Athens, Litochoro, and Mount Olympus!

That's right, we climbed Mount Olympus. This was, by far, the best trip I have been on.

This was the last trip we took before leaving Florence at the end of the semester. I've definitely seen my share European churches and museums, so we wanted to do something off the beaten path. The coolest thing we could afford was climbing Mount Olympus. So we scheduled a trip to Athens. Mount Olympus is actually 400 kilometers out of Athens, in (or rather, surrounding) a small town named Litochoro, so we actually went to both.

First, I headed back down to Rome to meet Tim. Just on a side note, right as I got out of the train station in Rome we came across the Spider Man 3 premiere:


And on the way to the airport the next day, I got my only comprehensive shot of the Roman Aquaducts: (I kept trying to get this picture every time we'd head to the airport there, but there were always cars in the way. I finally got it!)


Once in Athens, we took a bus from the airport and ended in Syntagma Square. This is the Parliament Building, which was formerly the King's Palace:


We then stolled down to Plaka square:


Which was pretty dead at night. But the next morning we got a brief taste of this bustling area and a first glimps of the Acropolis:






The Plaka district is the oldest part of Athens. It is the area directly underneath the Acropolis, which is a limestone mesa that has been carved into a small fortification. ("Acropolis" simply means "highest point of a city.") Originally the palace of Mycenaean Kings was built there in the 13th century BC. During the 6th century AD, Athens emerged victorious from a revolt from the Persian Empire's rule. At the time, Athens was building a big temple for the goddess Athena on the Acropolis, which the Persian Army destroyed. 30 years later, they started on a new temple, which is today's Parthenon.

Then we headed to the train station and caught a train to Litochoro. Here are a few blurry glimpses of the Greek country side:


It was an unexpectedly long train ride. It takes 6 hours. I would recommend actually flying into Thessaloniki, Greece, which is north of Mount Olympus by about 150 kilometers, if you ever choose to go. And mention to the conductor that you are getting off at Litochoro because they don't always stop! We were a little confused when we reached the Litochoro train station:




Which is completely abandoned. But luckily, we were staying at a fantastic hostel called Summit Zero (http://www.summitzero.gr/) owned by a very sweet man named Peri, who picked us up from the train station. He went to college in Colorado and speaks perfect English, and was absolutely lovely. Summit Zero is right on the ocean, so you have both the mountains and the beach, and breakfast is included:


The next morning, Peri drove us to town:


And we caught a Taxi up to the mid point of the mountain, which is named Prionia:


Where we started our climb! The train is called the E4 trail, and someone has gone to great lengths to build a little staircase all the way from the base of the mountain to the peak, so this is not exactly an impressive feat. Just very beautiful and very fun.






We went as high as we could without getting into the snowy areas, then climbed all the way back down to the base of the mountain through a beautiful valley. It took us 9 hours. In the summer, there is a hostel open 3/4 the way up the mountian, so you can hike from the base to the hostel (which takes about ten hours) and then hike to the peak the next day. I believe there are other hostels even higher as well, so that you can take a few breaks on the way down.


This is as high as we got. That's another peak of the mountain (there are three):


Back at the mid point, there is an adorable restaraunt made entirely out of wood:




Where we got some hot cocoa and warmed up. Then to the real journey, through the valley:






This was a bit frightening:




I had noticed that our cab driver took hold of a rosary around his neck and began praying at one point during our drive to Prionia. I wonder if this isn't why.










There is also a very old monastary which is still run by a few monks. We ran into a man selling honey and preserves made by the monks to suport the monastary. He also gave us a little pamphlet about the monastary's history - it was bombed in the 40s by the German army and the monks are still diligently rebuilding it.








This is a Nazi watch post:








A little further down, there is another little church:


The pamphlet also explained that this was built by another monk, who was not Greek Orthodox and therefor not welcomed at the Monastary or in the town. He retreated to this little cave and built his own church, but eventually the townspeople ran him away even from this remote area. He left the town, and allegedly it did not rain in Litochoro for seven years. So, the orthodox Monks set out to find him, and once they brought him back, it began to rain again.

Now, we experienced something very strange indeed. It rained while we were climbing through the valley, preceeded by extremely loud thunder. The thunder would echo within the hollow of the Mountain's three peaks, and echo back out as though it were imminating from the core of the Mountain. That night, once we were safely back at our hostel, you could hear the echo even louder than the original thunder. We think this is how the myth bean that Zeus lived on the Mountain.




And here is a very welcome view of the coast after 8 hours of climbing:




The end of the trail!


We warmed up a bit back at the hostel and had more of Peri's wonderful food, then caught an overnight train back to Athens. Peri had to flash the car headlights at the train so it would stop - evidently not too many people get on or off there. We were really trying to cram as much traveling as possible into this last trip, but don't try and sleep on a train after you climb a mountain. Not fun.

Back in Athens, I finally made it to Acropolis myself:




The Parthenon!


Now this is hilarious. Archeologists have recontructed and deconstructed the Parthenon four times trying to fit all the pieces togther. When we saw it, it was covered in scaffolding with a sign explaining that they lost about 400 pieces the last time they put it together, and then found them near the site, so they were taking it apart to put those back in.

Other pieces:


There are a few other structures on the acropolis as well, including the beautiful temple of Nike (a.k.a. Athena), famous for the four female-personified columns on the east facade:


South facade:


(The real ones are in the museum a few meters away):


As are some other pieces of the Parthenon:


And a lot can be seen from the acropolis of surrounding city as well, including temple of Hephaestus:






Theatre of Dionysus:


The Agora: (This was the meeting place of the first democracy!)




Odeion of Herod Atticus (They actually still have big concets here):


And the Philopappos Hill:


And this ravishing Goddess:


Haha. Down in the Agora, there are a few other very famous landmars. This is the door of the Medrese, a school of theology built in the 18th century AD. During a war with the Turks, it was mainly used for hanging people and came to be thought of as cursed. For some reason, the demolished the rest of the building but left the door.


Right across from this doorway is the Tower of the Winds, which I unfortunately do not have a picture of. However, it is an extremely sophisticated meteorological observatory, complete with hydrolic clock and mechanical solar system.

Then we hit the outdoor markets:




Had some delicious food:




Walked some amazing streets:






and found some traditionally-clad guards:




We also went over to the ancient Olympic stadium:


It was restored for the first modern Olympic games in 1895, and since has been kept up, so it's looks pretty nice. The Temple of Zues, however, is not doing so well:




It was actually built by Romans in the 6th century AD. They never were able to build or sculpt anything quite as nicely as the Greeks could.

And then, we headed back to Italy, for four more days of finals and packing. A final good-bye to my European travels.