EXPLORING GREECE: THE NORTHWEST

So last time we ended our blog just before we were leaving the Peloponnese. In this blog post, we’ll talk about our journey across the eastern part of mainland Greece. In roughly ten days we made our way to the border with Turkey. On the way, we took in as much as possible, exploring archeological sites, enjoying beaches and climbing in the mountains.

DOES THE CORINTH CANAL MAKE THE PELOPONNESE AN ISLAND?

After having explored the Peloponnese we headed back to the north, which meant crossing the Corinth canal. While there were proposals to build a canal as early as 100 AD it only got built a hundred years ago. There’s some dispute about whether the Peleponnese is now technically an island, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. As the canal is quite narrow, it can not be used by big modern boats and thus most of the traffic we saw was small recreational boats. The first picture stop we made was a little disappointing as it was close to the sea and the walls of the canal were already fading out to the ocean, so we decided to head back into the middle where the walls reach 90m. So we ended up crossing the canal three times including once over a small bridge where we exceeded the weight limit a bit (oops).

HOSIOS LOUKAS

On a typical itinerary, one would now head to Athens but we decided to skip it, as we have visited it on a past weekend trip. If you haven’t been there though, we highly recommend it.

Instead, we headed to the monastery of Hosios Loukas. On our way, we crossed some less touristy places, which made the lunch and coffee breaks all the more interesting. The monastery is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the most important buildings of Middle Byzantine architecture. Despite having visited several monasteries and churches along the way, the rich greek-orthodox iconography was still impressive.

Hosios Loukas monastery — The church was built in the 10th century!

Church mosaic — Typical greek-orthodox iconography. In this case as a huge mosaic.

THE ORACLE OF DELPHI

Heading in the direction of Delphi we tried our luck for a sleeping spot. Initially, we found a spot on Park4night near a church. Not being too keen to camp on the church grounds especially since there was already another van we decided to look for a spot in the mountain range around Arachova. The path was a bit tricky and it first seemed like it might be a futile endeavour as the dirt track hugged the steep mountain cliff with no parking bays.

Just before losing hope, the track made a turn and after a strenuous ascent, we came across a beautiful plateau and mountain meadow. The scenery was absolutely stunning and we were very pleased with our decision to not settle for the church.

Water fountain — Filling up our water reserves

The next day, the ancient site of Delphi was on our schedule. Most famous for its oracle, it has a lot to offer. The different city-states of ancient times were represented by buildings and victory statues (a lot of them celebrating victories over other city-states) on the path leading to the main temple.

Victory column made out of bronze. First we thought it’s a modern statue, but it is indeed original.

View over Delphi. It’s built into the hill, so a visit requires some stamina.

Given the age, we were surprised how some of the buildings and statues are still in such good shape.

Sphinx — The museum houses the more delicate statues.

The weather continued to be very hot and we looked forward to heading into the mountains. I read about nearby Mt. Parnassus which was a sacred site in ancient Greece and according to mythology the home of the muses. On maps.me I even found a path that looked to head right to the peak and indeed we managed to follow a bad dirt path very close to the peak. We parked nearly 2400m above sea level and had a fantastic landscape for us. While Carole read her books by the Pantherli I decided to explore a bit and hiked to the top. No muses were found but the view was stunning.

Ski track — Following a dirt path and crossing the ski tracks

Rockfall — The next morning, we were glad, that the road was still passable

Source — Quick stop at a sulfur source. It was already used for bathing in the ancient greek times.

COASTAL EXPLORING AND FISHING ADVENTURES

The next day we headed north to Volos and the Pelion peninsula. This mountainous peninsula offered amazing views and challenging, windy roads through forests. We spent the night in a little cove in the south, right on the beach. After enjoying some snorkelling I decided to try my luck with fishing, which ended up with me going for a swim under the full moon to untangle my hook, but no fish for dinner.

Great views from the peninsula — The Pelion peninsula was basically a mountain range in the sea.

Dinner at the beach — Nice dinner spot at the beach

It took us longer than expected to head back to the main roads and we ended up having lunch still on the Pelion peninsula. This gave me the chance to sample the local specialty: goat soup. It was quite alright, but after a while the goat smell does become a little overwhelming.

The next stop was the Tembi valley where we visited a cave church. To get to the church we had to cross the river over a hanging bridge and discovering plenty of fish in the river we decided to lounge a bit at the river shore. I set up to redeem myself and indeed caught two chubs (Alet) while wading through the river and the hot water from the nearby springs. The successful campaign not only included catching them but subsequently defending them against two cute stray cats.

