Ancient Olympia in Greece is a wondrous place. You really should visit before all the ruins get roped off, and it gets overwhelmed by commerce.
Today you can wander among fallen stone-works, walk where athletes walked, view the remains of temples, priests' dwellings and public buildings.
Time, and events. Earthquakes and emperor Theodosius I. Go on a quiet day, or try to ignore the tourists and you almost hear the hustle and bustle from all those years ago. Nothing in the main site has been re-constructed - it lies exactly as it fell and 1500 years later uncovered.
Theodosius I abolished the games in AD 394 because he considered them paganistic. (Sometimes the abolition is attributed to Theodosius II but it cannot be Theodosius II because he only became (co)Emperor in AD402).
Situated where rivers Alpheios and Kladios meet, the Sanctuary of Zeus played host to the Olympic Games for over a thousands years, from 776 BC to the end of 4th century BC. At first, the games lasted one day only and had a single event, a sprint the length of the stadium.
It wasn't long before other events were added, such as the chariot race, discus, javelin, long jump, boxing, wrestling and the pentathlon. All these events required extra time and so the games were extended to five days.
Winners would return to their families and cities with their crown of olive leaves and would be heroes, bringing enormous status and wealth.The stadium, with seating for at least 30,000 spectators, remains today, and visitors can walk the dusty surface, and stage impromptu re-runs of those ancient events.
Inside the museum there are many precious artifacts and many of the more important statues including Zeus and Apollo have been reconstructed.
Zeus
One of the world's endangered species, the Loggerhead Turtle, requires the beaches of Zakynthos to lay its eggs.
Unfortunately the increase in tourism, particularly the use of beaches by man, and the proliferation of artificial light, is having serious effects on the Loggerhead Population.
The infant turtles use the moon to guide them to the sea; if the inland lights are stronger they get confused.
A great step forward in their protection occurred when on the 1st of December 1999 the National Marine Park of Zakynthos (N.M.P.Z) was formally established by Presidential Decree.
Zakynthos is the sixth of the Ionian islands, west of the Coast of Ilias. The other Ionian Islands are Corfu, Paxos, Lefkas, Ithaka and Kefallonia. Homer refers to Zakynthos in The Odyssey as 'woody Zakynthos'.
Today Zakynthos is a very green and fertile island assisted by sensible sustainable irrigation and underground springs.
This area of the Ionian sea has a long history of seismic activity, and forming the island itself and all the smaller islands surrounding Zakynthos. 
As recently as August 9th 1953 a devastating earthquake hit the island, destroying seventy percent of the buildings on the island. You can still see many abandoned buildings today.
Of the Mediterranean's many geological features, one of the main ones is south east of the island. The Calypso Deep (also called the Pit of Inoussae), is the deepest part of the Mediterranean sea at 5,267 metres (17,280 feet). When the Mediterranean was completely dry this would massively deeper than Death Valley at (only) −86 metres (−282 feet) or the Dead Sea at −418 metres (−1,371 feet)!
One of the highlights of a visit to Zakynthos is sighting the beautiful loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta). The turtle is an endangered species and can be found both on Zakynthos and Kefalonia.
The highest point on Zakynthos is Mount Vrachionas at 2487ft (758m). From the top you can see the Greek mainland to the east and Kefalonia to the north. (Kefalonia has a much higher peak - Megas Soros / Mount Ainos at 5,338 ft (1,627 m).
The very famous wrecked ship is a good day trip. Although the wreck appears at first site to have been there for a long time in fact it was run aground in 1980 by its crew after the Greek Navy caught up with them smuggling.
Today you can wander among fallen stone-works, walk where athletes walked, view the remains of temples, priests' dwellings and public buildings.
Zeus
Apollo
