Day 22-Greece, Olympia

Just like yesterday, today was pretty much spent on the bus. We drove through so many cities that were on the coast, in the normal mediterranean terrain (that sounded repetitive), and in the mountains. I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of landscapes and very much enjoyed how often it switched during our 7 or 8 hour drive :) I also appreciated stopping every few hours to see some pretty incredible sites including the monasteries of Pantanassa and Peribleptos because of the frescos covering every wall. It was also set in the most exquisite location, high in the mountains where our bus driver impressively maneuvered up the switchbacks. It was kind of scary seeing the sheer cliff directly on my left, but I placed all my trust in Yani and he didn't let me down. I'm still alive! He really is an amazing driver, even stopping for a small turtle crossing the road and later some goats :)

Later during the day we visited the temple of Apollo Epikourios which was literally in the middle of nowhere. It took us 3 hours to get there (crossing rivers, passing through small villages, and winding up huge mountain ranges) and almost the same amount of time to reach our final destination in Olympia. It's really funny because the ancient greek temple had a huge tent covering it in order to preserve it. It was a great stopping point, though :)

Once we reached Olympia, we checked in our hotel and then enjoyed the quiet town. I had a delicious tuna salad (I just can't get enough of the tuna, apparently) and some moussaka (a delicious eggplant casserole thing). It was really yummy! After dinner, a bunch of us wound up in a ring shop where the owner resized a ring for one of our girls. He let all seven of us American girls watch his skills :) It was pretty cool and he was really nice. We finally tore ourselves away and went back to our hotel, but not after buying some of his jewelry.. :)

Such a fun day spent mostly on the road! Can't wait for tomorrow. Yassou!