olympia

^^ i think here he is doing the discus throwing pose. just go with it. ^^

the last port on our cruise, before returning to venice, was katakolon, greece – a little seaside town that is just a short bus ride away from the site of the original olympic games. we went with our tour group to a museum with magnificent ancient greek sculptures and then explored the ruins of ancient olympia. it felt quite amazing to be in the exact spot where athletes competed so so long ago, and neat to learn more about the games when they first began in the 8th century bc (wow). we had a lovely greek lunch with my mom (my dad actually missed the bus at the port – so sad!) and right before getting back on the ship we finally got an opportunity to take a dip in the sea! sooo refreshing and really fun.

  
^^ i can’t get over the details and folds and wrinkles in these ancient sculptures. really incredible. ^^

^^ this is the original archway through which athletes entered the stadium for competitions. ^^ we also learned that the olympic flame is ignited by the sun reflecting in a mirror at olympia every year that the olympics happen, and carried from there to the host city. so cool!

^^ we couldn’t resist, even though it was super super hot, an opportunity to run a race in the original olympic stadium. ian claims his flip flops slowed him down, but i think he actually let me win :) ^^

^^ i love that he is (almost) always up for a pose. here’s the heisman, just to mix in some modernity with the antiquity. ian is so nice about, and often expressing gratitude for, my kind of constant picture taking. ^^
^^ ruins of the temple to zeus at olympia. ^^

^^ heaven on a plate. i love a good greek salad, especially in greece. everything is so so fresh. and that feta! ^^

^^ happy kids out for a quick swim near the port. the water was so clear – we could see lots of coral and fish from above the surface! ^^

back on the ship that evening, we had our second and last formal night at dinner. sometimes it’s just fun to dress up (even though with our shipment not having arrived yet, i had pretty limited clothes options!). and we thoroughly enjoyed the order-whatever-you-want situation and big windows overlooking the ocean and fancy atmosphere and great company at dinner each night on the cruise.






it took a day at sea to get back to venice from olympia. we tried to experience as many amenities on the ship as possible before disembarking. the boy challenged my mom and dad to a “trifecta” tournament and we went head-to-head as couples at minigolf, ping pong and shuffleboard. it was pretty fun! and…ian and i swept it – won every event.



and we ate a lot of self-serve soft-serve and had some room service and went to the gym and sat in the hot tub and hung out on the deck, and got some sweets from the cafe in between each of those :)

it was such a gigantic treat for us to go with my parents on this cruise!