The wider area of Mount Olympus and Church of the Holy Apostles · 336 km from Litóchoro

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. The wider area of Mount Olympus

   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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The wider area of Mount Olympus is where the day begins. Next is Archaeological Site of Aigai.

2. 2. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Archaeological Site of Aigai comes up about 93 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of the Holy Apostles.

3. 3. Church of the Holy Apostles

   Ask a Thessalonian for the prettiest church in town and a fair number will name the Holy Apostles, a small building from about 1310 to 1314 near the old Roman and Byzantine heart of the city, a few steps from the Egnatia Street axis. It was built, according to tradition, by the patriarch Niphon, and it is a showpiece of the Palaiologan style: five domes, a ring of arches, and walls where bricks have been laid in bands, zigzags and little crosses until the whole surface looks embroidered. On the outside, the pattern is the thing. Inside, mosaics from the same decade have survived in the domes, showing the Pantokrator and groups of apostles in tiny cubes of glass.

   Read the complete Church of the Holy Apostles write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 162 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of the Holy Apostles. Next is back through Archaeological Site of Aigai.

4. 4. back through Archaeological Site of Aigai

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Archaeological Site of Aigai write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Archaeological Site of Aigai, late in the day. Next is The wider area of Mount Olympus.

5. 5. The wider area of Mount Olympus

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete The wider area of Mount Olympus write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at The wider area of Mount Olympus. That is the ride.