Olympia
Our hotel is only 65 km far
from the ancient Olympia which is less than an hour driving.
One of the most important sanctuaries of antiquity, dedicated
to the father of the gods Olympian Zeus. Olympia, is the
birth-place of the Olympic Games. The area, of great natural
beauty, has been inhabited uninterruptedly since the 3rd
millenium B.C. and in the late Mycenaean period it became
a religious centre.
The excavations at Olympia
begun in May 1829, two years after the battle of Navarino,
by French archaeologists.
The finds (metopes from the opisthodomus and parts of the
metopes from the pronaos of the Temple of Zeus) were transferred
to the Louvre where they are still being exhibited. When
the Greek government was informed of the looting of artifacts,
the excavation was stopped.
Excavations started again 45 years later by German archaeologists.
The research is being continued to this day by the German
Institute of Archaeology in Athens, and the Ephorate of
Antiquities in Olympia.