CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
477 km from Litóchoro to Litóchoro, about 8 h 02 of riding. It goes by way of Archaeological Site of Aigai, Archaeological site of Dion, Ancient City and Necropolis of Aegae and back through Archaeological site of Dion. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
The gods chose well. Mount Olympus rises almost straight out of the Aegean, from sea level near Litochoro to 2,918 metres at Mytikas, its highest summit, in barely twenty kilometres, so that from the coast road it looks less like a mountain than a wall of grey rock and dark forest with clouds snagged on top. The ancient Greeks put their twelve Olympians up there, and on a stormy afternoon with thunder rolling around the peaks you can see why.
Read the complete The wider area of Mount Olympus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The wider area of Mount Olympus is where the day begins. Next is Archaeological Site of Aigai.
In 1977 the Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos lifted the stone slab of a vaulted tomb under a huge mound near the village of Vergina and found a gold casket holding the cremated bones of a man in his forties, with a golden wreath beside them. Most scholars now accept that it was Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, murdered in the theatre of the old capital in 336 BC. The mound, the Great Tumulus, is the centrepiece of Aigai, the first capital of Macedon, and today the royal tombs are displayed underground in a museum built inside the tumulus itself, in a half-light that makes the gold glow.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Aigai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Site of Aigai comes up about 93 km into the recorded legs. Next is Archaeological site of Dion.
Mount Olympus rises straight out of the plain behind Dion, and on a clear morning its snow-streaked summit seems close enough to touch. The ancient Macedonians built their most sacred city here, at the foot of the home of the gods, and the kings came to sacrifice to Zeus before going to war. Philip II celebrated victories here, and Alexander the Great is said to have held a great festival at Dion before setting out to conquer Persia. Walking among the ruins, you can see why they chose the place: water bubbles up everywhere, the plain is fertile, and the mountain looms like a living presence.
Read the complete Archaeological site of Dion write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 169 km into the recorded legs you reach Archaeological site of Dion. Next is Ancient City and Necropolis of Aegae.
Vergina is a quiet farming village on the lower slopes of the Pieria mountains, in the plain of Imathia, and for most of its history nobody thought much about it. Then in 1977 the archaeologist Manolis Andronikos opened a tumulus and found an untouched royal tomb, with a gold chest, a gold wreath of oak leaves and the cremated bones of a middle-aged man, and the question was whose. The widely accepted answer is Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, who was murdered in the theatre of Aegae in 336 BC, and the find confirmed that Vergina is the old Macedonian capital Aegae, where kings were crowned and buried.
Read the complete Ancient City and Necropolis of Aegae write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient City and Necropolis of Aegae, about halfway. Next is back through Archaeological site of Dion.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological site of Dion write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Archaeological site of Dion sits at 205 km, about halfway. Next is back through Archaeological Site of Aigai.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Aigai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Archaeological Site of Aigai comes up about 385 km into the recorded legs. Next is The wider area of Mount Olympus.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The wider area of Mount Olympus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The wider area of Mount Olympus closes the day.
The wider area of Mount Olympus → Archaeological Site of Aigai is 93 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological Site of Aigai → Archaeological site of Dion is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological site of Dion → Ancient City and Necropolis of Aegae is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancient City and Necropolis of Aegae → back through Archaeological site of Dion is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Archaeological site of Dion → back through Archaeological Site of Aigai is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Archaeological Site of Aigai → The wider area of Mount Olympus is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.