders of the modern town of Olympia and he pointed out his house, sitting on a hilltop overlooking the town. He beamed as he told us about twice being an olympic torch bearer and again when he showed us photos of his children; a son who was an olympic athlete for Greece and also a torch bearer and a daughter shown presenting Hilary and Chelsea Clinton wit=h a bouquet of flowers during the olympic flame lighting ceremony for the Atlanta games.
ReplyDeleteWhen pressed, Nikko admitted that in his youth he was a marathon runner.
What a guy! I think we will remember Nikko as much as our visit to the Olympic archetechtural site.
Dad