May 26th, 2015

            To start, having seen the site of the first ever Olympic games yesterday was a great way to transition into today.  Walking through the ruins of multiple Ancient Greek structures and ending up at the first Olympic track, which dates back to early 5^th century BC, really gave us a sense of how lucky we were to be standing there. At the start of the track, where the race would begin, there was long and skinny stone slab known as the balbis extending the width of what now looks like a simple rectangular patch of dirt. Within this slab there is a set of grooves in which the athletes would place their toes in order to achieve the best possible jump at the start of the race.

            Today, with what we had seen yesterday fresh in our minds, we paid a visit to the Museum of the Ancient Olympic Games on our way to Athens from Olympia. My favorite part of this museum was seeing the painting of a man leaping over a bull and apparently doing some sort of flip. It was painted around 1400 BC in Crete, Greece and depicts the infamous, ancient practice of bull-leaping. Today, a modernized version of the sport actually still exists and is known as Course Landaise. Southwest France and Northern Spain are where this game is most popular.

            After the museum, we hopped back on the bus (which we are all very accustomed to doing by now) and continued on our journey back to Athens. Although most of us fell asleep and missed out, we drove through beautiful, nonstop views of everlasting mountains and valleys. I can’t say Professor Ryan didn’t tell us in advance that this would happen. Aside from the Swiss Alps, Greece provided some of the best views and sites that most of had ever had a chance to experience. Before arriving in Athens, we made a quick pit stop for some Souvlaki, which alongside the gyro, epitomizes Greek food.

            Upon arrival in Athens, we settled in to our new hotel and finally had a chance to relax and start to explore the surrounding city. It was bittersweet as we reached our last destination on this once in a lifetime trip and began the final stretch of the program.