We pulled into the beautiful little port town of Katakolon under gorgeous blue skies. When we originally planned this trip, we tried first to avoid the “high season” of the summer when everyone and their brother is travelling then second with an eye towards the most ideal temperatures for the area. Of course you can never predict local storms that may crop up and so we were really fortunate to have such ideal weather and temperatures during the entire trip. I know we all commented on several occasions how one could not have asked for better weather than what we experiencing that day…and it was like that every day.
Our first order of the day in Katakolon was to find the rental car agency that we had booked our car for the day with, which turned out to be very close to the ship’s docking point. We quickly filled out the required paperwork and were ushered to our awaiting chariot, the highly sought after yellow Fiat Panda! The very one in the picture on the company’s website that we had requested. For those of you not fortunate enough to have driven, passengered, or seen a Fiat Panda, it is approximately four feet long, two feet wide has four seats with room enough for one. So, with directions to Olympia provided by the lovely lady in Katakolon Car and Moto Rentals, we were on our way. About one kilometer into our journey, Melauna points out that we are just about out of gas, so at the next petrol station available, we pulled in and had the attendant add enough for the rest of the day. When was the last time you had an attendant fill your gas tank for you? Now we were on our way. Left after three kilometers at the photo stop, then five kilometers and right at photo stop, then 29 kilometers to Olympia, per the gas station attendant. Photo stop? I guess that meant traffic light. So, at the second photo stop, there was no sign for Olympia so I just kept on going. Quickly realizing that we should have in fact turned, I turned the precious little Fiat Panda around and pulled back up to the light to turn left and head to Olympia. The light, or photo, turned green, and I stalled little Panda. No problem, just a quick restart and we will be on our way. Just a quick restart….just a turn of the key…just a…nothing. The piece of shit miserable excuse for a car had died. I mean completely dead. No nothing. Dead in the water, or road as it were. I mean who rents out yellow Fiat Pandas anyway? More importantly, who pays money to cram four people into a vehicle clearly intended for a single anorexic dwarf? So, fortunately, Melauna had her iPhone with her as well as the paperwork with phone number for the rental agency. When I say fortunate, I cannot stress that enough. I mean, if we didn’t have that, we would either still be out there or else the Greeks would be telling the story to their friends about the little lady pushing the little yellow car yelling “pop the clutch!”, “Pop it!”, “POP IT!!!” But alas, we were able to put in a call to Katakolon Car and Moto Rental and within 20 minutes we had another Fiat Panda delivered to us, this one orange, along with a heartfelt apology. Now we were on our way. About 30 minutes later we arrived in the ancient city of Olympia and were out and walking amongst the amazing 2,500 year old ruins of the site of the original Olympic games in honor of Zeus.
We spent the next two hours or so just wandering around the various sites and in retrospect, having a knowledgeable guide with us would have been helpful but we had opted to do this one ourselves so were limited to reading the accompanying plaques adjacent to individual sites. In reality, I read a couple of them then just enjoyed wandering around and taking it all in, not always knowing exactly what I was looking at. Melauna played tour guide for awhile, reading from the map that she had obtained at the office located at the start of the Olympic trails. I don’t mean to imply that the time that we spent wasn’t enjoyable because it certainly was but it lacked the back story that makes it that much better. Lyn and I found some little pieces of rock laying around the ruins that could have possibly been originally a piece of a statue or monument that we would stealthily sneak into one another’s hand, passing them along like a couple of spies. (If anyone from the Bureau of Greek Antiquity is reading this, the previous sentence was a work of fiction and did not actually take place.)
After finishing up our time wandering through the ancient Olympic site, we spent some time in the two museums located on the grounds as well. Honestly, the pieces in the museum were as interesting as the site itself. Extraordinary statues, coins, building edifices, weaponry, etc., all of which has been excavated from the site over the past 120 years. After leaving the museums, we headed back to the little orange Panda and began our drive back to Katakolon for lunch and our last shopping opportunity of the cruise. Melauna had read about a spot for lunch located right along the harbor called Karouso’s. What a great lunch! Just as it had been described, this little restaurant was right on the water and the food was excellent. Mom and Melauna both had the shreemps which were as long as your arm…well big anyway. Lyn had the shreemp spaghetti, and I had the pork gyros and an Αλπα beer which the waiter had recommended. Actually I had ordered a Mythos, which was in fact offered on the menu, but the waiter shook his head and said Αλπα was real Greek beer. With all of those Greek letters in the name, I couldn’t argue. Turned out he knew his beer…quite tasty. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their lunch and afterward mom and Lyn walked through the two lanes of shops that paralleled the harbor while Melauna and I returned the rental. Once again, we were given all sorts of apologies and even a keychain for our trouble with the little yellow Fiat Panda. They were really nice folks and I would not hesitate to do business with them again.
