The archaeological site of Ancient Olympia is lovely, with ancient stones refelecting the dappled light from the many trees. So there is shade, which lacks in a lot of such sites.
1 Sunset over the pool and terrace of the Taverna Bacchus, near Olympia.
2 The pool is a little small, but very nice. But the water was cold.
3 View from the terrace of the Taverna Bacchus, where we ate each evening (three of them).
4 The Archaeological Museum at Olympia is excellent. This is a hammered bronze figure with inlaid bone eyes, representing maybe Artemis, Nike or a Sphinx. It dates from 590-580 BCE.
5 A clay head of Athena from the beginning of the 5th c. BCE. Isn't she beautiful?
6 This impressive statue of Nike (Athena as victory) was an offering to Zeus from the Messenians and Naupactians for their victory against the Spartans, probably in 421 BCE.
7 Statues from one of the pediments of the Temple of Zeus, which we will see shortly.
8 Close-up of the heavily-restored pediment.
9 These beautiful columns are probably part of the Palaestra, or wrestling school. It's all about sports, you remember.
10 Another light-speckled ruin among the trees.
11 The Philippeion was a circular temple holding statues of Philip II of Macedon and his family, from around 330 BCE.
12 The Temple of Hera, Queen of the gods and general pain in the ... to Zeus or any mortal female he seduced, be it her fault or not. Built around 590 BCE.
13 "Inside" the Temple of Hera.
14 Another view of the Philippeion.
15 The other end of the Temple of Hera, probably the main entrance.
16 It's thattaway, the Temple of >Zeus.
17 Beautiful columns. We love columns. Doesn't everyone?
18 The only still-standing column of the Temple of Zeus. Hard to imagine it entire, with the pediments we saw in the museum.
19 The Temple of Zeus.
20 Columns in the sun.
21 Columns in the shade. I said we love columns.
22 Peekaboo.
23 This is a picture of the trees on the hillside, in particular, the different shades of green.
24 And as the sun sets of Olympia, we prepare fot the next day's momentous drive.
