Today we started our day with a free morning in Nafplion. Some of us got up and decided to conquer the 900 step hike up to the Fortress of Palamidi which is Venetian-built fortress ruins! One interesting fact about this fortress was during the time of the Turkish occupation, Christians were not allowed to enter the fort. It did not take as long as we had originally thought. We made it to the top (with a few breaks to catch our breath) and finally got to see some of the most amazing views Nafpilo has to offer.
We then descended back into town to get our stuff packed up for our journey to the ancient city of Olympia. We then took the 3.5-hour bus ride west to the other side of Greece to Olympia! During the bus ride, we wound up into the mountains and reached an elevation of around 800 meters before descending into the river valley of Olympia.
We got checked into our hotel, Hotel Europa and had a few minutes to unpack before we headed up to the hotel restaurant for class. We have been enjoying various classrooms during this trip so we were well acclimated to “non-traditional” classrooms. After class, we enjoyed a delicious dinner from the hotel which included traditional Greek dishes like Spinach Pie along with many other options! After dinner, we all participated in traditional Greek dance lessons. Our instructor taught us a few of the traditional Greek dances and we got to dance the night away!
Oles in Greece 2020 