Resto-Cafeteria Zeus @ Olympia

The Day 2 of our Olympia trip.

We visited the museum & archaeological site of Olympia and then the museum of the history of ancient Olympic Games. This last is little known and only few tourists visit it, but I strongly recommend it to anyone who has a bit of extra time in Olympia. It explains very well (with exhibits and with explanations in four languages) the ancient Olympic games and the ancient culture of the games in general.

We finished the sightseeing at 1:30 and needed to sit down and drink/eat something. So we returned to the cafeteria/restaurant Zeus where we had drink the evening before.



I woke up a cat sleeping on one of the chairs. Sorry.



We ordered Hubby's favourite snack: Club Sandwich. For some reason, Club Sandwich is a very popular item at cafeterias and you can find it almost anywhere.

There was a rather long wait until the item arrived and we understood why. Evidently they freshly fried the chips.



It was quite edible as club sandwich of cafeterias. For just 6.50 Euro, I won't complain at all.



She also joined in our lunch time snacking.



ΚΑΦΕΤΕΡΙΑ ΕΣΤΙΑΤΟΡΙΟ Zeus
ΑΡΧ. ΠΛΥΜΠΙΑ
ΤΗΛ. 26240-23913

After the rest, we left for Chelmoutsi.

Bad Meal @ Olympia

At the last weekend of September, we went for a drive for Olympia.

About the historical sites and monuments, I will write at Gate to Greece and here I write only about a bad meal we had at Olympia.



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We arrived at Olympia at the dinner time. As we did not have real lunch, we needed to find a place to eat quickly. So I decided to go to this taverna Aigaio/Aegean which was recommended by a hotelier when I visited Olympia last time. I knew also that it was highly recommended at Tripadvisor.



It is a typical touristy taverna which serves from pizza to moussaka. The first thing which impressed me about the restaurant was the pricing, not in a good way. Many of the things were over priced. Who would order talamosalata for 8 Euro? Answer: only the tourists who do not know the right price in Greece. Everything was about 20-50% more expensive than touristy tavernas in Plaka, Athens.



We carefully chose cheaper dishes from the menu as we decided it was not worth investing in this experiment.

This is oven baked feta. In taste wise, it was normal, but the thinness of the feta was incredible. Have you seen a feta sliced in 0.5 cm in Greece???



Cabbage Salada was at least average, I have to say.



Pork Gyros was a nightmare. We were quite sure the meat was stale. It smelled terrible and we had to removed it from the table. (But my poor husband ate it partially, although I advised him not to).

Besides, if you pay 8 Euro for a gyros platter in Athens, you would get a more decent portion.



I ordered oven baked chicken and potatoes (7 Euro).



It was edible, although it was palpable that it was heated for hours.

With a small bottle of water, a beer and bread, the total was 30 Euro. For those who think it is OK price, I have to stress that we chose very carefully cheaper dishes. You would have paid easily 40 Euro for the same sort of poor meal.

I ate 4 dinners in Olympia, and none of these was satisfactory. Maybe I have to avoid eating in this town at all.

ΑΙΓΑΙΟΝ
ΑΡΧ. ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑ
ΤΗΛ. 26240-22540
γυρος 8
κοτόπουλο 7
φέτα 5.5
σαλάτα 3.50
βύρα 4
νερό 1.50
ψωμί 1



After the meal, we stopped at a cafeteria/restaurant called Zeus for a drink.



I checked the menu as well and found the pricing much more normal than at Aigaio. If I have to eat Olympia again, probably will try this one.

Gefsis Melathron @ Ancient Olympia

I also went to Olympia, about a week ago.

I had been to Olympia twice in the past and this was the third time. The town looked unusually tranquil and empty.



Being far from the coast, Olympia isn't really a place for summer, but, even so, it was rather unsettling. Recently I am suspecting that the situation of tourism this summer is worse than what is being said on TV and news papers.

I stayed one night and need to eat at least once. I asked two local people for recommendation: one voted for Aigaio and Gefsis Melathron, and the other Gefsis Melathron and Dionysos. So I went to Gefsis Melathron which got two vote.



When I arrived at 9.15, I was the only customer, except for a few locals hanging around without really eating.

I asked for souvlaki, but the waitress - who probably is the owner - suggested me to order from 'magirefta' cooked by her mother, so I obeyed. I ordered soutzoukakia Smyrineika, served with rice. I also wanted horta, but she did not have any and suggested boiled zucchini instead.



The soutzoukakia had a good flavour, but - unfortunately - too salty for me. If I have had a good serving of boiled vegetable, probably I could neutralize the saltiness, but the boiled zucchini (and potatoes) were far too little and had been seasoned already.

The waitress asked me if I was happy. I said "yes", but it was a lie (if my honesty could improve the situation, I would have said the truth, but it could not). I really don't bear with excessive dose of salt in dishes which should not be salty.

So, it turned out to be a disappointment.

To be honest, what I suspect is that there is no good taverna in Olympia, which is a rather artificial town whose raison d'etre is to cater for tourists who visit the archaeological site. I have eaten three times so far in Olympia, but cannot really say that I have ever eaten well.

Soutzoukakia was 6.80 euros, boiled zucchini 3 euros, water 0.50 euro, bread 0.50 euro, total 10.80 euros. At least, the price was on the OK line.

Taverna "GEFSIS MELATHRON"
(Γεύσης Μέλαθρον)
Georgiou Douma 3, Arhaia Olympia
Tel. 26240-22916