Mt Olympus: home of the gods. Also a theme park in the Wisconsin Dells with roller coasters and a wave pool. Since we are in Greece, there are no roller coasters or wave pools: only ruins and mountain peace and stray dogs.
Our wonderful driver, Alex, met us in front of our lodgings and prepared to take us outside the city to the archeological site of Dion, just an hour outside of town, and then on to Mt Olympus. However, the tire gods had other plans for us and we ended up with a half-flat tire on one side of the van. Better now than before we got out of town or up on the mountain, I guess! After a car-swap, we hit the road to Dion, through flat fields with mountains on our right and ocean on our left.
The archeological museum at Dion is full of well-preserved statues, household implements, and other signs of daily life pulled from the site at Dion. Dion was home to temples and amphitheaters and baths which have been carefully excavated over the years. The collection of well-preserved stone sculptures and tablets from the 3-5th centuries was truly impressive and well-preserved.
After the museum, we walked over to the archeological park and through a bit of the quiet tourist town of Dion. It was early, so everything was still closed. The park is an expansive, containing a trickling stream, lush lawn, ruins, and peaceful mountain views. No wonder it was selected as a site of worship at the base of the mountain – you feel like a tiny human as you gaze up and back towards Mt Olympus.
We were joined by many doggos on our walk back to the museum. They were possibly attracted by my granola bar but I am convinced they loved me for who I am and not just the granola bar. Some of them had mange, but they all seemed to be well-fed and peaceful beasts. We made a pack with three as we were walking back: Ginge, Cookie, and Molly.
From Dion, we headed up mountain switchbacks to the Mt Olympus trailhead. It was 45 minutes of back and forth, along narrow roads which were paved and had guard rails in most places (unlike Costa Rica – which is just gravel and no guard rails and you have to pass buses while screaming). The vistas were impressive! I pretended to not see the one part of the road that was definitely slightly washed out on the gravel portion to the trailhead.
The mountain was cold af and I’m beginning to be glad that I, for once, packed appropriately for a vacation. Pink puff vest has done me well. After a quick trip to a waterfall (which would not even be in Iceland’s top 100), we walked up, up, up for about a half hour, through silent deciduous forest that was slowly losing its leaves. However, the leaves covered the rocks on the trail and it’s a wonder nobody busted an ankle or fell off the trail. I have a tendency to only hurt my joints when doing extreme sports like walking or playing mini golf. Not today!
It’s no wonder the mountain was sacred to the ancient Greeks.
After a mountain lodge meal of tasty soup and even more cheese and olives, we decided to call it a day and headed back down eternal switchbacks. On the way back, we learned facts about Greece from Alex:
- The fighter planes from the other day were probably just a training exercise. Apparently there are civilian alarms for any real danger
- Military service is compulsory for men for a year, but not for women
- Most of his clientele is Israeli (which makes sense, I guess – Greece is close and relatively inexpensive)
- Cities like Thessaloniki have programs where they round up strays and sterilize them, and they make sure the stray animals are generally well-fed. Makes sense since all the strays we have seen have been plump and pleasant. They are probably less of a problem for the environment and for people this way!
After a nice car nap, we said farewell to Alex, only to bump into him later on our way to our last dinner in the city. He pointed us to a Greek tapas bar (Meze) and we feasted upon potatoes, seafood, and cheese. The food on this trip has been cheap, plentiful, and excellent! And I found my sweet cheese love again, though it wasn’t as good as it was yesterday.
Tomorrow we bid farewell to Thessaloniki and we head to Meteora via train. It’s been real, Thessaloniki. Real tasty.