Thursday, 16 May 2019
Bike from Lefokastro to Afissos twice, Afissos to Lefokastro once
4.5 miles
Accommodation: Argonaut's House, booked on AirBnB; Nikos and his dad, Yannis. A refurbished 2-bedroom house with beautiful gardens, a big barbecue, and an old stone oven.
We moved to Argonaut's House in Afissos. Ross and Sally joined us in the late afternoon, and we enjoyed lemonade and snacks in the shaded garden at the apartment before walking to a taverna on the seashore for dinner. So good to see the Miller-Johnsons and share stories of our adventures in Greece as well as chat about home, family, politics.
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| View from our dinner table on the seashore. |
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| Garden at Argonaut's House. |
Friday, 17 May 2019
Ross drove a rental car while Ken navigated, and we explored villages on the Pelion Peninsula--some that Ken and I had visited on the way to Afissos, some that we had not been to. Beautiful, sunny day. We found roads that cars really don't belong on. We ended up hiking to a couple of remote beaches and had lunch at a taverna in one of the gorges.
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| Ken and Cheryl on the beach. |
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| Ross and Sally on the beach. |
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| Sally photographing an interesting rock. |
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| The interesting rock. |
Saturday, 18 May 2019
Accommodation: Spilios Agapitos Refuge/Hostel (Refuge A) on Mount Olympus
Ross drove the rental car to the Prionia Trailhead (elevation 3,580 feet) for Mount Olympus, while Ken and Sally navigated. After lunch at the cafe there, we hiked up to Refuge A (elevation 6,175 feet).
We lucked out at the refuge and were able to get our own room with three bunkbeds and 18 blankets. The blankets were important: the refuge was not heated, and it got really cold that night!
We had supper at the refuge--spaghetti and salad. Then we sort of played Yahtzee. The instructions were in eight languages, none of them English. Sally and I figured them out (we think). Ross won twice. Then we went outside and looked at the full moon above the mountain.
We were all pretty tired from the hike (and the Yahtzee), so we were in bed by 8:30. Did I mention there was no heat, and it was cold? We all wore our long johns, down jackets, hats, and mittens to bed, and we slept inside sleeping bag liners with a blanket underneath us and three blankets on top. (Ross had four blankets on top. Lucky we had plenty of blankets!) We did stay warm--as long as we stayed in bed.
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| Ross and Sally head up Mount Olympus. |
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| There was snow on the mountain. And yes, we had to cross the snowfields on snow trails. |
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| The summits at dusk. Another 2,900 feet above us. |
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| Yahtzee! |
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| Piling on the blankets in our room at the refuge. We had electricity until 10 pm, cold running water, and indoor toilets. And lots of blankets! All the necessities. |
Sunday, 19 May 2019
Accommodation: Villa Pantheon Hotel, Litochoro
Sunday morning the plan was to start hiking to the summits at 6 am, but our host at the refuge suggested waiting until 8:30 to let the snow soften up. We took her advice.
There are three summits from Refuge A, each one a little higher. Ken and I were planning to make it to the first one, Ross and Sally hoped to make it to the first two. Ross and Sally were about a half-hour ahead of us. They made it to the first summit and started working their way to the second one; we could see them up above us. At that point, the wind was blowing so hard it blew me over--twice. The second time, Ken and I decided it was too dangerous and headed back down the mountain. (Actually, I said, "I'm not having fun anymore," and turned around.) We found out later that everyone ahead of us did the same thing, including Ross and Sally. But we were all happy just to have made it as far as we did.
We went on down to the refuge for lunch, and then all the way down to where we had parked the car. Altogether, we hiked about 6,000 feet up and 6,000 feet back down over the two days.
Between the four of us, we managed to navigate to the hotel in Litochoro, where we found two large suites, each with double bed, balcony, kitchenette, and hot shower. We revived enough to hobble to a taverna in the center of town for dinner, then back to the hotel for a warm night's sleep.
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| Checking the map before we started out from Refuge A to the summits. |
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| The first summit was about 30 minutes ahead of Ken and me when we turned around. |
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| Heading back down after the wind grew too strong near the summit. |
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| We crossed several stretches of snow between the refuge and the summits. |
Monday, 20 May 2019
Accommodation: Argonaut's House, Afissos
After a big breakfast in the hotel, we took a short hike to a waterfall on the edge of Litochoro, then relaxed with iced cappuccinos in the shade before heading back to Volos (the Miller-Johnsons) and Afissos (the Drivdahls). The next day, Ross and Sally will head to a marine sanctuary on some islands, and Ken and I will start our trek to Meteora.
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| Sally on hike to waterfall. |
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| The dam forming the waterfall appears to control the water supply for the town. The path to the waterfall was above the aqueduct feeding the water to control stations. |
