Attraction spotlight: Ancient Olympia

The 2022 Winter Paralympic Games is currently on. And I kid you not, I get shivers every time I see Greece walk out at the head of the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremonies.

There are a lot of politics involved these days in the modern Olympics, but at its heart, the Olympics are a celebration – of dedication, sportsmanship, and the best an athlete has to offer.

It brings the world together.

Similarly, Ancient Olympia was a shrine to the god Zeus (and his wife Hera). Starting from the 700 BCs, athletes from all over the area came to compete in the games as a way to honour the god. It also served to bring a fragmented Greece (in the dark ages at the time thanks to the downfall of Mycenae) together.

After the birthplace of democracy, Greece is probably best known for being the birthplace of the modern – and ancient – Olympic Games. Olympia is a UNSECO world heritage site. But funny enough, Olympia is frequently not among even the top 10 destinations in Greece. It’s easy to see why. Olympia is a full four hour drive from Athens. It’s rather understated, nestled among the rolling hills and quiet Greek countryside. Can it compare to the rest of Greece’s dramatic mountains and beautiful sea-scapes and vibrant towns?

Our answer is yes. It’s true, Olympia doesn’t have the grandiosity of Athens, and it doesn’t feel as imposing as Delphi, but it has a quiet sort of draw that is absolutely worth the pilgrimage. Our visit to Olympia was a powerful and almost spiritual experience. And I think that’s really the key to visiting this particular ancient site. Unlike many of the roped off ruins in Athens, not much is walled off in Olympia. You can walk through the grass and through the ruins and imagine things as they were. It’s really a place to be experienced, as opposed to being seen, or even captured. (It’s hard to capture the feel of Olympia in photos.)

Ancient Olympia site info

Openings hours:

Summer (April 1 – Oct 31): 8:00am – 8:00pm

Winter (Nov 1 – Mar 31): 8:00am – 3:00pm

Tickets:

Tickets can be purchased on site. The cost is 12 Euros for an adult ticket.

Getting to Olympia

A visit to Olympia can be done in an hour. Or if you linger, two or three.

There are many day tours from Athens that bring visitors to Olympia. From what we’ve seen, it’s the most common way of visiting Olympia. Because of the four hour drive, it is a full day trip.

There is also a bus that runs daily from Athens. If you are stopping by cruise ship, there is a train that runs in the summer between the port of Katalon and Ancient Olympia.

As we’ve recommended for all our Greece itinerary, we feel the best way to visit Olympia is by car, so you can see the site during off hours. You do need to be a fairly confident driver, as the roads to Olympia are narrow and mountainous.

We drove in to Olympia from Nafplio, on the other side of the Peloponnese. It was a three hour drive. I learned on this leg of the trip to always trust the GPS, particularly when it keeps insisting you take a certain route. From Nafplio, the route wanted us to backtrack over 30 mins toward Athens. From our map, there was a much shorter detour. We took this detour, which ended up being hairpin turns up a mountain. Lesson learned – next time, just back track and take the highway. 😛 (This is why Daniel no longer trusts me to navigate.) But the route to Olympia ended up being a twisting mountainous drive anyways, even after our detour. The scenery was beautiful, and we passed several isolated villages nestled into the sides of the mountains that looked exceptionally quaint.

Visit Olympia early in the morning, or late afternoon

Whether you are driving from Nafplio or Athens or another site like Delphi, you’ll probably arrive around noon or early afternoon. This is exactly when all the tour buses arrive. We passed the archeological site parking lot on the way in, and could see the ancient stadium peppered with tourists. Like we did in Nafplio, we made lunch at the hotel and waited out the afternoon.

There is not much to do in Modern Olympia. It is a pretty boring, grid-like little town, arisen for the tourism industry. We picked a hotel that was one of the closest to the archeological site, for convenience. We could see the entrance to the site from our balcony. Even as we ate lunch, tour bus after tour bus kept rolling in. I couldn’t wrap my head around how many of them came into Olympia everyday.

By the time we got to the site in the late afternoon (4pm or so), all of the tour buses had left. There were some smaller tour groups, but the site was now completely different from when we passed it earlier in the afternoon. It had a quiet and almost mystical feel, like you had gone back a millennia in time. In our opinion, this is the way Olympia should be experienced.

Alternatively, you can arrive the night before, and stay in Olympia overnight. That way, you can catch the ancient site in the morning whilst it’s still relatively quiet.

Exploring the site of ancient Olympia

The scenery might not be dramatic, but it’s very pretty. Like walking through a garden, with tall trees and plenty of greenery. It is still *hot* in the summer, so be sure to dress accordingly and wear a hat. Like a garden, the dirt paths will get muddy quick if it’s raining.

The archeological site doesn’t seem to offer tours, but there are local guides and private tours you can hire in the area. It’s very doable to explore the sites without a guide – all of them have plaques with pretty detailed descriptions.

Each ruin has a story to tell, and it’s fascinating getting that glimpse into history. Below are some of our highlights.

Temple of Zeus

As ancient Olympia was originally a dedication to Zeus, the temple of Zeus is the biggest site in the centre. Built in the 400BC, not much remains of the temple (though it still looks enormous). The giant statue of Zeus, which was one of the seven ancient world wonders, was pillaged at some point in history and has since disappeared. (Where would one hide a ginormous 12m statue?) Many of the columns have collapsed in subsequent earthquakes.

Temple of Hera

Dedicated to Zeus’s wife, the Temple of Hera is the oldest site in Olympia, built in the 600BC. This is also where women dressed in robes light the torch to mark the beginning of each modern Olympic Game.

The Palaistra

Aka. the gymnasium. This was where athletes trained for wrestling and boxing, and where they lived during training. Incidentally (fun fact!), the word “gymnasium” is from the Greek root for “naked”. Athletes always performed naked, covered only in olive oil and dust for protection. 

The Krypte

The official entrance to the stadium for both athletes and judges.

There is a long row of stones lining the pathway to the Krypte with a fascinating backstory. These stones used to boast statues paid for by cheaters in the games. Visitors would spit on these as they entered the stadium.

The Stadium

This stadium is smaller than our modern stadiums (standing at about 190m). You might notice a distinct lack of seating and definitely no bleachers. In Ancient Greece, spectators sat on the grass slopes. Only judges had seats.

The Philippeion

This is probably one of the most intact structures in the site. That’s because it has undergone reconstruction in 2006. This is also the only site in Olympia dedicated to a human. It use to house statues of Philip II of Macedon and his royal family, including his son Alexander the Great.

Museum of Olympia

This museum is not big, but we think it’s worth seeing. It houses a number of artifacts from the site, including sculptures and pieces of the Temple of Zeus itself. It also has an impressive collection of objects from the ancient Olympic Games.

Final thoughts

Even though it is a bit out of the way, Olympia is definitely worth the drive. To match its storybook looks, Ancient Olympia has a good story to tell.

Have questions about Olympia? Drop us a note!

To read more about Greece, check out these articles:

Sightseeing in Athens: the highlights

Nafplio and the Peloponnese

Attraction spotlight: Delphi

Meteora, Greece