Katakolon is a tiny little coastal Greek village, not even really a town, that is most known for being a cruise passenger's gateway to Olympia, Greece. Olympia, of course, is the birthplace of the modern day Olympics that we celebrate every 2 years.
While we had a full day scheduled in Katakolon, because we had planned to take the train from Katakolon to Olympia and back, we needed to make sure that our timing was just right as the train runs between the two towns rather infrequently, and really made the day seem more like a half day stop, rather than a full day stop. In the end, it didn't really matter as Olympia can easily be visited in just half a day.
As we pulled into the harbor at Katakolon, the sun was just starting to rise. It was just past 7:00 am when we were advised that we could leave the ship. As the first train from Katakolon to Olympia didn't depart until 8:36 am, we knew we didn't have to rush. However, we were uncertain where the train station was, and by looking at the village during our approach to the pier, we couldn't see any train tracks or a station, so we decided to get off the ship with plenty of time to find the train station without rushing at the last minute. We were also a bit concerned as there was another cruise ship in town that day, and depending on their departure schedule from Katakolon that day, it just made sense that everyone from our ship and the other ship that wanted to go to Olympia would take the 8:36 am train.
Following directions that I had, we walked off the ship as soon as we were cleared and made our way through the main street of Katakolon in search of the “train station.” I use the term train station loosely as there is no station at all. There is basically a small yellow building with red tiled roofs that houses men’s and women’s restrooms (which wasn't open when we were there), more like a shack really than a building, that marks where the “train station” is. When we got off the ship, we basically turned right, walked through the main street of town until we got to the end of the shopping area. We asked some merchants on the way where the "train station" was located and they pointed us to a lone standing yellow building and one set of train tracks that dead-ends right near this yellow building. There are no signs posted that indicate a schedule, nor signs that indicate that the train even runs here. Needless to say, since we took off from the ship so early, and the walk to the "train station" took 10 minutes or less, we ended up about an hour early for the train. As none of the shops in town were open yet at this early hour, we had nothing to do but wait. As others started approaching the "train station" and tracks, they were all just as confused as we first were to basically see nothing indicating that this was the train to Olympia. But if you wait until the appointed time, surely enough, a very modern and air-conditioned train will show up.
Luckily, the train will originate in Katakolon and terminate in Olympia, so the chance of missing a stop is minimized. The total train time was only about 40 minutes or so, and 3,00 Euros per person will buy a round trip train ticket. It couldn't be any more easy, or affordable.
Once at Olympia, there are two main sites to visit, the Archaeological Museum and the Archaeological site. Based on other instructions I had, it was suggested that it is easier to walk to the museum first before the exploring the archaeological site. Additionally, it probably makes sense to explore the museum first so that you can begin to understand what you are seeing at the archaeological site. So this is the plan we followed. Lastly, if you take the most direct route from the train station, you'll get to the museum before you get to the site.
The museum is very well done with numerous displays, some of them very large, of the artifacts that have been recovered, and reconstructed, to be housed in the museum. Descriptions are written clearly, and understandably, in English. The enormity of the number of artifacts that existed, including bronze trinkets, glass vases, plaster statues, and marble statues, surprised me. I guess I always assumed that Olympia itself was small and that the archaeological site would be small and the museum even smaller. However, it was much larger than I had imagined or anticipated. History buffs could easily spend a couple of hours exploring all of the artifacts contained within the museum.
The museum is very well done with numerous displays, some of them very large, of the artifacts that have been recovered, and reconstructed, to be housed in the museum. Descriptions are written clearly, and understandably, in English. The enormity of the number of artifacts that existed, including bronze trinkets, glass vases, plaster statues, and marble statues, surprised me. I guess I always assumed that Olympia itself was small and that the archaeological site would be small and the museum even smaller. However, it was much larger than I had imagined or anticipated. History buffs could easily spend a couple of hours exploring all of the artifacts contained within the museum.
After we finished at the museum, the walk to the archaeological site is very short. The archaeological site itself is enormous in size. It's literally a whole small city worth of basically a few pillars, a few smaller buildings, and many building foundations. But, as I had been warned ahead of time, it leaves much to the imagination in terms of the ruins that remain. Basically what remains of each building you see in the city is its foundations, perhaps some broken pillars, and lots of ruins, most of which just look like large pieces of stone blocks, some crumpled, some in pretty good condition. At each site, there is a placard that shows you a picture of what remains, then uses those remains, along with a drawing, to show you what the building would have looked like in ancient times. There is also a written description in English as to the purpose each building served.
The main highlights for me of the archaeological site was seeing the site where the modern Olympic torch is lit every 2 years to begin it’s journey to the Olympic host city, and also seeing the remains of the stadium. I probably could have identified the Olympic torch site without having been told, but then again I'm a big fan of the Olympics. But there is a sign there that describes the ceremony as well as a picture from past ceremonies. For anyone who's never seen the ceremony before on TV, the area probably looks like nothing, because realistically, not much is left. The stadium itself, well it basically looks like a grassy field. To get to the stadium, you walk through a narrow corridor, and up ahead is an archway entrance. The archway entrance provides the feeling that you're walking into something and that the site on the other side of the entrance should be spectacular. However, when you walk through the other side, you see a square patch of dirt sitting a lower elevation surrounded on all four sides by a green, grassy knoll. Unfortunately, nothing really remains of the stadium.
While the archaeological site was interesting, it was such a hot day, and the enormity of the grounds, coupled with the very minimal amount of shade to be found, made the prospect of really exploring the area in any depth difficult. Basically after walking through the heart of the ruins, we decided that it was too hot, and we were too tired, to really continue.
We actually were done walking through the museum and ruins much sooner than we had anticipated, and after a quick walk through Olympia to do a little shopping, we decided to head back to the train station to catch an earlier train than the one we originally planned on. No point in staying around since there wasn't much more to see. That put us back in Katakolon early enough to take a leisurely stroll through town.
Overall, this was an interesting port stop, and one that I had never been to before. While seeing Olympia and what remains of it today was interesting, this is something that I’d probably only ever do once. If I were to book another cruise that stopped in Katakolon, I don't really know what else I'd do there.
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