Yes, Ancient Olympia is well worth visiting, and for anyone with an interest in history it is one of the essential sites of Greece. As the birthplace of the Olympic Games, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the home of the Temple of Zeus with its lost Wonder of the ancient world, it combines deep … Read more
The Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae stands alone in the wild Arcadian mountains of the Peloponnese, one of the most remarkable temples of the ancient Greek world. Built in the fifth century BC and attributed by the ancient traveller Pausanias to Iktinos, the architect of the Parthenon, it was the first Greek monument inscribed … Read more
Chlemoutsi Castle, crowning a hill above the west coast of the Peloponnese, is the finest and best-preserved Frankish fortress in Greece. Built in the early thirteenth century by the Crusader prince Geoffrey I of Villehardouin, it guarded the medieval capital of the Frankish Principality of Achaea and its harbour of Glarenza. Its great hexagonal keep … Read more
The Hermes of Praxiteles, also called Hermes carrying the infant Dionysos, is one of the most celebrated statues of ancient Greece and the star exhibit of the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. Carved from gleaming Parian marble and standing over two metres tall, it shows the god Hermes at rest, the baby Dionysos on his arm, … Read more
The Museum of the History of the Olympic Games in Antiquity at Olympia is the museum devoted to the ancient Games themselves, rather than to the art of the sanctuary. Housed in a handsome nineteenth-century building given by the benefactor Andreas Syngros, one of the first provincial museums in Greece, it tells the story of … Read more
The best place to stay in Ancient Olympia is the small town of Archaia Olympia, right beside the archaeological site. A few minutes’ walk from the ruins, the museums, the tavernas and the shops, the town has hotels, guesthouses and family apartments for every budget, and staying overnight lets you reach the site early before … Read more
The best time to visit Ancient Olympia is late spring and early autumn, from May to June and in September to October, when the weather is warm, the archaeological site is comfortable to walk and the crowds are at their thinnest. Olympia sits in a green river valley in the western Peloponnese, and its open … Read more
The Temple of Hera at Olympia, known as the Heraion, is the oldest temple of the whole sanctuary and one of the earliest Doric temples in Greece. Built around 600 BC and dedicated to Hera, the queen of the gods, it predates the great Temple of Zeus by more than a century, and its worn … Read more
An Ancient Olympia guided tour is the best way to understand the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Much of the sanctuary survives as foundations and fallen columns, so a knowledgeable guide transforms the scattered stones into the vivid story of the Temple of Zeus, the ancient stadium and the Games held here for nearly twelve … Read more
Katakolo to Olympia is one of the finest and easiest shore excursions in the whole Mediterranean. When a cruise ship calls at the small western Greek port of Katakolo, the great sanctuary of Ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games, lies just thirty-five kilometres inland, under an hour away by road. From the pier you … Read more