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Friday, April 14. 2006
North from Athens - Litóhoro
(written 18:03, 9/5/2006 in Spisské Podhradie, Slovakia)
Three different local shops were required to gather three things the next morning - freshly squeezed orange juice, cheese pies and coffee, and then we were ready to hit the road.
The road itself seemed to be being battered by huge quantities of water, as the weather had taken a nasty turn for the worse. The Mediterranean countries were sure proving that their sunny hot image was not entirely correct.
We headed north-east then north a huge distance on motorways, the weather slowly improving as we drove over lots of toll roads, mountain passes, stopping at Lamía to make some calls back home with the remains of our Greek phone card (note to the European Union: please make it so travellers can buy phone cards that work in more than one country!).
Eventually we pulled into Litóhoro at the bottom of the Mount Olympus, the highest in Greece. This town has a spectacular setting, although we could see little of the mountain itself as the remnants of the bad weather we now mostly clouds and a little rain.
We pulled into the Hotel Enipeas, a little on the expensive side but with nice rooms and all we felt like was flaking after the long drive. The nice chatty owner taking interest was a bonus too.
The weather by now more livable, we went for a wander around the town, down the river banks and then spent a while wandering up and around village streets. We needed to work out where to eat, but ended up following signs to elusive tavernas that didn't seem to exist.
So, as when all other plans fail in any town, we wandered back to the main square for a beer and a think.
Lonely Planet suggested a restaurant that "attracts hordes of locals" so you should "get in early for a table". Well, that's all well and good, but nobody else was there! So we went for a walk to pass some time through the local park, past what possibly was an ice rink, a small fun-fair which the local kids were having fun at and had views across the valley to some less-illustrious parts of town. Too hungry to wait for the "hordes of locals", we went back to the restaurant, almost startled the waiters by actually coming in the door, and sat down to a great hearty meal of greek salad and lamb, among other things. By the time we left, none of the locals had yet turned up.
Despite it now being rather cold (we were up in the mountains, after all), we grabbed an ice cream on the way back to our room, surprising, no doubt, yet another local who took our money.
Three different local shops were required to gather three things the next morning - freshly squeezed orange juice, cheese pies and coffee, and then we were ready to hit the road.
The road itself seemed to be being battered by huge quantities of water, as the weather had taken a nasty turn for the worse. The Mediterranean countries were sure proving that their sunny hot image was not entirely correct.
We headed north-east then north a huge distance on motorways, the weather slowly improving as we drove over lots of toll roads, mountain passes, stopping at Lamía to make some calls back home with the remains of our Greek phone card (note to the European Union: please make it so travellers can buy phone cards that work in more than one country!).
Eventually we pulled into Litóhoro at the bottom of the Mount Olympus, the highest in Greece. This town has a spectacular setting, although we could see little of the mountain itself as the remnants of the bad weather we now mostly clouds and a little rain.
We pulled into the Hotel Enipeas, a little on the expensive side but with nice rooms and all we felt like was flaking after the long drive. The nice chatty owner taking interest was a bonus too.
The weather by now more livable, we went for a wander around the town, down the river banks and then spent a while wandering up and around village streets. We needed to work out where to eat, but ended up following signs to elusive tavernas that didn't seem to exist.
So, as when all other plans fail in any town, we wandered back to the main square for a beer and a think.
Lonely Planet suggested a restaurant that "attracts hordes of locals" so you should "get in early for a table". Well, that's all well and good, but nobody else was there! So we went for a walk to pass some time through the local park, past what possibly was an ice rink, a small fun-fair which the local kids were having fun at and had views across the valley to some less-illustrious parts of town. Too hungry to wait for the "hordes of locals", we went back to the restaurant, almost startled the waiters by actually coming in the door, and sat down to a great hearty meal of greek salad and lamb, among other things. By the time we left, none of the locals had yet turned up.
Despite it now being rather cold (we were up in the mountains, after all), we grabbed an ice cream on the way back to our room, surprising, no doubt, yet another local who took our money.
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