Melauna and I then found our way to the shopping area where mom and Lyn had already gotten a head start. I think that everyone found something to bring back as a memento of our time in Greece. Lyn and I both found items in the same Greek art gallery and were able to get a discount since several items were being purchased between the two of us. A gentleman was helping Lyn with her purchases while a woman was wrapping my item, a reproduction of a water pitcher from the 5th century B.C. depicting Hector and Achilles. She spent considerable time carefully wrapping the pitcher and afterward we thanked one another and said what a pleasure it had been to meet and do business with one another. I was across the street catching up with the girls when I hear “Sir!” “Sir!” coming from behind me. It was the woman from the shop that I just left…so I go back. “Umm…sir…did you pay for your piece?” Crap. After offering 38 apologies and my MasterCard, I was back on my way to hunt down the girls. What a buffoon. We only had about 20 minutes before we had to be back on board and so mom and Lyn headed for the ship. Melauna had sworn that she would not step foot on board until the last possible minute…she made good on the threat.
Despite the early car troubles everything turned out well and we didn’t really waste a lot of time with the issue. As said earlier, the weather could not have been any better and a great time was had by all. It is always sad to realize that your trip is coming to an end, such as it was today. But we have eaten some wonderful meals, visited some beautiful and incredible historic lands and made memories that will last a lifetime. What else could you ask for?
Our first order of the day in Katakolon was to find the rental car agency that we had booked our car for the day with, which turned out to be very close to the ship’s docking point. We quickly filled out the required paperwork and were ushered to our awaiting chariot, the highly sought after yellow Fiat Panda! The very one in the picture on the company’s website that we had requested. For those of you not fortunate enough to have driven, passengered, or seen a Fiat Panda, it is approximately four feet long, two feet wide has four seats with room enough for one. So, with directions to Olympia provided by the lovely lady in Katakolon Car and Moto Rentals, we were on our way. About one kilometer into our journey, Melauna points out that we are just about out of gas, so at the next petrol station available, we pulled in and had the attendant add enough for the rest of the day. When was the last time you had an attendant fill your gas tank for you? Now we were on our way. Left after three kilometers at the photo stop, then five kilometers and right at photo stop, then 29 kilometers to Olympia, per the gas station attendant. Photo stop? I guess that meant traffic light. So, at the second photo stop, there was no sign for Olympia so I just kept on going. Quickly realizing that we should have in fact turned, I turned the precious little Fiat Panda around and pulled back up to the light to turn left and head to Olympia. The light, or photo, turned green, and I stalled little Panda. No problem, just a quick restart and we will be on our way. Just a quick restart….just a turn of the key…just a…nothing. The piece of shit miserable excuse for a car had died. I mean completely dead. No nothing. Dead in the water, or road as it were. I mean who rents out yellow Fiat Pandas anyway? More importantly, who pays money to cram four people into a vehicle clearly intended for a single anorexic dwarf? So, fortunately, Melauna had her iPhone with her as well as the paperwork with phone number for the rental agency. When I say fortunate, I cannot stress that enough. I mean, if we didn’t have that, we would either still be out there or else the Greeks would be telling the story to their friends about the little lady pushing the little yellow car yelling “pop the clutch!”, “Pop it!”, “POP IT!!!” But alas, we were able to put in a call to Katakolon Car and Moto Rental and within 20 minutes we had another Fiat Panda delivered to us, this one orange, along with a heartfelt apology. Now we were on our way. About 30 minutes later we arrived in the ancient city of Olympia and were out and walking amongst the amazing 2,500 year old ruins of the site of the original Olympic games in honor of Zeus.
