Arrived home in
the early hours of this morning - exhausted but very happy!
What a wonderful time we had. Here is a (very long) account of
our trip - hope it doesn't bore you too much!!
Arrived at Heathrow on Saturday morning and whilst checking in
for our flight at the Olympic Airways desk, we met two other
couples who had also won their trip in the same comp (there
were 5 prizes altogether). Great flight - scheduled, so free
all the way. With the 2 hour time difference, we landed a the
brand new Athenia airport at about 6pm and were met by our
Sportsworld rep who directed us to our air-conditioned coach
which took us the 15 minute drive to our Club Med hotel
complex, the Mare Nostrum. Wow! Lovely hotel - staff couldn't
do enough for us - we were given a huge room with a balcony
which was bigger than our lounge at home, overlooking a
beautiful view of sandy beach, bay and mountains. Exciting
goodie bag each in the room - Sportsworld day-sack containing
Olympic Swatch watch, rain poncho (?!!!), water bottle and
baseball cap. |
 |
 |
After a quick
shower, we went down for the welcome meeting where we met the
other two couples who had won the trip. One of them was a
mother and daughter from Eastbourne (originally from
Nottingham) who were absolutely hilarious - my face ached from
laughing so much. The mum, Margaret is 70 but you'd have
thought she was 50 - what a lovely, funny lady. Anyway, after
lots of complimentary cocktails, we were put on a coach to a
lovely resort called Porto Rafti and taken for dinner where we
got to know each other and were given our event tickets. The
dinner was a traditional Greek Meze and I lost count of the
courses but there must have been about 10, including the
traditional taramasolata, tzatziki, greek salad, souvlaki etc.
And more free wine!!!!!!! Back to the hotel and straight to
bed - thank goodness for air conditioning as it was sooooo
hot.
Sunday morning, up at 5 for an early brekkie - you name it, it
was on the menu! Everything from pancakes and syrup to full
English, cereals, fruit, croissants, even creme caramel! Off
to Schinias for the rowing. Have to admit - wasn't at all sure
what to expect - didn't feel particularly inspired having
watched the rowing on tv before we left but how wrong could I
have been?! What an atmosphere! |
We had seats about
25m from the finish line and we were surrounded on one side by
Dutch (crazy!) and the other side by Aussies (patriotic), and
behind us by Poles, Germans, Kiwis and other Brits. All were
dressed in their national colours and we were sporting our
Union Flags as Capes, along with our GB t-shirts which we'd
also been given by Sportsworld. We sat in the 88degree heat
and watched the finals - every time a Dutch or Australian crew
won, the stands just erupted and some of the crowd vaulted the
barriers and ran into the water and swam out to their boats!!!
The officials were helpless to stop them but it was hilarious
watching it all. It was all in good spirit and in the end, the
crews were being presented with their medals, then rowing over
to us and getting out of their boats to come and shake hands
with the crowds and show off the medals. Our ladies quads won
the silver and spent ages with the crowd which was lovely.
After the rowing, off to lunch in a beach-side taverna for a
lunch even more enormous than the previous nights dinner! I
lost count at 12 courses, including kalamari, moussaka,
battered prawns etc etc. Then a lovely, though energy-sapping
sightseeing tour of Athens - very steep walk up through the
Plaka to see the Parthenon and Acropolis in tremendous heat.
|
 |
 |
Back to 'Oaka',
the main Olympic complex, to watch the athletics. Oaka is just
mind-blowing, the architecture is superb and its so colourful
- will try and post some pics on that section of the website
if thats ok with Dot. Our seats, although halfway up the top
tier, were superb - right on the track finish line. We watched
some of our athletes in qualifying heats but no successes.
Poor old Tanni Grey-Thompson came last in the ladies 800m
wheelchair race - that was a shame. Saw the mens 100m final,
won by Gatlin of USA - one thing that really surprised me was
the lack of support the Americans in the crowd seemed to be
giving their athletes - those sitting near us weren't even
clapping their guys, let alone cheering and flag waving. No
medals for GB so off back to the hotel and in bed by 1am,
shattered. Picture shows me outside the main stadium -
you can see the Olympic flame at the top!
Monday morning - lie in! Leisurely breakfast then coach back
to Oaka for mens 3m springboard diving. This was the event I'd
promised to streak at, but alas, my seat was in the middle of
a row, so I couldn't get out quickly, and the security was
extremely tight - some of the guards even had pistols, so I
didn't think I'd better risk it. Sorry to disappoint, but me
naked is not a pretty sight, especially after the 2 stones I
probably gained whilst there, from all the lovely food!!
Just time for a quick
|
|
The diving was ok
- but it was qualifiers, not finals, so there were no medals,
and it did become a little tedious after a couple of hours - a
lot of people actually fell asleep! More athletics in the
evening and this is where we saw what turned out to be 'the
main event' for us - Kelly Holmes winning gold in the ladies
800m. Unbelievable - she seemed to come from nowhere and we
were hoarse from cheering her on - her face was an absolute
picture, which I'm sure everyone saw on tv. The atmosphere was
electric. Unfortunately, the batteries died in our camera so I
missed out on any pics, although I doubt they'd have been
brilliant as we were farther back. Also saw Dean Macy do well
in some of his events then back to hotel for a very late
dinner.
Yesterday - packed
then relaxed by the pool. Andy went sea-kayaking with another
chap that we'd met, then we chilled out until it was time to
transfer back to the airport. Last minute souvenir shopping -
our two little boys (who we'd left with Grandma & Grandad and
missed like crazy), wanted Greek football shirts so we managed
to oblige! Lovely flight back to Heathrow, landing in the rain
Said quick goodbyes and swapped email addresses with some of
our fellow winners, reclaimed our luggage (I stood next to
Paula Radcliffe's dad at the conveyor belt - I kind of wanted
to say something, but just didn't know what to say
) Got home about 1am and by the time we'd got ourselves sorted
and opened the mail etc, fell into bed about 2. |
 |
 |
The boys were so
glad to see us this morning and are proudly wearing their new
footie shirts. Have been watching the events on tv today but
its just not the same - I feel quite flat today but I'll put
that down to tiredness!!!! Had a wonderful, wonderful time,
treated like Royalty (but then again, I AM a princess at last,
albeit a Herbal Essences one!!!). Roll on 2008 - I'll be
trying my hardest to win a trip to Beijing!!!! |
|
|
