Mount Olympus - Dion

Yesterday, we began our eight hour drive home but on the way we stopped at the base of Mount Olympus to visit the small ancient town of Dion. Mount Olympus was absolutely beautiful. Disney does not even do it justice.

 But, if you look at Mount Olympus (the white topped mountain in the middle), a cloud is wrapped around it in real life as well as in Hercules. So I still believe that Disney was right about how the home of the gods looked. No one can be sure due to the clouds and I like their depiction much better.

Dion was a small town surrounded by water. It was a very swampy area. The town built many temples to the gods because they believed that since the god's home was so close, they expected more out of this town. Historians believed that the city was surrounded by walls and a large river passed outside of it. Tradition says that Paul could have possibly stopped in this port on his way back to Athens. But, over time the river slowly moved inside the city walls and became a small stream. This stream is the reason the town is so swampy today. 

Basilica

Military Monument

Mosaic floor

Roman Odeon

Roman toilets

Sacrificial ring at the Temple to Zeus Olympus

Ancient Sauna

Temple of Zeus Olympus

Temple to Zeus Hypsistos

Temple to Isis

After finishing the tour of the ancient city, we toured the museum of artifacts that were discovered in Dion.

Crown of Zeus

First Pipe Organ

Mount Olympus before global warming. It was always peaked with snow until the early 1990s when it all melted off.

Found at the Temple of Isis

Found at the Temple to Isis. The large footprint is the husband and the small footprint is the wife.

Statue found at the Temple of Zeus Hypsistos

Then we had lunch and a five hour drive until we finally arrived back in Glyfada.