Peloponnese Part 2 – Ancient Olympia and Romanos Beach
We left Kyllini in the evening after sunset and headed for Olympia. Through Park4Night we found a place to sleep right in the city, a short distance from the entrance to the ancient city. As another kite spot, we chose Romanos Beach.
Ancient Site Of Olympia
We arrived in the village of Olympia (officially Archaia Olympia) around midnight, slept in a small parking lot, and the next morning we set out to discover the beauty (now rather the ruins) of the ancient city and the Olympic stadium. We set off after ten o’clock, but the temperature quickly reached 40 degrees.
The price in the area was 12 EUR per adult and 5 EUR per child. The price includes both the outdoor area and the museum. And definitely take a look at the museum, because they have wonderful exhibits from excavations in the area, and only there will you understand what you could see outside in the ruins and how big the area really was. Estimate that the entire tour takes 3-4 hours.
The whole area with excavations is really huge. You can also rent VR glasses, where you can probably see everything as it once looked. We didn’t have them. Even so, you have signs everywhere with labels and pictures of how the building looked in its glory days.
In the sports complex, you will find training facilities, sports fields, accommodation, spas, apartments for guests, and lots of temples. In the main temple of Zeus, there used to be a statue of Zeus (one of the seven wonders of the world), an aqueduct and, of course, a stadium.
The museum has about seven large rooms, each devoted either to a theme or symbolizing a particular temple. In one, for example, you have weapons, and armor, and it deals with warfare.
Another is devoted to architecture, in the central room there are wonderful large sculptures from the front of the Temple of Zeus, which will amaze you with their size.
Right at the entrance is a scale model of the outdoor area, where you can see how everything looked on a smaller scale.
Fortunately, there is also air conditioning inside, so that is also a reason to visit the museum. You can take photos with a mobile phone or a camera without a flash. There are also toilets and a buffet in the building, although the buffet is not included on the aforementioned price.
After the tour, we stopped for pizza and gyros at a nearby restaurant and headed back to the sea. In the heat, the journey itself was very demanding and we had to make an unplanned thirty-minute stop. According to the navigation, we had a little way to go to our destination, the sea was in sight, but the refreshing wind was nowhere to be found.
Romanos Beach arrival
We arrived at Romanos Beach at half past six. We parked the car, changed into swimsuits, and ran to the water.
It wasn’t until we walked to the beach that we noticed that the umbrellas around were fluttering in the wind and even a girl walked by with a suspicious backpack and a pump. I was skeptical but also curious so I had to go to the car to get an anemometer. By the time I got back to the beach, the kite was already inflated and I measured a steady 7 meters. Anyway, despite all the fatigue, we ran to the car for the kites and enjoyed the wind until half past eight. The girl with the backpack was a local kitesurfer who had a training lesson here. We got more information from her about local conditions and spots in the vicinity.
Kitesurfing nearby
We had information that you can kitesurf well here at Romanos Beach, a little to the south is the Gialova spot and a little further down is Navarino Beach. According to a local kiter, the problem with these two spots is that Gialova is a protected area, and parking is not allowed there. And Navarino is already full of hotels and there is a port and kitesurfing is officially prohibited there. So from the nearby area, it’s really best (at least in season) to pump the kites only on Romanos Beach. But we have to say that we didn’t mind at all because the place is beautiful.
Romanos Beach Kitespot
You can stand directly in the parking lot on a hill overlooking the sea. You have about 100 meters to the water. As for the spot itself and kitesurfing, you have to go behind the umbrellas for about another 300 meters and you can start there without any problems.
Right by the beach, there are showers and a tavern where you can go for food or drinks.
Free camping is not officially allowed here, but we spent 3 nights in the parking lot without any problems. We didn’t pull out the awning and didn’t provoke in any way, because during the day the parking lot is full of tourists from the surrounding apartments and village.
The entire beach is sandy and fairly wide at the back behind the umbrellas with plenty of space to launch a kite, you just have to watch out for the marked sea turtle nests.
Of course, it is forbidden to drive into the bathing zone, but I would still not recommend it because there are rocks and reefs under the water at a shallow depth.
Otherwise, the water is really empty and we saw a maximum of 5 kites at the same time. We rather wondered how they got there. A few locals come here, sometimes a group from Kalamata and a local kiter who lives and resides not far from the beach. She sometimes gives lessons and according to her, she is really happy here. The wind blows mainly in the summer and the thermals turn on around 3 o’clock and usually end gradually around 7 o’clock in the evening. Wind strength was from 6 m/s to 10 m/s. But normally it is around 6-8 m/s. Don’t expect flat water here, there are always smaller waves that break the water. But it’s nothing terrible and you can have a nice ride.
How did we enjoy it here?
We all really enjoyed Romans Beach and if you drive by we recommend visiting the place. The water is beautifully clean, the entry into the water is gradual, and if you are lucky, you might even see hatching turtles. The beach is littered with their nests. Just watch out for biting small fish in the water. Max didn’t want to swim in front of the tavern, where there is rubble under the water and something constantly stings your legs. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s annoying how you keep getting gnawed on.
The next day it started to blow around one o’clock. We went to have a swim, cook lunch and around three went to the beach full of expectations. Unfortunately, the wind had weakened by then and the afternoon thermals did not appear. At least I used the weak wind to check the lines and adjust the Soul 15, it was in the air, but it was impossible to kitesurf.
The next day it started to blow again around half past one. We didn’t want to miss the best wind, so we immediately loaded Soul 15 and Pulse 12 on our backs, two bottles of water, a small snack in our backpack, and counted on a late lunch. In two hours it was pounding for a 9m kite and instead of cooking lunch we just changed our gear.
We rode all afternoon and enjoyed a really perfect windy day.
Tired and exhausted, we arrived at the parking lot at eight in the evening. Dinner was at sunset instead of lunch.
The fourth day was light on the wind. Tired from the previous day, we used the time to recuperate and just enjoyed swimming. In the evening we decided it was time to move on.
Due to vague information about other spots south of Romanos beach, we crossed the entire first Peloponnese ridge inland, towards the town of Kalamata. We found a perfect large parking lot under the trees and a nearby beach, another Bouka Beach.
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Author: Karel
I simply love kitesurfing :-).