WHERE ZEUS AND THE GODS LIVE

The following day, it was mountain-time again as we set out to explore the Olymp, where Zeus and the other ancient greek gods lived. Typically people would do 2-3 day treks and climbs starting in Litochoro. But being equipped with our Pantherli we decided to head up to the Christake refuge at 2500m where we spent a cool afternoon relaxing and watching the endemic chamois of the Olymp mount range. The next morning we packed our hiking stuff and made our way up the remaining ascent of 400 meters to Skala and Mytikas (the main peaks of the Olymp). The path up to Skala is steep but not too difficult. We talked to a German and his mountain guide in the morning and were not sure whether to try to make the traverse from Skala to Mytikas. Being so close I couldn’t resist and climbed my way to Mytikas while Carole took a break on the Skala. And indeed the climbing was very tricky and definitely not for the faint-hearted, but doable without a rope.

Road to the refuge — Heading up to the refuge

Camping — We arrived early in the afternoon and spent a lazy afternoon enjoying the cool air and acclimatizing by going for a small walk.

Chamois — The endemic chamois passed through in the evening.

Ascent — The ascent was very steep, but not very technical.

Traverse to Mytikas — The traverse to the Mytikas was much more technical.

Signage — The traverse has a lot of markings and is equipped for ropes.

Return — And then it was time to return. The descent is probably the killer for muscle pain.

Back down again on sea level, it was time for a shower. So we went to a local swimming pool. After asking if they also have showers, the receptionist looked a bit puzzled but pointed us directly to the showers. We would have gladly paid normal entrance and also used the pool but we left after showering and gave a tip.

SAYING HELLO TO ALEXANDER’S DAD

In Aigai we visited one of our favourite museums so far. The Royal Tombs are the burial site of Philipp, the father of Alexander the Great. The tomb was in the form of a Tumulus and hence buried and protected in the ground. The whole museum is inside that Tumulus instead of unearthing the graves and corresponding palaces. This setup combined with good lighting and amazing burial objects made it an awesome experience we highly recommend despite the detour.

Gold diadem — Amazing finds in the tombs

Churches — It is very common to have little churches along the roads.

SHOPPING IN THESSALONIKI

Our next stop was Thessaloniki where we did some shopping (I desperately needed some new shoes after wearing the same ones for the last 6 months). We did a bit of sightseeing as well despite the sore muscles. The city itself was inviting with the oceanfront and some bars which looked like a lot of fun. Giving the lack of campsites in the city and the risk of COVID we passed on the night out and drove on. Perhaps another time…

Next morning — We will miss those mornings, where we just woke up and went for a quick dip in the sea.

NO BOATS FOR US

Next on the plan was the Sithonia peninsula in Chalkidiki. We drove down the western coast and stopped for lunch with a view in a small village called Parthenonas. In the early afternoon, we set up camp at the camping Melissi. We decided to stay two nights to have some time for laundry and just have a lazy Sunday.

Cat — Tiny cat visiting us at the campsite.

On the east side of the coast, there are a lot of boat rentals. As it was already mid-day and only bigger boats were available we passed. As a group thing though it would be very cool and quite affordable.

So we skipped on that and instead tried to find a tour boat in Ouranoupoli that would do a circle around Mount Athos. Mount Athos is a peninsula and forms a monastic state. Only male visitors are allowed in and still require a kind of visa to visit. So the most common form to visit is a cruise around the shores of the peninsula. This time, having fewer tourists due to COVID was a disadvantage for us. The cruise operator cancelled the daily trip because they were short of tourists.

BYEBYE GREECE

Instead, we drove on up to the dunes in Mangana where we spent the last night directly on the beach. And with that, we are already close to the Turkish border. We’ll tell you all about the custom procedures in our next blog post about Turkey. Given the tensions between Turkey and Greece, heading to the border was an adventure we were not necessarily relaxed about.

Tanks — Not much traffic on the highway, except a lot of tanks being transported.

CONCLUSION

We had a blast exploring Greece. The combination of culture, beach and mountains was extraordinary. Camping wild on the beaches every so often was absolutely fabulous. I imagine having a lot more tourists normally takes away some of the charms though. Weather-wise it remained on the hot side – what else do you expect of Summer in Greece?!

FACTS & FIGURES

Kilometers driven: 1462 km
Total distance in Greece: 3341 km
Average distance / day: 167 km
Highest climbed peak: 2918 meters
Fish caught: 2