Mediterranean Iconic Shores Ocean Cruise
Day 13: Tuesday, November 11, 2025 - Olympia, Greece
The day's statistics:
- Weather: upper 50s
- Steps: Linda: 8,809; Steve: 14,695
Today's excursion began at 1:15 - after lunch.
We weren't rushed this morning, but we did wake at our usualy 7:00.
As we were getting ready, I stepped out onto the veranda and saw the sun shrouded in some clouds.
After getting ready for the day, we made our way to The Restaraunt for breakfast.
At the Maître d's desk was a box with reading glasses.
We sat in Station 1.
The breakfast routine is similar to the dinner one. We were given menus to review for our order. While we were
looking at the menus, a server stopped by with a basket of pastries that incuded three different types of muffins,
a couple different croissants, and sfogliatelle.
Linda had the Viking french toast (a battered french toast).
I had an omelette with mushrooms, onions, and peppers, with a side of crispy bacon (the tomato is always included).
We returned to the cabin and grabbed the cards and headed to the Explorer's Lounge.
Mamsen's, the small take-away eatery that is essentially part of the Explorer's Lounge - was open and serving light
breakfast fare. There were a few people eating here too.
About 10:45 the ship was arriving into port. A number of passengers watched the spectacle too.
At about this point, I was able to respond to the text that John sent us inviting us to a grouop private dining
room dinner on the 13th - two nights from now. We said "sure" (though we coincidentally happened to
have a reservation ourselves, but for two).
In a short period of time, there was some minor confusion about the time, switching between 6:00 and 7:00, but
we finally nailed it down to the accurate time of 6:00. All good - we'd prefer to eat earlier than later.
Even though the ship moored, we weren't disembarking right away - others were, but our group was one of the last ones out.
And before long, it was time for lunch, and we headed to the World Café, and sat next to Cindi and Bob from Colorado.
Linda had a half sandwich - breaded chicken - and some salad.
I started with an Asian noodle soup bowl, and then a couple other items.
We had our usual desserts too: Linda had a fruit tart and I had (probably) a cake and or moouse (not pictured).
At about 1:00, it was time for us to head out for our excursion Ancient Olympia.
Our guide was Melina, and our driver was Panayotis.
We had about an hour drive to the ruins site.
Just before the parking lot, we passed by this statue. I couldn't decide which of these I liked better - so I kept them both.
We wound up at the Archaeological Site of Olympia.
The bus dropped us off in the parking lot and we headed toward the site.
On top of a hill to our right was once a royal summer home, but is now the Museum of the History of the Olympic Games.
At the top of a sloped roadway we had to ascend was a grove of olive trees, but they weren't edible off the tree.
At the bottom of the roadway was a bridge over a stream.
This site was vast. There were a lot of different ruins.
At the entrance were a couple placards with info, including one I rearranged for readability that also included a map.
As we progressed on, we passed a hall that sat 2,000, some residences, and other structures.
One major highlight was the Temple Of Hera - the first temple in Greece - adjacent to the original Olympic Games' lighting site.
We continued on.
Another hightlight of the site was the stadium - the first in the world. After passing through the archway, we saw the
large competition field, the surround seating area that held forty-five thousand, and the judges box.
Outside the stadium was a pillar used to announce winners of various Olympic events.
This piilar was [originally] all blue with the god Nike on top to give the impression she was flying.
Then we continued on heading further away from the entrance.
There happened to be restrooms in a building all the way back here at this end of site.
After a brief break - a few minutes - we started to make our way back to the entrance (which I guess would then make
it the exit).
We passed more ruins including some structures, a bath house, a plaza, and Zeus Temple - a structure that used to house
a 12 meter (almost 40 feet) tall gold statue of the Greek God Zeus.
The last major structure we saw was the gymnasium, a large structre that had a wooden roof.
The stroll back up the sloped roadway wasn't too bad. And we got a better shot of the Museum.
After returning to the parking lot, we were given about a half-hour of free time for shopping or whatever.
Linda's knee was bothering her, so took the time to try to hunt down a Pharmacy (in Europe, pretty much any
type of medication must be bought in a Pharmacy, not an apothacary, supermarket, or convenience store.
I stopped in a market and using my phone translation app, asked where the Pharmacy was. It was pointed out to
me as a couple blocks down on the corner. When I arrived, the sign on the door pointed to the shop next door
and it said "Entrance ←". I went next door and was told the Pharmacy wouldn't be open until 5:00 - that
was too late. I asked about another location but that one too - a couple blocks further down - was closed until
5:00. Again, too late. Linda was out of luck.
On the way back to the bus, I stepped into another store for a special sight.
This is an actual torch that was used during the torch relay for the 1980 Olymics. Why it was essentially buried in
the back of a small family run store - instead of on display - was beyond understanding. But here it is anyway.
I continued to make my way back to the bus.
As a former shotputter myself, this sculpture was particularly relevant to me. No, I didn't buy it...
After the group boarded the bus, we headed back to the ship.
The bus arrived at the port, we passed through security, and made our way onto the ship and to our cabin.
After freshening up and putting on slightly "nicer clothes", we headed to dinner. While we usually go to The
Restaraunt, once we went to the World Café. Tonight, however, was the first night of our dinner reservatiion
at The Chef's Table - one of the two "reservation only" eateries on board (the other is Manfredi's).
The Chef's Table is a fine dining five course themed fixed menu with wine pairing for all but the third course.
Our menu was "Mexican" themed (other themes include California, Asian, and two others).
We were given menus (manipulated for readability) and explained how the meal service worked.
We each had the exact same menu. The courses were: 1) Amuse Bouche - Tostadas De Pulpo; 2) First Course - Tamalito de
Pollo; 3) Granita - Nopales con Limón; 4) Main Course - Short Rib; and 5) Dessert - Chocolate en Texturas.
One interesting item was that the dessert wine - the Sandeman Port - was the same wine we sampled when we visited the
Sandeman Winery while on the River of Gold
cruise in 2024.
The dinner was really good, and nothing I would have expected for a meal considered "Mexican", so much so that later on
the cruise talking about the meal, someone even said something like "I didn't travel all the way here to have Mexican
for dinner." Too bad for them - they missed out.
At 8:00 tonight was the first night we participated in Trivia, and our emcee was Assistant Cruise Director (and
resident musical performer) Lewis. We don't recall there ever being any other nights with
trivia, but that didn't mean we didn't miss any.
Our team consisted of the two of us, Brenda and Bob from Michigan, and Yang and Gary from western New York.
This was a straight up 15 question "know you stuff" approach. I didn't note how well we did in tonights contest,
but I do know our team didn't win.
After the game, we chatted with our teammates a while, and then headed back to the cabin for the evening.
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