Another day another 300 kilometres. This morning we went to the archeological site in Olympia to see the ruins of ancient Olympia and the site where the Olympic Games where invented. The games were originally invented as a way to promote peace and all wars with Grecian city states involved would cease for the duration of the games. We saw all the ruins of the temples and then saw the original track for the running events, the interesting part about that was that the competitors used to run up and down the track (like in swimming) as opposed to running around the track like modern times. The track was 600ft (197m) long for men and when the women did it (yes, they did compete just at different time to men and to pay respect to different gods) it was about 50-100ft shorter. Then we went to the museum at the site and saw the statues and balustrades that had been discovered as well as tool and ceramics etc. After that we hopped on the bus and header to the Corinth Canall for lunch. We arrived and the thing that struck me is how blue the water is (also how inviting it looks!) especially next to the dry surroundings. We had lunch at a nice enough restaurant next to the canal and also next one of the first submersible bridges used in the world. About an hour down the road was Athens. Our first impressions were not good as it looked dirty, rundown and almost Eastern Bloc-ish. We then had a walk around Plaka (the main market area and pedestrian mall) which is overlooked by the Acropolis and it was very pretty. We had dinner in Plaka and for about €40 we had a massive plate of grilled meat (with Greek spices and lemon) and rice and potatoes with a beer and water (which is cheaper than the places we had been frequenting in other countries, except Spain, which gave us less food for more money). We had gelato afterwards and are having and early night as we are off cruising some Greek Islands all day tomorrow. Should be brilliant.

Alex