Time for a road trip. We flew from Athens to Thessaloniki, to go and explore the imposing southern Macedonia landscape. What better than rent an Avis car for our epic journey.
Simple as. We made the booking online, all we had to do was choose a car of our liking and bingo, job done. After sitting for an enjoyable coffee break with a view of the Thermaic Gulf, we picked up our vehicle, a crossover model, from the new Avis office at Thessaloniki port.
We planned to head to the Pieria, where the Greek gods dwell on the colossal Mount Olympus, these days the mountain is adored by contempory Greeks for its rare natural beauty and important cultural monuments.
Dion, sacred city of the ancient Macedonians
Ancient Dion, one of Greece’s most important, as well as most striking, Classical and Hellenistic Greek archaeological sites is situated under the shadows of Mount Olympus, 5km from the coast. This site (now an Archaeological park) – excavated by the distinguished archaeologist, the late Dimitris Pantermalis – features treasures spanning the entire period of antiquity. The exhibits at the site’s museum, include impressive monumental works as well as other finely crafted artifacts, it proved to be fascinating. In the park itself there are well marked paths and routes throughout, encouraging the visitor to freely explore this large archaeological site.
After visiting the ancient amphitheatre, which still regularly hosts performances in summer, we departed from the archaeological park ready for our itinerary’s next stop, the Orlias river.
Orlias River
We drove off from Dion and followed the road signs for Mount Olympus. After driving a few kilometres, we parked our car at Agios Konstantinos and Eleni chapel. From here, we began our hike to the wonderful Orlias river, and to two of its waterfalls. The second of the two was pretty awesome.
Further ahead, a third waterfall, Kokkinos Vrahos (Red Rock), which we reached after quite a challenging trek, lasting about an hour and a half, is even more impressive. We returned to our car a little before sunset, enjoying, along the way, incredible autumnal colours illuminated by the last rays of the sunlight. We then drove back to our room, at Litohoro. It had been a lovely but exhausting day for us, so, after a quick supper, we headed straight to bed, for an early start the next morning, to further explore the region.
Aegean Sea view from Mount Olympus
Our morning coffee at Litohoro was one of the highlights of our excursion. Even though this smallish town is on the low foothills of Mount Olympus, the temperature was cool, well below that in Athens. But it more than makes up for the chilliness with superb views of the snow capped peaks of Mount Olympus, we had fun imagining Zeus and his entourage of gods looking down at us. It was a great way to start the day before getting back into our car to continue our sojourn.
A little over half an hour later, we had reached Palaios Panteleimonas, a mountain village that was abandoned in the 1950s. Award-winning Greek film director Theo Angelopoulos used the village as a set for his 1980 film “Alexander the Great”. In 1986, Palaios Panteleimonas was listed as a heritage site and has since experienced a revival becoming one of Greece’s most charming rustic villages. Even so it’s still relatively untouristy.
We had to leave our car at the village entrance – no cars are allowed into the village – and ambled along the cobbled path leading to the square, passing lovingly restored mansions and houses. Everything here is built with stone hailing from Olympus. The houses clutch the mountainslope and you can see which the high peaks of Mount Olympus to one side and the blue Aegean sea to the other. Indeed, Palaios Panteleimonas is often referred to as “Mount Olympus’ balcony of the Aegean”. On the day we were there, the horizon was clear, gifting an incredible view all the way to the first leg of Halkidiki, the peninsular of Cassandra.
Ano ‘upper’ Skotina
We spent the rest of our two-day trip indulging in good food, lovely treks and highly rewarding drives to enduring mountain villages, including Ano Skotina, a traditional settlement and the neglected yet impressive Palaia Vrontou, featuring the chapel of Agia Triada from where we were treated to more breath-taking views.
The roads we took were mountainous, rutted and uneven in many sections. Even so, the driving experience with our rented car was comfortable and we felt safe at all times, affording us the luxury of taking in Olympus’ amazing landscape (one eye on the road at all times, of course).
Enjoying our drive, we decided to make a deviation off our scheduled route back to Thessaloniki, as we had time to kill before our flight back to Athens, to see the amazing royal Macedonian tombs at Vergina and also to treat ourselves with some ‘ravani’ from nearby Veria, this provincial city’s signature syrupy sweet.
We conveniently dropped off our car at outside Avis’ office at Thessaloniki’s Macedonia airport, memories of our wonderful escape still fresh in our minds. What a great choice to rent a car from Avis. It was hassle free, easy and value for money (we had even chosen a cross-over that had great fuel efficiency) so we filled up, drove off, carefree, on our northern adventure.
Read also:
Road trip to gorgeous mountainous area of the Peloponnese
Road trip to Nafpaktos an amazing driving experience
Road trip to the Fokida region’s south: Mythical Delphi, superb beaches, classy Galaxidi
