Arrival in Katakolon at 8:00 am and most of the ship is ready to take the excursion to the ruins at Olympia, site of the original Olympics. The temple of Zeus, the remains of the Olympic stadium, a museum and more are here for you to explore

Katakolon is a small and quiet seaside town on the Ionian Sea and where I decided to stay instead of heading off to Olympia. In addition the ship is only in port for about 5 hours and the excursion to Olympia is about a 45 minute drive away I decided to relax a little.

It's a short 10 minute walk into Katakolon from the MSC Poesia and the town is just starting to wake up.

The seaside walkway has numerous restaurants and bars offering great views of the Ionian Sea, but it was too early to sit down, needed to see what else the town has to offer.

It really is a small town, you can walk from one end to the other in about 10 minutes if you don't stop to window shop.
You have the seaside walkway, where most of the restaurants and bars are, and then the main street with souvenir shops, banks, more restaurants, clothing stores a furrier shop, an internet cafe and a few more stores.

The secondary streets have the bakeries, antique shops, and restaurants where you can eat at half the price of the ones on the seaside walkway. The town also has a train station with regular service to Olympia, cost of the train ticket 4.00 € not bad considering the price of the excursions, but unfortunately the train schedule doesn't fit the ship's departure time.

Ok enough walking, it's time to relax at one of the numerous seaside cafes.

"Mythos" is the local beer here and quite refreshing, sure you can get others but try the local stuff.

Make sure to sample some Ouzo as well, after all it is the most popular drink in Greece, but make sure you have snacks known as mezedes or meze with your Ouzo as they soften the effects of powerful Ouzo, and if you don't like licorice I don't think you'll like Ouzo.

Heading back to the ship now and getting ready to set sail for Izmir Turkey.