Mediterranean Cruise December 2013 Part 1 Greece

What a wonderful way to see some of the beautiful Mediterranean and it's wonderful countries and despite the negative press of late, Costa was a wonderful company to travel with. We were very impressed by this cruise line and will definitely travel with them again in the future. Their staff was always pleasant but professional, all spoke some degree of English and as much as possible although Italian as her native tongue the Costa Serena staff tried to include non Italian speaking cruisers. The food as with all cruise companies was always very good and in plentiful supply! Although not used by our family, they had a retractable roof so people could enjoy the pools even though the weather was at times less than could be considered "summer" like!

The highlights of our cruise were the exertions. On our 12 day journey we stopped at 5 ports which included, Athens, Olympia, Turkey, Israel, and Rome. Our favorite stop was of course Israel! What an amazing historical place to visit. (just wish the weather had been warmer!!)

What follows is a pictorial review of those highlights which were our favorites. I will make a brief account of each but will leave the images for themselves to tell the story!

The starting point to our visit to Olympia Greece

Olympia Greece is home of the original Olympic Games and the ruins there are from the times of Zeus and Hera. It dates back to the 8th century BC and continued to be home to the games until 393 AD. Archaeologists have spent many years uncovering the temples, bathhouses and sports structures buried there, for many years and continue to do so even today.

This is the site of an archaeological site being excavated at present. It is what remains of the bathhouses believed to be used by the Olympic athletes

What remains of the many arenas, living quarters and practise areas where the Olympic athletes spent their time preparing for the games.

This is all that remains of the circular Philippeion, built in 338 BC and  dedicated to the family of Philip the 2nd after his victory at Chaeronea. It was built of ivory and gold and the statues and  busts of his family which were contained within it's walls including those of Alexander the Great who completed the temple.

Some of the writings found in the village

The steps leading up to the Temple of Zeus

When the temple was destroyed by Theodosius the 2nd in 426 CE it is said that it took several men with horses to pull down a single column! It was further destroyed after an earthquake in 522 which partially buried the temple.

Entrance to the stadium

Brendan and I standing above the track and field area 

Behind John are stone and marble square blocks along the right side of the road....At one time there would be statues erected on  these blocks. These statues were of Olympians who disgraced their position and therefore were shamed for ever more in stone. Their name along with the names of their family members were placed upon the block! ( bet they didn't have the problems with doping that we have now!!)


We realized after having started this process that we have A LOT of pictures. So this is the first of 3 instalments!!!