Olympia tour ( One day )
Daily service – All Year
DEP.:07.30am – RET.:19.30pm approx.
We make our first stop the Corinth Canal for thirty minutes . We continue to the mount of Vitina through Levidi at the Lagadia village where we make another stop for coffee for about thirty minutes. Our final stop is Olympia where we visit the archaeological places and the museum. We will have lunch in a local tavern. After that we will return to Athens through the beautiful village of Vitina where we will make another stop for coffee.
Olympia tour ( Two day )
Daily service – All Year
DEP.:08.30am – RET.:19.30pm (2nd day)
1st Day: We make our first stop the Corinth Canal. We continue to the mount of Vitina through Levidi at the Lagadia village where we make another stop for lunch. Then we arrive at the hotel at Olympia. The night we visit the village of Olympia where we will have dinner.
2nd Day: The morning around 10.00am we visit the archaeological places and the museum. Then we stop for coffee at village of Olympia. Our next stop is Levidi, where we have lunch at the village’s plaza and then we continue to Athens.
Olympia was the most celebrated sanctuary of ancient Greece dedicated to Zeus.
It was the venue of the Olympic Games, the most important feast of the ancient Greeks.
Similar celebrations were:
The Pythian Games held in honor of Apollo at Delphi.
Isthmian at Isthmus of Corinth in honor of Poseidon.
Nemea in honor of Zeus at Nemea.
At Olympia, inside the temple, there was the gold and ivory statue of Zeus by Phidias, which in ancient times was one of the seven wonders of the world.
From 776 BC and after the Games slowly became more important throughout ancient Greece, reaching their zenith in the fifth and sixth century BC The Olympics also had religious importance since held in honor of Zeus, whose huge statue stood at Olympia. The number of competitions was twenty celebration took place during several days. The winners of the games were admired and became immortal through poems and statues. The prize for the winners was a wreath of olive branches.
The Games gradually lost their importance when the Romans conquered Greece and when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Olympic longer considered as a pagan celebration, and in 393 AD Emperor Theodosius banned their conduct. In this way over a period of one thousand years during which the Olympic subsequently held every four years.
Andreas Syngros as an ideal philhellene built the current museum, at his own expense.
