Litochoro… On The Slopes Of Mt Olympus

By Helen Grubner. Filed in Uncategorized  |  
TOP del.icio.us digg

Saturday, 2 July 2022… Left my apartment this morning to walk to Myloi, a little bit of retracing my steps from 3 years’ ago. Met up again with Grigori, the Park Warden who reminded me of how much he loves Olympus, before taking the easy, well constructed path to the waterfall and return.

Briefly considered walking part of the E4 trail, however, good sense prevailed… not wise in this heat. I had hoped to walk the upper part of the E4 from Prionia to Agio Spilaio and the Agios Dionysios Monastery but the 2 Euro each way shuttle bus to Prionia isn’t running and I couldn’t justify E50 for a taxi to get me there and back.

Decided to take a path down to the Enipeas River Canyon and return to Litochoro that way… thinking speed doesn’t matter, forward is forward. When I reached the bottom, the bridge I was expecting to see did not exist, only rocks with blue and red painted dots. Removed my shoes and socks to cross to the other side, returning to Lakkos and Spitaki for a large Amstel, club sandwich and wedges.

Today I followed live online the progress of the runners in the Olympus Mythical Trail race. Incredibly, the first runner home, a Greek, ran the 101km in 17h22m18s. The first female runner home, in overall 11th position, ran the race in 21h18m30s. Ali (Alistair Watson) the English guy I talked to yesterday, put in an amazing performance, coming home 10th in 21h18m.

I don’t know how they do it… I walked around 6km today and was exhausted. I’ve never experienced the kind of heat that we are having here now. I wonder… what will it be like in August.

Waterfall… Enipeas River Canyon
My apartment balcony
Unidentified flora growing en masse
Kiwifruit vines often preferred over grapevines in Litochoro
Love the cone on the trailer 🤣
Derelict houses make great pigeon lofts
Traditional
Maximum use of garden space
Traditional stone and wood
Traditional
Traditional Macedonian architecture
Well maintained cemetery
Golna Peak… altitude more than 1,000m. 3 years’ ago I walked up there
Herbs and Spices for sale… Myloi
In the distance Mytikas, Olympus’ highest peak, just visible
Well constructed path
Shrine
Pool below the waterfall
Near the waterfall
Path… Myloi to waterfall
Pool… Enipeas River Canyon
Enipeas River Canyon
Follow the dots on the rocks
Enipeas River Canyon
Reflections
That elusive bridge
Enipeas River Canyon
Enipeas River Canyon
Lunch at Spitaki
View from my balcony

2 Comments

  1. Comment by Viv Gee:

    Morning Helen. Your travels are going to be my morning read from now on as I’v cancelled my newspaper…couple of reasons, delivery guy smashed my letterbox accidentally and the tyre marks are too much! They replaced the box now just have to get someone to put it up. I’m amazed by the ruins in Thessaloniki and loved the Church of Pangea Chalkeon. I will look up the Olympus Trail, they’re amazing athletes for sure. Love the Macadonian architecture. Sounds like it is hot, wish we had some :} Loving your photos and blog xoxo
    :Love Viv

  2. Comment by Helen Grubner:

    Hi Viv, sorry… no Blog yesterday, I had a day off! I’ll PM you another Image of Panagia Chalkeon. I find it hard to get my head around what those Olympus Mythical Trail runners achieved… nothing short of miraculous! I agree, love all the stone and wood in the Macedonian architecture. The heat has slowed this old girl right down! Glad you are enjoying my Blogs. Luv, H. 😘

Trackbacks / Pingbacks