Katakolon Shore Ex : Skip-the-Lines Oude Olympia & Olijfmarkt

We were picked up in a luxury van and our guide Despina was very gracious and knowledgeable. She was very accommodating when we decided to change our time shopping and join the group that was going to a local beach. I would highly recommend this tour if you are visiting the Olympia area !

Maria was waiting right on time to pick us up at the cruise ship port and communicated expertly with us in advance including pictures of the port and where to meet. During the bus to Olympia Maria gave us lots of information about the area and set us up for understanding the history of Olympia and the Katakolon peninsula. Once we arrived our guide Saskia (? sp) who was originally from the Netherlands was fabulous…5 stars to her! It was a great tour and gave us enough time to do some exploration around town and try a local restaurant before walking to the ship.

Fantastic! Our guides were fantastic. The guide at the ancient Olympia ruins was an amazing person with an endless wealth of information. It's amazing to see 2000 year old ruins and the artifacts collected in the museum itself. Would highly recommend this tour.

Despina did well as our host for the day. She collected us from the cruise port and we were off to our first stop - the Museum of Ancient Olympia. Despina introduced us to our certified guide, Katarina, then escorted one person from each couple into the museum to buy the site tickets. This is where the day took a disappointing turn. For the next two hours, we struggled to both hear and understand what our certified guide was saying. Several issues hampered our guide’s ability to communicate with our small group (10 people). First, the acoustics within the museum are horrible - hard-surface floors and walls created an echoing environment. Conversely however, a passing group with a different certified guide had no problem projecting his voice above the din. Second, on this day (a Sunday, surprisingly) a group of disruptive schoolchildren were being brought through the museum. Third, Katarina, our certified guide was extremely soft-spoken. And lastly, Katarina, the certified guide, had seemingly only a basic level of English language. Throughout the presentation, her harsh accent and struggles to find the appropriate word belied what Despina assured us was an extensive level of experience. All of these issues conspired to lower the enjoyment of the tour. Once our group made it outside to the archeological site, the first three issues were alleviated somewhat, but Katarina still struggled to seamlessly communicate with us. It is unfortunate, especially given our numerous other visits to archaeological sites within Greece, where the certified guides are both extremely knowledgeable, extensively trained and their English is impeccable. We made Despina aware of our collective disappointment, to which Despina was sympathetic and genuinely apologetic. Our last stop at a shopping center for tasting different flavor infused olive oils, along with other local treats was fine. Despina ensured that we returned to our ship in plenty of time prior to departure. We can cautiously recommend this tour, but only if you are assigned a different certified guide.

Terrific tour from start to finish - communication, driver, guide, transportation all tops. There were only four in our group which was very nice compared to what our cruise ship offered. Our guide was fantastic - knowledgeable, interesting, and a very good communicator - we learned a lot and she really helped us understand the significance of what we were seeing at the Olympia. Following that we visited a honey farm which was interesting and charming. Highly recommend the whole experience!

Our tour guide was informative and had a wealth of knowledge to share with us . She enjoyed sharing her passion

Our family had a great time. Pre-tour communication was excellent. The tour was educational and exciting. Great to support a local family business.

Was great to have someone else organize and transport and directions. The tour guide at the site was so qualified and professional. We could understand him perfectly and he made it fun as we toured the site and museum

We did a 3 generation trip to Olympia with our incredible guide Dimitra Spiliopoulou. She brought Ancient Greek culture and history to life for us, making our tour SO much more enjoyable. We were so lucky to have her as our guide, bravo!

We took this excursion from our cruise ship and enjoyed it immensely. Fharrysto and helena and driver Alex were excellent, very informative and helpful.