Visit Olympia
Have you heard of Olympia? It would be very strange indeed if you find anybody replying this question in the negative.
The long forgotten historical traditions and the life at the ancient sites at Olympia would never have been formed an integral part of the popular culture and traditions of the modern world, had the Olympics game not been revived by Pierre de Coubertin. As a result the first modern Olympics were held in 1896, about eleven centuries after the legendary games in the Ancient Greece.
It is the same historical and archaeological sites of Olympia and the Olympia Stadium, from which the flame of the Olympics torch is lit every 4 years, which attract tourists from around the world to this mystical site in Greece, located in the prefecture of Elis in the Peleponnese Peninsula.
Olympia was actually a sanctuary complex, and was added to in different historical periods over the time. The important components of the sanctuary was the Temple of Zeus, the Altar of Zeus, the Temple of Hera, the Phileppeion, the Hellenistic Palaestra, the Gymnasion and the Stadium itself, which particularly dates to the Classical Period. It was the Temple of Zeus in this very sanctuary which contained the ivory and gold statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
As you intend to spend your holidays at one of the popular beach resorts of Greece, or visit the magnificent Athens herself, then it is not difficult to take a little time out to visit the quiet ruins at Olympia, which will surely take your imagination back to the Olympiads of the Ancient Greece.
Olympia, which has been named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, really is worth visiting, and visiting the place is an important item on the must-visit lists of many people.
Map of Olympia and places to visit
Olympia places to visit
Patras
Patras guide
Zakynthos
Zakynthos guide