Hello Peloponnisos

The direction to Katakolon put the wind directly behind us. The catamaran likes it off the rear quarters but not right up the clacker. With everybody but Jack and I asleep on board we quietly resolved to sail to Killini instead for two reasons... We could raise the spinnaker and we would reach Killini before nightfall having sailed all the way under spinnaker.

Killini is described in the book as a dusty little town, now the ferry terminal for Zakinthos and Kefalonia and not exactly a glam spot to visit. This description turned out to be so accurate and the reason the girls didn't want to go there, that I didn't even take any photographs. Still we did get a great meal in a nearby tavern and watched some World Cup before retiring.... So glad that is now over so we can all get some sleep!

Katakolon is the gateway to Olympia and the reason we wanted to go there, so at 10:15 the following morning we were outta there. Nil wind nearly all the way, we arrived in the substantial harbour of Katakolon and were directed by a pretty bolshie harbour master as to where and how to moor. Power and water supplied and we eventually made friends with Mr Grumpy who gave us a free melon for his behavior.

There were two cruise ships due in the following morning and unusually for this time of year, there were none in port. This meant that Olympia itself would not be crawling with more of those underwhelmed tourists so we hired a minivan and drove straight over there. I was hot.

Whilst this place does have lots of piles of nondescript rubble, I am in awe of the sheer dignity of it all. For those who, like me, didn't know...

Olympia was built around 2500 years ago. In a land in which nearly every defend-able hilltop has a fort built to protect its inhabitants from the constant threat of attack from the guys on the next hill, every four years all of them, from here to the Black Sea laid down their weapons, ceased hostilities, gathered at this place and competed in the Olympic games... and they did this for over a thousand years!!

The games must have been every bit a grand as they are today given the lack of motorised transport to get them all here, no electronic communications, no digital photography, no television and no Swiss time keeping sponsor...

The pieces that made up these enormous pillars would be 3 meters in diameter.

There was accommodation for the athletes, training and bathing areas, buildings for gymnastics, wrestling, an athletics track and field that sat 35,000 spectators and I cannot imagine how they even managed to sculpt then pile these enormous stones one on top of the other.Only large earthquakes would have knocked them over.

After 1200 years of use, it all suddenly stopped and the whole place was lost until rediscovered by a German archaeologist in the late 1800's.... How does that happen?

By 10:00am the following morning the two cruise ships arrived and the port was transformed. Three dozen buses lined up to take those that wanted to go to Olympia.... can you imagine. Those that didn't fancy going injected some animation into the vendors that had been semi comatosed with just a few yachts in. It was definitely time to go...

Next stop Kiparisia, a break in the journey to Pilos.