Unspoiled and authentic

After we came down from Olympus Mountain, we though we deserved a well earned spell by the sea. First, we toured Litochoro, the seaside-alpine resort town. What a gorgeous little town that was, full of small houses, family-sized charming hotels, taverns and small pubs. Tranquility and beauty all around. Suddenly, I tried to picture Litochoro if it were in Bulgaria. Imagine a town like Bansko, with Pirin Mountain next to it, only by the sea. The town would have been raped, butchered, mutilated with hotels and monster construction all over the place. It was beautiful and sad at the same time.

We were indulging ourselves in the sun, the illiotherapy in particular more than welcome after the cold, damp and cloudy mountain. We ended up in the "Olympios Zeus" on the coast of Pieria, a modern and well maintained camping and bungalow site, a charming village of its own. Equipped with taverns, grill bars, pubs, a supermarket, clean showers and baths, tents, permanent bungalows, caravans, a football pitch and a basketball court, a tennis court, including a fruit and veggie market just outside the camp’s main gate, one really didn’t have all that much of a reason or motivation to leave and venture around Plaka, especially if you were there for only a few days. It was the perfect family type of atmosphere – lots of people of all walks of life but quiet and tidy at the same time. No drunken louts, no peasant chalga music blasting around the seafront until bloody 4am.

The camp offered a wide range of facilities, from sports recreation to power supply for your caravan or tent. Round-the-clock access to the beach, umbrellas and deck chairs, without someone suddenly coming up to you and telling you have to bugger off because some obese Russian spinster fancies your chair and wants to sit on it. Or even worse, leave your towel and bag on the chair, go for a swim, only to return to the chair and find them discarded on the sand and a grinning Russian proudly perched where you were sitting a few minutes ago, drinking vodka and making incomprehensible sounds. And believe it or not, all that cost just 10 euro a person.

Let’s not forget to mention the scenery. You have the beautiful Aegean sea in front of you and the 2900m Olympus Mountain immediately behind you. That sharp contrast really makes the place mesmerising. One can easily understand why the ancient Greeks selected this place and made it the centre of their ancient mythology. You just have to take one look at the place, close your eyes and imagine the ancient Gods plotting against one another and against the world.

Greece - Litochoro and Olympus in particular - are definitely a place Mira and I will return to again. We promised this to ourselves, and we will do it with pleasure. I am very grateful for the time spent there and our experiences. Most of all, I have to thank the hero of the day, or rather the week, Mira, who not only climbed mountains and never complained about anything, but also drove the car, as yours truly was engulfed in drinking most of the time. Cheers to Greece and cheers to an Iron Lady.