A 1940s Childhood

From Ancient Olympia to the Modern Olympiad 9

Inspire a Generation

Our sadness at leaving Greece was tempered by the knowledge that we were en route to the London 2012 Olympics. We flew back to Manchester, drove home to Leeds for the night, stuck some jumpers in our case and then drove straight down to Dorset to see my family. The sailing events were happening a few miles east of my parents' house in Weymouth so we headed straight over. As part of the London 2012's mission to 'Inspire a Generation' there was a live site on Weymouth beach where kids could play a vast array of sports completely free. As my son loves sport this was perfect for him. Meanwhile there was a huge video screen next door showing highlights of the main events where I could watch. I was there to see Brad Wiggins win the time trial. I will always remember the drive to Weymouth, though, where I was in tears listening to Heather Stanning and Helen Glover winning the first Team GB gold medal in the rowing. It was the start of the most incredible few days for my son and I.

Trying canoeing for free

Beach volleyball

Tag rugby

In the Weymouth tower

Olympic yacht racing

From Ancient Olympia to the Modern Olympiad 8

Athens
Overnight in Kalambaka (where the Meteora monasteries were) the Opening Ceremony of London 2012 was held. I tried to stay up but the ceremony didn't start until 11pm Greek time and I kept drifting off, although I was awake for the lighting of the flame and cried my eyes out at the beauty of the design. The following day we travelled back to Athens for a final day in the capital and a visit to the national archaeological museum. At night, we visited the Plaka district and looked up at the lit Acropolis. The next day we went to the archaeological museum and got to see the original treasures from the places we had visited. Wherever we went bars and restaurants had huge screens showing coverage of London 2012 and it looked so amazing: the vibrancy of the pink and purple colour scheme, the crowds, the .. sun! I have never been so proud to be British. A very special memory will always be sitting in a bar in Athens eating pizza and trying to invent the rules of fencing for ourselves as the commentary was all greek to us...

Please read this. It's a wonderful country and well worth visiting.

And has amazing cake.

Along with incredible views

Poseidon

This bronze dates from BC times. The detail was mind blowing.

I adored this statue: it was found in a shipwreck. The side buried in sand and silt was flawless, the other side affected by sea creatures and erosion. A fascinating juxtaposition.

The Mycenean Grave Circle A death mask known as the Mask of Agamemnon

Enjoying gyros on our final meal in Athens

Thinking about what the highlight of the holiday was

From Ancient Olympia to Modern Olympiad 7

Meteora

Something important about me is that I am not scared of heights; I am absolutely blooming terrified of them. For much of my life the idea of anything higher than a beach in Holland has made me gibber with fear and cry. However, I have a kid and it is my job to try not to pass my fears on to him so I have worked hard at being 'skill at mountains'. Part of my aversion therapy was travelling around southern Italy in a public bus with the Amalfi coastline plunging away below me and the bus driver doing 50mph whilst chatting on his mobile. That was an actual kill or cure. So Meteora was always going to be a test for me as the site is a group of Orthodox monasteries and convents built on the top of mountains to be away from the control of the Ottoman Empire.

The monasteries are the tiny blobs at the top of that mountain

And this is the view from the top

Orthodox monasteries are beautiful

The rock formations are simply incredible

The caves you see high up were inhabited by anchorite monks who climbed up and down

I am sat on a wall, these are my feet. I am skill at mountains.

This is the cable car James Bond fought Jaws on.

From Ancient Olympia to Modern Olympiad 6

The navel of the universe

Where is the place that you have always wanted to go but that seemed unimaginably remote and inaccessible? For me, that place was Delphi. This is amusing as in Ancient Greek times Delphi was named the 'navel of the world' as it was absolutely at the centre of their known world. It was lost to modern civilisation until the nineteenth century when French archaeologists set about knocking down the ramshackle village built on top of it to excavate it. This led to riots by the Greeks who were understandably upset about this happening to their homes.

The strange prophecies of the Delphic oracle are a fabulous example of ancient doublespeak such as telling Croesus, when he inquired whether he should fight the Persians: 'if you cross the river a great Empire will fall'. He did, and lost, thereby losing his empire. In retrospect the Pythia (the name given to the priestess) was a very shrewd woman.

In beautiful surroundings it was wonderful to see my son making friends with the other kids from the coach

Christina, our guide, was spellbinding

The Athenian treasury

One of the navels of the world

A laurel wreath carved into the Athenian treasury to show their Olympic success

The Athenian treasury

The theatre at Delphi

Another navel

The bronze charioteer, an incredible ancient survival

The tholos

From Ancient Olympia to Modern Olympiad 5

Olympia

I still remember exactly where I was when I found out that London had won the bid for the 2012 games; I was in the kitchen of my mum's house in Portugal, feeding my toddler lunch in his highchair. When I calculated forwards I realised I would have a nine year old and that he would be able to remember the Olympics and swore we would definitely go. I never had a moment of cynicism or apathy about London 2012: I was always excited for it. So getting to visit Ancient Olympia in the week my nation got the Olympics was a very special experience.

The ancient Olympics are unimaginably old: believed to have started in 776BC, held every four years in honour of Zeus. I love the idea that all wars between the notoriously fractious Greek states were suspended so that the athlete/warriors could attend. They were a religious festival and, as such, women were excluded from watching any of the events except for the Delphic oracle.

Nowadays the place is overwhelmed by tourists but we were lucky to arrive very early and have it pretty much to ourselves. One of the best things about being a lone parent is that my son and I are a unit and there isn't a husband to disapprove of me and my antics. So, of course, I ran the ancient Olympic track: all 197 metres of it. And I might have been 40 at the time but I beat quite a lot of the early twenties Canadian girls on the coach and I am very proud of myself for that. Afterwards we went around the museum which was, as always in Greece, breathtaking. Whilst we were travelling we saw little to no signs of the troubles Greece is suffering at the moment but our visit reminded me of the robbery at this very museum earlier in the year.