Day 7: Enipeas Gorge

Today is a hiking day! We woke up early to eat a good breakfast before leaving at 8:00 for Enipeas Gorge on Mt. Olympus. We opted to guide ourselves and rented a car just for the day. The hotel arranged for the rental to be dropped off and picked up right at the front door. A few quick checks and paperwork and we were off.

Getting the rental ready

While the city of Thessaloniki is full and active, according to Cordwood, the tollway was giving Mexico and Wisconsin vibes. It wasn’t the most exciting drive, but it only gets better from here. We started at the Mt. Olympus visitor center in the town of Litochoro.

On the road to Mt. Olympus

We knew we didn’t want to hike the entire trail from the visitor center up to the town of Prionia, but we definitely did want to do the best portions of it. The person as the front desk showed us a map and gave some pointers as to where to start the hike. The visitor center also has a museum with the history, flora, and fauna of the area. We spent some time walking around the museum before driving up the mountain to our starting point.

Olympus National Park Visitor Center

3d scale model of Mt. Olympus and Enipeas gorge

Map

We decided to start at the Dionysios Monastery. We started hiking away from Prionia towards caves of the gods, then back up until Prionia. It was a really nice hike that was certainly uphill, but not to challenging yet. It was also perfect hiking weather (about 50 degrees and sunny), and there were no other people on the trails, which also helps.

Group shot

Bridge

Scraggly tree

Crossing the bridge over the river!

Crossing the river under the bridge

Once we reached Prionia, we were immediately greeted by a very friendly dog with a bell on his collar. We named him Zeus and gave him some attention before deciding to continue hiking up the mountain for about another hour. You could hike to the top in a couple of days, but not in the winter. This section of the trail was significantly harder than what we had just completed. It was steeper and had more stairs. We eventually made it to the point we had picked on the map, took some pictures, and headed back down.

Zues and his favorite toy shirt

Came from that way, going up that way

Made it to Pigadouli

View from Pigadouli

We hiked that way

When we got back to Prionia, Zeus said hi again and we continued back on the trail to the monastery parking lot. Soon, we heard Zeus’ bell and realized he started following us down the trail. He then started leading us. He would walk ahead and then stop to wait for us to catch up. He led us all the way back to the car then carried on his way. We felt bad that we couldn’t tip him. He was an excellent guide. The hike was about six miles in four and a half hours, and 2000 ft elevation gain.

Heading back down

Zeus leads the way

Zeus likes waterfalls, too

Back at the Dionysios Monestary

Hike Stats!

We wanted to make sure we were off the mountain and well on the road before dark. When we finished the hike, we drove back to hotel. There really wasn’t any traffic until getting into the city. But the last 2.5km took a whopping 30 minutes! As per instructions, we left car at the hotel and the keys with the receptionist. We took much needed showers and got ready for the rest of the night.

Other than breakfast, we didn’t really eat much today. So, first on the agenda was getting gelato. Lily recommended Freggio, a place nearby (and always nearby — there is one on every other block) that was indeed delicious. We walked to Aristotle Square to meet up with Lily and two of her friends, Coco and Sanchita. The plan was to all go out to dinner with another friend, Evia, and her parents.

We met at a Greek restaurant where Evia’s mom Tina (who is Greek) helped us order. We shared appetizers and lots of wine along with our own meals. Everyone was chatting and having a good time, but then live music started. There were two men playing guitar and mandolin and singing. It was great, but it kept getting louder and louder and we eventually had to yell to barely hear each other. It was a small restaurant and could have really been an acoustic set. Unless we were mistaken for trying to have dinner at a concert.

Dinner at Restaurant Kazaviti

Live music was great before they cranked it up to 11

Dog parking. Zeus returned to Mt. Olympus after the hike, of course.

The restaurant definitely followed Greek Time and dinner was done at about 10:30pm. We were tired from the day and walked back to the hotel. Tomorrow is family day at the school (but without the students for some reason?) so we are signed up for some tours.