Olympia, situated in northwest Pelopponesus, is the jewel of a luxuriant valley of wild olive and plane trees, spread beside the rivers of Alfiós and Kládhios. From its beginnings the site was a sanctuary. The origins of the Olympic games are rooted in legends related first to the god Pelops, then to Zeus, and later to Hercules. The contests began around the eleventh century BC, and over the next two centuries from a local festival it grew to a quadrennial celebration attended by states from throughout the Greek world.
The main focus of the precinct in provided by the Temple of Zeus. The most complete building on the site is the smaller Temple of Hera. Other places of interest include the gymnasium and the palaestra, the hippodrome, the Bouleuterion (Council Chamber), the Prytaneion, the administrators’ residence, and the Leonídaion (hostel).
The Archaeological Museum houses the famous sculpture of Hermes of Praxiteles and that of Nike of Paionios. Also exhibited are statuary and sculpture finds reassembled from the Temple of Zeus, as well as smaller objects as a Persian helmet, the helmet of Miltiades, the terracotta group of Zeus abducting Ganymede, and finds from the workshop of Pheidias.
Places also worth visiting are:
Lake Kaïáfas (25km). On the way to Zaháro, the largest town between Kyparissía and Pýrgos, is to be found the beautiful Lake Kaïáfas, backed by pine groves separating it from the sea.
With Olympia as a base, you have a choice to visit the spa of Loutrá Kyllínis (45km). It has a long beach which gives way to sand dunes.
Andhrítsena (64km) is a traditional mountain town with a rich history from Frankish times to the first century of independent Greece. Luckily, it remains in its primeval state of condition, with wooden houses, paved streets and central square with Traní Vrýssi fountain, the oldest in Peloponnesus, built in 1724, and set within a plane tree. The town’s library, founded in 1840, is famous for its collection of rare manuscripts dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, select Greek and foreign language books, documents from the War of Independence of 1821, and rich folk material.
A visit to the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae (78km) up in the flanks of Mount Lýkeo is a must. After the Thiseion in Athens it is the best-preserved Classical monument in the country, said to have been designed by Iktinos, architect of the Parthenon.
Visit Amalia Olympia Hotel: www.amaliahotelolympia.gr
The main focus of the precinct in provided by the Temple of Zeus. The most complete building on the site is the smaller Temple of Hera. Other places of interest include the gymnasium and the palaestra, the hippodrome, the Bouleuterion (Council Chamber), the Prytaneion, the administrators’ residence, and the Leonídaion (hostel).
The Archaeological Museum houses the famous sculpture of Hermes of Praxiteles and that of Nike of Paionios. Also exhibited are statuary and sculpture finds reassembled from the Temple of Zeus, as well as smaller objects as a Persian helmet, the helmet of Miltiades, the terracotta group of Zeus abducting Ganymede, and finds from the workshop of Pheidias.
Places also worth visiting are:
Lake Kaïáfas (25km). On the way to Zaháro, the largest town between Kyparissía and Pýrgos, is to be found the beautiful Lake Kaïáfas, backed by pine groves separating it from the sea.
With Olympia as a base, you have a choice to visit the spa of Loutrá Kyllínis (45km). It has a long beach which gives way to sand dunes.
Andhrítsena (64km) is a traditional mountain town with a rich history from Frankish times to the first century of independent Greece. Luckily, it remains in its primeval state of condition, with wooden houses, paved streets and central square with Traní Vrýssi fountain, the oldest in Peloponnesus, built in 1724, and set within a plane tree. The town’s library, founded in 1840, is famous for its collection of rare manuscripts dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, select Greek and foreign language books, documents from the War of Independence of 1821, and rich folk material.
A visit to the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae (78km) up in the flanks of Mount Lýkeo is a must. After the Thiseion in Athens it is the best-preserved Classical monument in the country, said to have been designed by Iktinos, architect of the Parthenon.
Visit Amalia Olympia Hotel: www.amaliahotelolympia.gr