We spent the next two hours or so just wandering around the various sites and in retrospect, having a knowledgeable guide with us would have been helpful but we had opted to do this one ourselves so were limited to reading the accompanying plaques adjacent to individual sites. In reality, I read a couple of them then just enjoyed wandering around and taking it all in, not always knowing exactly what I was looking at. Melauna played tour guide for awhile, reading from the map that she had obtained at the office located at the start of the Olympic trails. I don’t mean to imply that the time that we spent wasn’t enjoyable because it certainly was but it lacked the back story that makes it that much better. Lyn and I found some little pieces of rock laying around the ruins that could have possibly been originally a piece of a statue or monument that we would stealthily sneak into one another’s hand, passing them along like a couple of spies. (If anyone from the Bureau of Greek Antiquity is reading this, the previous sentence was a work of fiction and did not actually take place.)
After finishing up our time wandering through the ancient Olympic site, we spent some time in the two museums located on the grounds as well. Honestly, the pieces in the museum were as interesting as the site itself. Extraordinary statues, coins, building edifices, weaponry, etc., all of which has been excavated from the site over the past 120 years. After leaving the museums, we headed back to the little orange Panda and began our drive back to Katakolon for lunch and our last shopping opportunity of the cruise. Melauna had read about a spot for lunch located right along the harbor called Karouso’s. What a great lunch! Just as it had been described, this little restaurant was right on the water and the food was excellent. Mom and Melauna both had the shreemps which were as long as your arm…well big anyway. Lyn had the shreemp spaghetti, and I had the pork gyros and an Αλπα beer which the waiter had recommended. Actually I had ordered a Mythos, which was in fact offered on the menu, but the waiter shook his head and said Αλπα was real Greek beer. With all of those Greek letters in the name, I couldn’t argue. Turned out he knew his beer…quite tasty. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their lunch and afterward mom and Lyn walked through the two lanes of shops that paralleled the harbor while Melauna and I returned the rental. Once again, we were given all sorts of apologies and even a keychain for our trouble with the little yellow Fiat Panda. They were really nice folks and I would not hesitate to do business with them again.
Melauna and I then found our way to the shopping area where mom and Lyn had already gotten a head start. I think that everyone found something to bring back as a memento of our time in Greece. Lyn and I both found items in the same Greek art gallery and were able to get a discount since several items were being purchased between the two of us. A gentleman was helping Lyn with her purchases while a woman was wrapping my item, a reproduction of a water pitcher from the 5th century B.C. depicting Hector and Achilles. She spent considerable time carefully wrapping the pitcher and afterward we thanked one another and said what a pleasure it had been to meet and do business with one another. I was across the street catching up with the girls when I hear “Sir!” “Sir!” coming from behind me. It was the woman from the shop that I just left…so I go back. “Umm…sir…did you pay for your piece?” Crap. After offering 38 apologies and my MasterCard, I was back on my way to hunt down the girls. What a buffoon. We only had about 20 minutes before we had to be back on board and so mom and Lyn headed for the ship. Melauna had sworn that she would not step foot on board until the last possible minute…she made good on the threat.
Despite the early car troubles everything turned out well and we didn’t really waste a lot of time with the issue. As said earlier, the weather could not have been any better and a great time was had by all. It is always sad to realize that your trip is coming to an end, such as it was today. But we have eaten some wonderful meals, visited some beautiful and incredible historic lands and made memories that will last a lifetime. What else could you ask for?
Back on board, Melauna and I had dinner back in the Manhattan at our assigned table much to the delight of the downstairs open seating attendant I am sure. Dinner was great as always and tonight we were witness to the Great Baked Alaska spectacle. Not sure what this was nor how to describe it…All of the wait staff parading around to music with a big Baked Alaska ice cream cake on a silver serving dish. Great! Now let’s eat it! After dinner, I decided to give the craps table a chance to apologize for the rude treatment given to me last night. I received more rudeness. After about 30 minutes of steadily seeing my pile of chips steadily diminish, I went back to the room. After about an hour, I thought to myself “maybe I made to hasty of a retreat…maybe I should go back for just one more chance.” I know what you are thinking…idiot. Not so! Sheldon got on a roll like none I have ever seen. Literally. He held the dice for a half an hour after which I was well above break even for the trip. He was given an ovation when he finally rolled that seven and an even bigger ovation when he cashed out. I’m not sure what he started with but I know he walked off with a thick stack of black chips. Wow…what a roll. I stuck around for a few more rolls then cashed out myself and headed back to the room happy with my decision to come back and play. A great way to end the day.