At last two and a half years of waiting and we're finally at the appointed time. The Opening Ceremony is at 20:30, with a pre-show starting at 19:30. We ask Costas how we can get into Athens for the ceremony. There is not a frequent local bus service and as it’s a Greek national holiday, it will be even worse. We consider driving there in the camper and ask where we may be able to park it.
It doesn’t seem to be a good plan! We are amazed when Costas offers to lend us his wives car! He gives us directions to a metro that we can use on that will mean we can avoid the central area.
We depart for Athens after a quick lunch and drive to and car park, the directions from Costas are very good and we find our way with only one minor detour. The metro system is great and we are able to use our event tickets to travel on the train without any difficulty. We get to the stadium, but are told that they are not letting people in until 17:30, two hours before the pre-show is due to start, so we make our way back up to the metro and head for Monastracki, which appears, from the maps we got at the metro station, to be the main shopping centre.
We wander around, but as today is a Public Holiday (due to the Olympics!), most of the shops are closed. There are a couple of pin badge collectors/sellers showing their stuff.
We find the central Olympic Store and have a good look around. We decide not to buy anything as we'll have plenty of opportunity in the days to come and we'd only have to carry it!
Back onto the underground and we head back to OAKA. It's getting closer!
There is a massive queue outside the Olympic Shop in the Stadium, so we decide that we’ll wait for another day. We’ve got several more visits! There is a McDonalds just round the corner of the main entrance. We’ve got some time to kill, so we decide to have tea. No ‘Happy Meals’ but the salads are pretty good. It’s packed will fans carrying and wearing a multitude of national flags.
When we enter the main Olympic stadium, we look around but can’t see an obvious torch. We find our seats with no problem. There are loads of volunteers here and we are very taken with their polo shirts.
A man dressed in yellow overalls and a hard hat comes out into the arena and starts banging with a hammer. He announces “that’s it, finished”, to much amusement from the Greeks in the stadium. On each seat there was a box containing the opening ceremony programme and some props for the audience to use in the ceremony.
One of the highlights of the pre-show was a video of the stadium being built. In fast motion you see the demolition and construction with a background tune of ‘Zorba’.
What can I say about this stunning start to the games.
The Opening Ceremony began as a young Greek boy sailed into the stadium on a 'paper-ship' waving the host nation's flag to haunting music by Hadjidakis. A centaur emerged, followed by a massive head of a cycladic figurine which in due course broke into many pieces representating the Greek islands. Beneath the cycladic head was a Hellenistic depiction of the human body. A man was seen balancing on a hovering cube symbolising man's eternal 'split' between passion and reason followed by a couple of young lovers playfully chasing each other while the god Eros was hovering above them. A very colourful float parade followed, which recorded Greek history from the ancient Minoan civilization to modern times.
The entrance of the 202 teams takes nearly two hours. When you’re at home it doesn’t seem to take so long as you’re not confined to a seat. After the first few it is a bit monotonous. We are too far away to be able to pick out individual athletes from the crowds and we don’t even know who the flag carriers are.
The teams enter in alphabetical order (except the Greeks, who are last). However, the order is Greek language so we find that some countries arrive at strange times.
The Americans are greeted with boos and hissing from the audience. I’m not sure that this will have been picked up at home. The British team fairs slightly better, and a Greek lady sitting next to us apologises, saying that it is the government, not the athletes that they are jeering.
The biggest cheers (apart for the Greek team) are for the Afghanistan team and the Iraqis. Given the earlier barracking of the Americans, I ask the Greek lady if she understands that if it hadn’t been for the Americans invasion, there wouldn’t be any Afghans here. She has no reply!
Bjork sings “Oceania” and the train of the dress is pulled out over the athletes. We have seats right at the top and have a great view of everything, or so we thought. Whilst we have been distracted by activities on the other side of the stadium, a large torch has appeared. It was uncovered when the dress was pulled out! The Torch pivoted downwards and Sailing gold medallist Nikos Kaklamanakis, reached the Cauldron lit the Cauldron. The Torch slowly lifted the Flame above the Athens Olympic Stadium.
When we first bid for tickets, I had thought that the Opening Ceremony was a bit expensive and had thought that we would only go to the Closing Ceremony. Julie had decided that we might as well go to both and included the tickets in her bid. I’m so glad that she did as it was a truly memorable experience. The Opening Ceremony had proved to be a pageant of traditional Greek culture and history hearkening back to its mythological beginnings.
As we are queuing to exit, we notice that there are a number of ceremony boxes left behind. The girls are able to collect up a couple, which will make nice presents for people back home.