Katakolon, Greece for Olympia

We visit Katakolon, Greece, for Olympia. We were on a cruise, on the Norwegian Jade, out of Rome, to Ports in Greece and Turkey.  Katakolon was our first port, on Day 3 of the cruise.  Day 2 was a sea day.

2 Minute Summary Video


Prior to this cruise, the ignorant me was unaware that suck a port existed. Now that I have been there, I know that it is the gateway to the ancient city of Olympia. Fascinating!

Some interesting facts from http://www.katakolon.org/history.html. A small Greek town, with a population that is just over 600, Katakolon overlooks the Ionian Sea and is located on a peninsula on the western IIia in Pyrgos.

 Katakolon's glory days were in the end of the 19th to the mid 20th Century. The port was constructed to facilitate the transportation of goods to other major European ports.

Ancient Olympic site - Part 1


Modern Olympia and Cafe - Part 2

Kremasti Monastery and Return to Ship - Part 3


Some photos
Picture of the NCL Jade ship in the morning. The sun was still trying to rise.   

Boarding the van. See how close it was to the ship.

Theo, from Mamousis Private Taxis.

Ticket Booth at Ancient Olympia

Useful signages


Ancient Olympia Stadium and track.


Weather held up.  Sun started to come out, which was nice.


More tourists now, many from the ship.




Museum was a 5 minute walk away.

Nice walk along this path.


This is what the combined ticket looks like.

The courtyard, leading to the entrance of the Archaeological museum.


Visiting the museum together with the ancient ruins site was a good idea. This plaque was a description of the west pediment of the temple of Zeus.



Take a look at these statues, for example. The centerpiece was supposed to be Zeus, the King of Gods who oversaw the universe. Unfortunately, his head was missing.

After a toilet break, our driver guided us to walk to the modern village of Olympia, an easy walk of about 10 minutes. The modern village of Olympia wasn't very big. Just one major street, with some hotels, eateries and shops.

We decided that we needed a break and walked past several cafes, but none looked enticing enough. Until we found this cafe which was at the end of a side street. I don't know the Greek alphabet, so is this Cafe Pogo or Cafe Podo or something else?

This was the Margarita pizza we had.  Enough for everybody.  We just needed a quick bite. 


After the rest stop, our last destination before returning to the cruise ship was a monastery called Kremasti Monastery. At first we thought there would be monks, but it turned out that the Monastery housed nuns, in the Greek Orthodox tradition. The monastery was located about 15km away from Olympia, up on a hill, with gorgeous views.

We spent about an hour here, viewing the place and taking in the views. Soon it was time to head back to the ship. Overall, it was a great day in port for us.

Our guide for the day, Mr Theo, did a great job.  Here is a video clip of him giving us a rundown on the sad state of the Greek economy.


Thanks for reading!

Back to landing page for the NCL 10N Greece and Turkey cruise.

KFC $2 Scones - Tea Break

Tea break at Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) with her $2 scones.

Here is the short clip I made of this tea break.  In this clip, I had the Craneberry scone with Strawberry Jam.  Taste wasn't too bad.  $2 for a cup of coffee and scone was reasonable.


On a separate day, I had coffee and scone again. This time I chose the vanilla scone with kaya. The kaya came in a packet, like a tomato ketchup packet. How interesting. Check out my video below.
Thanks for watching!

Taipei Crash Fight GE 235 - ATR 72-600 - Car Cam Video (from CNN)

The recent crash of TransAsia Flight GE 235 was most tragic.  It was caught on car camera in the most dramatic fashion.   Here is a clip from CNN, if you haven't already caught this.


Apparently, the ATR 72 plane (which is a turbo-prop and not a jetliner) has been involved in many accidents.  Since 1994, there have been 22 crashes.  Does this tell us something about the safety of this plane?  Not sure.



Another link to the safety records of the ATR 72 - http://www.airsafe.com/events/models/atr.htm

Note, however, that the ATR 72 plane that crashed was only about 10 months old.  That is very new, by aircraft standards.

What went wrong?  It is too early to conclude.  However, preliminary data from the flight recorders suggest that the pilots may have committed a grave error.   One of the engines went idle soon after takeoff, and the pilots apparently shut off the other engine before the plane crashed.  This information was given by Taiwan's top aviation official.

Let's wait for the final investigation results to be released before we can conclude that cause of this very tragic accident.

Venezuela - $1,000 for a pack of condoms - No Wonder they are the most Miserable Country in the World

According to the CATO Institute, the most miserable country in the world in 2014 was Venezuela.

See the info on this page -
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/measuring-misery-around-world

According to this index, the Venezuelans are even more miserable than Iran and Serbians.

And this is the latest blow.  A pack of condoms cost the equivalent of $1,000 on the black market, in their local currency.  However, if you have USD, you can buy it for US$25.  It sounds like Venezuelan currency is pretty worthless!

Kobane (Syria) - Great Devastation - Imagine Singapore Looking Like That

Make no mistake, wars are happening.  The fact that they happen far away from Singapore doesn't mean that the world is at peace.

Article in the Straits Times - Kobane pays a heavy price for expelling ISIS.  Kobane (or Kobani) is a town in Northern Syria, with a population of around 45,000.

ISIL (or ISIS) tried to take the city.  Kurdish forces, backed by US air power, defended the city. More than 700 strikes from the coalition pounded ISIS-held parts of the city for several months.



Kobane became a signature battle for both the ISIS and the coalition.  A constellation of Kurdish forces defended Kobane.  On top of local Syrian Kurds, Turkish Kurds, Iraqi Kurds, and even Kurds from Europe came back to defend Kobane.

Not just men, even the women took up arms.



While the Kurds, with US air power, have won the battle, the cost is great. Just look at this picture! All the bombed out buildings.


When I saw the picture above, I thought to myself, what would a bombed out Singapore look like?  Somebody similar to the above?  A chilling thought.

Please let us not take peace and security for granted.

Thanks for reading.

Gold Buyback Scheme Suisse International - Crashed and Burnt

Suisse International - More than 100 file police report against gold buyback firm.

I heard about this firm some time ago (through friends) and never believed that it would work.  It sounded more like a Ponzi scheme of sorts.

Now that the deck of cards has collapsed, pity so many people got cheated.

Remember, when something is too good to be true, it is usually not true. 

Time to stay away from Lychee Fruit

Toxins in lychee? Better stay away, none for the kids!

This article says that there is a lychee link to mysterious epidemic in India.   In Northern India, thousands of young children suffer convulsions, lapse into comas and die.

Beware of lychess! (Especially for your young kids)

Thanks for reading.