Lower Olympus is separated from Mount Olympus by the river of Ziliana. While the mountain of the Gods belongs to Macedonia and the regional unit of Pieria, Lower Olympus belongs to the most, in Thessaly and the regional unit of Larisa. Its highest peak is only 1.587 meters high, but it has no less beauty than its big brother. It is full of forests with chestnuts, walnuts and oak trees at lower altitude, while at higher altitude, there are fir and beech trees. On its slopes, besides the beautiful picturesque villages, there are most of the forest species of Greece and lots of wildflowers are growing in the meadows. Its dense forests are the home for deer, wild boars, foxes and other smaller mammals. If you want to go to the area, you should follow the Thessaloniki – Athens highway, up to the seaside villages of Leptokarya and Platamonas. From there, you can reach the beautiful Kallipefki, by driving up the mountain. And that is what we did, on a sunny Saturday of September, starting from Thessaloniki and heading to Kallipefki, through Palaios Panteleimonas and Skotina.
After about 1 hour we reached the national road exit to Paleo Panteleimonas and we arrived there , after about 15 minutes. It is a beautiful traditional village at an altitude of 450 m, and one of the most popular mountain destinations in Northern Greece. Due to its tourist infrastructure, it is the starting point for the various excursions organized in the area of Lower Olympus. We leave the village behind and we continue our drive, on the snake shape road, heading to Skotina. Driving up, after 3.5 km, we see on our right, the lonely chapel of Prophet Elias, with a spectacular view to Thermaikos gulf, and after 6 km we meet again on our right, the junction that leads to Ano Skotina. It is worth spending some of your time and go to the village, to admire the church of Kimiseos (1862) with the perennial plane tree, about 10 meters in diameter, and the church of Agios Athanasios (14th century) with the magnificent wood-carved iconostasis. We continue to drive across the beautiful dense forests of Lower Olympus for another 7 km up to Kallipheki, which is a beautiful village sited on a plateau at 1100 m altitude. The old times, its name was Nezero, from the Slavic word “Ezeros”, which means lake and that’s because at its edge, there was the lake of Ascurida, which was drained in 1911 for agricultural purposes. The later name Kallipefki, came from the dense forests of the pine trees (Pefko in Greek language is the pine tree) that surround the village.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Distance from Thessaloniki: 123 km
Toll: 5,20 Euro
Camp site: Patomeni ( a large clearing near Kalipefki- Alt. 1100m )
Water: Yes
European Number of Emergency: 112
Fire Brigade Dept: 199
Medical Emergency: 166
Patomeni (Alt.1050m) – Lake Kati (Alt.1350m)
Day 1
Route Information
As we go up from Paleos Panteleimonas, 2km before Kallipefki, on our left hand, there is a junction with a road sign, which leads us to a little uphill asphalt road and after 1500 m in the forest location of «Patomeni”. That’s our camp site. In a beautiful clearing, invisible from the outside observers by the dense forest with beech, oak and pine trees that surround the area. So we set our tents on the edge of the forest, prepared our camp and began our stroll to the small lake of Kati, which was our goal. Due to our delay in setting up the camp, we decided to split the 9 km that separated us from the lake and so we boarded our cars, to drive half the way. The route is easy and leads you by itself. From Patomeni we continue on the asphalt road (East direction) going deeper into the forest. The road, slightly uphill, soon becomes an earth forest road. It continues to ascend into a beautiful forest, full of scents and autumn pictures. The sun plays among the giant oak trees, the huge beech trees and the towering pines. In the few spots, that are open, we admire on our left, the magnificent Mount Olympus and its cloudy peaks. And we hide ourselves again into the endless forest, driving to the narrow, hard forest road. The season allows us to drive with our conventional cars, but if it has been raining, then a 4×4 car is needed. On our way, there are many intersections but we ignore them as we keep going straight. In the middle of the route, about 5km from our starting point, on a small plateau, we left our cars and started our hike.
The beginning of autumn, along with the ending of summer, are painting the forest and the rays of the sun that sometimes pierce through the leaves of the trees and sometimes get hided in the clouds, turn every step of ours, to pure magic. The breath of the forest and the singing of the birds, are keeping us company. Mushrooms, mixed with wildflowers and humble vegetation at the roots of large logs, complement the setting. The forest road leads us on its own, ever closer to our destination. On our left, we see a spring with the inscription Vrisi Kati and in a little while, the scenery begins to change. The road becomes wider and the forest opens. Not so much, but so enough to understand that we are approaching our goal 500m below. After about 1,5h of walk, a plateau is revealed in front of us, and in the middle, Kati’s artificial lake.
With a size of about 9 acres and depth of 4.5 m, it seems to be there forever, although it was created in 1997. A lake, unknown to most of the people, which is a small surprise for the visitors of the area. The scenery reminds of a Central European country, surrounded on its northwest smooth slope by dense forest of fir trees. To the east, between scattered fir trees and low vegetation, the forest road that led us here, continues, up to a place called Saltani, on the road near Ano Skotina.
On the southern slopes, trails that take you to other parts of the forest are climbing smoothly among fir and beech trees. We are siting on the grass on the lake shore, resting and admiring the scenery. And the nature rewards us, as two eagles fly and play over our heads. The warmth of the sun embraces us, the gurgling water stimulates us and so we are taking the road of return, following up the trail that brought us here.
In 1h we are back in our cars and in 0, 5 h, back to our camp at Patomeni. It is a very large clearing, located on both sides of the road. There are organized recreational areas with elegant structures, which were made by the Forestry Dept, as well as 2 springs with chilled water and the sort grass, like a carpet, covers the ground. On the long side of the clearing, there are paved paths that lead to a small square in the center and a small chapel on its east corner. On the small side, there is a kiosk and a small wooden house. We were surprised by the cleanliness and the order of the space. No rubbish, no dirt, as if the cleaning service, comes and cleans every day. It is the ideal place for picnics and relaxation with a superb view to the summits of Mount Olympus.
The evening falls slowly in the woods and the shadows are growing. We are seated on the large wooden table (construction of the Forestry Dept) where we enjoy our dinner, with the low light of the lantern. And nature again, rewards us richly. At the edge of the forest, a few meters from our table, two eyes are looking at us, full of curiosity. We perceive a movement with the edge of our eye and turning abruptly, we nearly saw, a fluffy tail getting lost in the forest. We continue, quietly this time, to pretend to be indifferent. And here they are again, the two eyes, shining in the dark, between the dense greens, behind a log, 10 meters away. So we decided to tempt our strange visitor and to get to know “him” or “her” better, so we put some food in front of the log and we waited, indifferent, at our table. And in a little while, a fox’s head appears beneath the log. It checks out around, disappears for a while and appears from the side, making no noise and with careful steps. She (we’d like to think she is a female) grabs the steak, she looks at us, turns back and disappears in the forest.
She was a beautiful red fox with a fluffy tail, a little bigger than a cocker spaniel. Curious and playful, she appeared again a few minutes later. Shy and cautious, she took the second pork chop we left, a little closer to us this time. The third piece was closer and our fox appeared faster this time. Our game continued, closer and closer and in the end, we managed to bring her, in to 2 meters from us. She was still cautious, but not shy and even more playful. She did not run into the woods to hide anymore, and she was walking beside us in a semi-circular course, but always on the side of the forest. Sometimes she stood, watching us, but from a little longer distance. Of course, she did not come closer more than 2 meters, and with our slightest movement, as with the flash of the camera, she was running into the forest, but she was returning after a while. So we spent the rest of our evening with her company until we retired to our tents.