In the Home of the Gods – Mount Olympus

The Vodafone shop at Thessaloniki managed to resolve our sim card issue and our Mi-Fi was back functioning as it should.  So, we headed for Zampetas (N40.502602 E22.970501), the same place we had stopped for the night before visiting the Halkidiki peninsulas. We spent a couple of hours giving Sonny a good clean inside and out, a little bit of washing and then sitting in the sun.

We met up again with John and Elizabeth, an Australian couple we met here last Wednesday.  Like us they had spent 4 days travelling around the peninsulas of Halkidiki and ended up back at Zampetas, as they needed a repair doing to their motorhome.  John had hit an olive tree and it had dislodged his roof bars.  Nice to know it’s not just us who hit things! We also met a lovely German couple, Claus and Petra and we all sat talking late into the night about our travels.  Claus and Petra also gave us some good advice on where to visit in the Peloponnese.  They had been there before and like us were heading that way.  They were travelling around in a massive 'Man' truck - a converted military truck.

There were a lot of motorhomes here this time around and we were packed in like sardines.  The German 'Man truck' standing head and shoulders above us all.

Getting out of Thessaloniki is a nightmare if you don’t take the motorway around it.  As we were avoiding toll roads we drove through the city and wished we hadn’t.  It's a 4 lane one-way system, which is okay if used properly.  Unfortunately, the Greeks use the inside and outside lanes for parking on and the other 2 they just weave in and out of you – they have no road sense whatsoever and disobey every road law going! Plus, there are traffic lights every couple of hundred metres and it took us about an hour to get out of Thessaloniki – a distance of only 15kms. Lesson learnt – sometimes it is better to take the motorways!

We headed to a place called Litochoro (N40.107011 E22.507803) in the Olympus Mountains and parked up next to the park and local tennis courts.  It has a fresh water tap and toilets.  We were joined for the night by a French motorhome, from Nantes.  They were a friendly couple, he used to be an English teacher and they both spoke very good English.

Lovely view of the Olympus Mountains from our parking spot

In 1938 Mount Olympus became the first National Park in Greece.   It lies on the border of Macedonia and Thessaly and expands approximately 500 sqkms.  Greek mythology beleived it as the home of their 12 primary gods.  Ancient Greeks believed that Zeus (king of the gods) lived on the highest peak Mytikas at 2918 metres (9,570 feet) – the tallest mountain in Greece. We decided to get the scooter off and ride up the mountain to visit the monasteries - the old and new of St Dionysios and then on to Prionia, the first base camp at 1800 metres, where you can start the walk to the highest peak on Mount Olympus.
The new Monastery of St Dionysios was built when the old one was destroyed by German troops during WW2.  You must be properly covered up to enter, ie shoulders and knees covered, however they don’t like women wearing trousers and you must put on skirts/wraps over them – there is a basket of them at the entrance to the monastery.

Wearing the statutory wrap over my trousers!

Inside St Dionysios Monastery

There is a small museum with artefacts/transcripts from the original monastery – no photos allowed to be taken inside

Litochoro got smaller as we climbed higher

After about 14kms you come to the old Holy Monastery of St Dionysios.  It was erected on the sloped of Mount Olympus by Dionysios in 1542.  Destroyed in 1943 by the German troops, it laid in ruins for years but now it is in the process of being reconstructed and is closed to the public.

Stone over the entrance to the old St Dionysios Monastery

Restoration work being carried out on the monastery

A downhill walk of about 15 minutes from the monastery, through forest takes you to the Holy Cave of St Dionysios Monastery located at the Enipeas River and built under an overhanging rock just above the spring.  A small space where Saint Dionysios celebrated the sacred liturgy during his time as a hermit, with a separate sleeping area. 

Holy Cave of St Dionysios Monastery

On the bridge that crosses Enipeas River, just below the monastery

Prionia, the first base camp is about 1.5kms further on from the Monastery and where most people start their ascent to the peak.

Lovely autumn colours on the mountain

Prionia , 1800 metres- you can't stop over here but the little hut serves food and drinks

Map showing route to the top.  Most people do it in 2 days as it is a tough hike and there are a few base camps you can stop overnight at.  Between the end of October to mid-May most are covered in snow.

Interesting sign at the start of the walk - not sure it should read walk carefully and not walk quickly!

Enipeas Gorge – Greek mythology tells us this is where the musician Orpheus was devoured by Maenads (female followers of Dionysus) – we didn’t see any!

Leaving Litochoro we headed to Larissa, taking the scenic route over the Olympus Mountains and climbing from sea level to over 1,000 metres.  Boy where those roads steep and winding.

The Sat Nav showing us just how bendy the roads over the mountain are!

The winding roads below that we had just come up.

At the top,  just over 1,000 metres

Coming down off the mountain we found this stone and sign. Translated in Google it reads: ‘Beginning hatch sign of 101AD on the trading auto crater determining the limits between the Macedonian Dea and the Peraivic Alliance’.  Yep, it made no sense to us either!

View across Olympus Mountains, where we had just driven

It was just as steep and winding going down the other side of the mountain.

It was only 89 kms (55 miles) to Larissa, but it took us 2 hours to drive it - excluding stops to take lots of photos.  Plus, we only saw about 5 cars for most of the journey across the mountain - perfect for us!.   Our parking spot for the night is a little car park next to a park in Larissa (N39.642672 E22.411607), found on Park4Night.  We had a walk around the city, it's the 4^th largest in Greece.  In the town, on a place named Fortress Hill are remains of the first ancient theatre of Larissa.

The first ancient theatre of Larissa, constructed early 3rd Century BC

St Achillios’ Basilica, built mid-6th century.  The building behind was an old covered market used for selling textiles.

Tomorrow we continue our journey further south to the Peloponnese - the real Greece!

Sally x