29 March 2025 – Slow Road to the Highlands

Miles driven today = 134

Total Miles to date = 2,528

We’ve done a few miles today but we were in no hurry to reach our destination, so we took our time preparing to depart from our overnight spot on the beach and continued along the coastal route which took us along what is known as the “Apollo Coast” towards Athens.

We probably wouldn’t have chosen this route on a weekday but on a Saturday the road through Glyfada and skirting around to the South of Athens was relatively straightforward to negotiate.  Our plan was to work our way up to Thiya on the E962.  Not the quickest option but more scenic than taking the motorway.  However Google Maps had other ideas and before we knew what was going on we were heading North on the E75 toll road.  Wonderfully smooth but very, very boring so after a while we decided on the non-toll option which simply took a very similar route through a seemingly endless succession of industrial estates.

The other thing we had promised ourselves was to stop off for lunch somewhere en-route.  We envisaged a quaint countryside taverna but no opportunities presented themselves until we got well past Thiya and on to Aliartos and Petra, by which time we were ravenous.  So we pulled in at the next half decent looking eatery and were presented with menus, the options on which were almost entirely meat based.

On we continued with the snow capped Mount Parnassus increasingly visible ahead of us until at Distomo we swung around nearly 180 degrees to follow a much narrower road further up into the hills beyond Steiri.

Our destination was the car park of the Osiou Louka Monastery, which sits high on a ledge overlooking the valley below. 

Overnight stays are tolerated here and our intention was to kip in the carpark overnight and then have a look around the monastery in the morning before the first coach parties arrive.

It had been a long day on the road so we stretched our legs a little by walking up to the nearby Chapel of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

We had a quick poke around inside at the frescoes.

They all seem to be either very recently painted or incredibly well maintained.  I suspect the former.

A nearby spring in a cave has been converted into a shrine.

They’ve obviously had quite a serious fire here fairly recently judging by the charred condition of some of the trees, which must have been very worrying.  I’ll go into more detail about the monastery when we get to have a good look at it tomorrow but suffice to say it’s an extremely important historical building and one which would be terrible to lose.  Incidentally, I was under strict instructions to keep my hands in my pockets so that I couldn’t ring the bells in this instance.

It was about 3pm by this stage and our understanding was that the Monastery closed at 3:30, but then we saw this sign which indicated differently, so with relatively few people about we thought we might as well do our tour now.

So we headed for the ticket booth only to be told that the 3:30 closing was in fact correct, so we have reverted to Plan A.

We did have a look in the shop though where there is more religious iconography than you could possibly shake a whole bundle of sticks at.

There were also lots of yummy goodies for sale.  We were almost force fed some sesame seed snacks by the rather overzealous salesman but nevertheless came away with some honey, olives and “fig pie” which makes a pleasant addition to the cheese drawer.

Not that I need to eat anything tonight.  I’m still trying to digest the pork chop from lunchtime.  

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