Thursday, July 10, 2014

Day 6 - Going for Gold!

Our last day in Greece - boy has it flown by!

Today was a day of driving and enjoying the beautiful scenery as we made our way to Olympia!  

At Olympia - we made our way into Olympic village.  We learned that the first Olympic games were held in 776 BC and were only for the men of the Olympia area.  Starting somewhere around 300-400 AD, they started the Pan-Hellenic games which included the men of the Greek region who spoke Greek. These games were always held in August  They would travel thousands of miles of participate in the games and stopped wars for the time it took to get to and from the games.  

They learned about the how the area was set up and the different temples that were there and some of the excavations that are ongoing and how they are trying to replicate some on the pillars that can no longer hold the weight.  We also had a chance to race on the Olympic track - Drew won the boys race and Sara won they girls race.  Although we wanted the races to be as authentic as possible - we couldn't convince the boys to strip naked and run the race or the girls to put on a short toga leaving half of their chest exposed!  









Finally we were able to see where the Olympic flame is ignited every 2 years for the modern Winter and Summer games.  

After our tour of Ancient Olympia, we boarded our bus to catch the ferry and say Good Bye to Greece.   

Tomorrow - our adventures begin in Italy!  Everyone is looking forward to their new adventures.   

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