Mount Olympus
link to Enipeas Gorge walk album on Facebook
Litohoro is a little town underneath Mt Olympos,
Mt Olympos from our terrace
frequented by walkers, climbers and some wealthy people who do neither. We were very comfortable in the Pension Papanikolau, run by Martina who came here 20 years ago from Germany on a holiday, and married a local. It’s the kind of place you never want to leave, but we had to journey on to Istanbul via Thessaloniki.
Enjoying a coffee in the sitting room at the Papanikolau
On Saturday we walked about halfway up Mt Olympos to about 1400 metres, boosted by a taxi. Then we descended 1200 metres through the Enipeas Gorge, with sheer 1000 metre cliffs and overwhelming bluffs towering over us on each side. One of the most spectacular and tough one-day walks I have ever done, with switch backs continually rising and descending hundreds of metres, and 7 or 8 river crossings on beautiful little wooden bridges. Easily the equal of Nepal. On the way we passed the huge ruined monastery of St. Dionysiou, which had stood for over 1000 years in an isolated chasm till the Germans dynamited it in WW2. They really did go all over Europe invading and destroying, something the Germans will be remembered for, like Genghis Khan. Then to the hermit’s cave of St.Spileo, where I lit a candle for Cassandra. This is a tiny church underneath a large cliff overhang, with a small brook running through it, and inside, oil lamps burning and icons piled up. At the side of the church is an even tinier lean-to for the hermit.
We saw the snowy peaks of Mount Olympos many times, and we walked through beautful forests of pine and beech, among other trees.Primulas and violets are native here, and there were banks of them in flower,as well as small purple orchids and lots of daisies. Lily of the valley is also native, but was not yet flowering. The water of the Enipeas rushes down the chasm, over waterfalls, forming lovely pools from time to time. It is drinkable, and has a beautiful blue-green colour. We ate lunch by a pool on a flat rock, and refilled our water bottles there. Also enchanting were the great variety of butterflies-blue-grey, yellow and white, lemon yellow, white, brown and black.
A wonderful, if truly exhausting day – but then, that’s what walking is all about!
You can see more pictures of the Pension Papanikolau here
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