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Forget the Games: The Day We Did Katakolon!By Marty Martindale
Where is Katakolon? It’s a quiet seaside Greek town, rather island-like, by the side of the Ionian Sea on the Peloponnese peninsula. Sicily is to her west, Italy’s mainland is to her west, northwest. The little town first became a port in 1857 to handle the export of Corinth’s small raisins, actually currants. These days the port is mainly used for cruise passengers to disembark and travel a short way to see the ruins at Olympia, scene of the original Olympic Games. In addition to the temple of Zeus, the site contains the remains of the original 30,000-seat Olympic stadium and a museum. The games started here in 776 BCE, repeating every four years. On this bright day, a few of us took off on another destination: the town of Katakolon. We’d savor Greece's shoreline and drink in the mysteries of her azure waters, sans history, hiking, lectures, bus rides, tour guides, waiting in line, history lessons and myths to concentrate upon.
Not too far away we turned a corner, headed toward the water, and around the next corner we found a fine late-morning waterside café. It was perfect!
After we feasted on helpings of almost everything, we felt we must get back to the Prinsendam anchored close by. Upon leaving, we were compelled to wonder about the fisherman in a nearby boat, “’Doya think’ he caught our squid?"
© Marty Martindale, 2005, Largo FL For more information visit: HOLLAND AMERICA LINE |
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Recently, Holland America’s Prinsendam, on one of her world-circling voyages,
docked in Katakolon, Greece, on a bright, sunlit Tuesday morning in September.
The air was sharp, crisp, not overly warm, the deep-blue water was almost
motionless.
Slightly before noon, we ambled along Katakolon's main
street, one with shops and art galleries. Some shops featured bright clothing,
and little Greek statues abounded. Each fascinating. We even found a large,
open-air Greek night club and restaurant which looked like great fun for
nighttime. However, this was daytime and we decided on a bite to eat. But where?
A generous free-standing menu spelled out choices: Mousaka
… Big Beans … Cheese Pies … Greek Salad … Kalamari … Souvlaki … Kalamari …
Grilled Octapus. It all looked great. Each of us order different dishes – we
would share. Our waitress suggested a beer for us. 
We didn’t speak too much, probably because we were so
relaxed, our setting too, too perfect. The water was as still as a staged gazing
pool. This was the Ionian Sea! A buoy, close in to shore bobbled not. It was as
still as the deep blue waters around it. 
Sometimes a perfect tourist day is seeing historical
sights. Also, sometimes a perfect tourist day is a deep blue gazing pool, still
waters, a plate of fresh-caught squid and a bottle of iced cold Mythos Hellenic
Larger. For certain, we will never have a problem remembering this lazy day in a
small, picturesque Greek seaside town … a seaside memory destined to last us all
our days.