Godspeed to Olympos, Fri, 15 Sep 2023 | written by Simon
Simon at a Temple in Europe, Greece

This trip was quite a spiritual journey for me and I felt the need to spend some time with myself, reflecting on life. For this purpose I decided to drive back up the slopes of Olympos to the Monastery of St Dionysios.

It worked out better than expected, as I woke up just after 6am, giving me just enough time to drive up there in time for the sunrise. And even better – although the monastery was still closed, it’s partially under renovation and the builders left a back entrance. Up a ramp, through the hole in the wall right onto the second floor where no visitors are allowed… should I? Silly question.

Not only did I get a perfect sunrise viewing spot and a solo tour of the whole site, I also saw all the parts of the monastery which are off limits to tourists, including the upper floor renovations. Exciting!

And what a sight it was! Hidden behind a tall wall are monastic cells, big refectory, arched walkways, and in the middle, a beautiful church. It’s a real gem.

But the true gem was lower down. About fifteen minutes walk down the path is the St Dionysios’ hermitage – a tiny chapel and a cell built in a shallow cave from which a clean water spring flows. It is hard to describe just how perfect a location this is, and it instantly struck me as the place in which I want to stay and reflect.

But first, I needed to go back to the van to have breakfast. On the way I took a cold shower – in a waterfall, of course! The water was crazy cold, but totally worth it.

I spent a good few hours at the hermitage, recording some thoughts and making future plans. It was utterly perfect.

I made it back to Litochoro in the early afternoon to hang out with the gang, buy some souvenirs, properly wash, and say goodbye. And to have some spetsofai!

On the way back to Macedonia, I stopped again in Dion to check out the museum of the excavation which we skipped on the day before, mainly to see the stunning mosaic of the Triumph of Dionysios. Totally worth a visit.

In the next four hours, I drove up to Ohrid and parked by the lake, ready to wake up to another beautiful view.