The Ancient Olympia site, the site of the first Olympic Games, in 776 B.C., lies in the lush valley formed by the Alfios river. There we will visit the gymnasium and the palaestra, where atheletes used to exercise for a month prior to the Games, the Council house where the athletes took the Olympic oath, the round Philipeion, the Treasury houses, the workshop of Phidias where the gold and ivory statue of Zeus was built, the temples of Zeus and Hera, the shrine of Hera where the Olympic torch is being lit in the modern days since 1936 and the ancient Olympic stadium, where the marble starting blocks are still in position.

We will also visit the Olympia Archaeological Museum, only a short walk from the Olympia site itself. Here you will find a wonderful collection of Greek sculpture, as well as treasures that have been unearthed over a century of excavations from the archeological site. Here we will observe bronze and clay offerings (tripods and figurines), armors, vases, the tools and cup from Phidias's workshop, the famous Hermes of Praxiteles statue, the marble statue of Nike and the bronze helmet of general Miltiades who defeated the Persian army in 490 BC in the battle of Marathon, as well as the breathtaking original pediments from the Temple of Zeus, all in white marble from Paros, illustrating the mythical war between the Centaurs and the Lapiths on the one side, the beginning of the chariot race between Prince Pelops and King Oinomaos on the other side.