A Weekend To Plaka, Litochoro, and Mt. Olympos

so, as a cap to our summer vacation run around, eleftheria and i joined friends staying in plaka to enjoy some company, food, sea and the mountain. the parents of grigoris have a summer house in plaka, basically the sea side village of litochoro for those of you who have been to litochoro and olympos. anyways, we met up with grigoris, his wife kristina, their 3 month old daughter maria, and our mutual friend nikoletta. We cooked in-house for most of the weekend (actually 4 days) sharing dishes and recipe ideas. We played some cards and did some reading between eating and beach time. all in all it was a wonderful and relaxing few days.

artemis is standing pretty much full time now, on top of that she crawled for the first time over the weekend; though only a couple of moves, we are pretty psyched.

trying to avoid the tourist in litochoro can seem like a daunting challenge, and yet this beautiful little cafe sits tucked away enough to keep the crowds  away. the service was a bit rough, but the atmosphere made it easy to sit patiently.

kristina and maria sitting with a pretty green background. the cafe sat down next to the river that runs through the town and is two tiered, all outside. really wonderful.

artemis and i found a tree to climb out in the yard. grigoris' father is retired and keeps a pretty substantial garden full of goods. we picked peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, parsley and figs fresh most days.

for how often we were at the beach, i have surprising few pics. we went most evenings down the the various beaches 5 to 10 minutes from the house; the combination of the sea in front and mountains in back is one that i absolutely charish. an added bonus was the moon that rose each night; we sat late down by the sea on a couple of occasions.

the girls had a great time together (i don't actually know, they didn't fight, so . . .) it is amazing to try to think of artemis as a three month old. time is moving so fast.

on the 12th we woke up late, packed the car, said our goodbyes, and headed up the prionia, the final outpost before heading up the mountain. artemis was asleep when we arrived, and so we sat for a coffee and some reading before heading off. this little boy was pretty interested in the little lady.

this was the first time i had the backpack on a hiking path; we were eager to see how it, artemis and i would fair.

someone was pretty sure that it would be awesome. this crazy smile didn't leave her face until she was asleep.

we did a small 2 1/2 hour loop around the lower section of the mountain to an old monastery, agios dionysios, saw the cave where he apparently lived out his life as an ascetic, and then made our way back up to where the car was parked.

on the way we saw the pack horses that they use to move goods up to the camps just below the summit of olympos. both trail-heads were packed, so i am sure that these guys and girls were getting a good workout.

artemis was very interested.

 this is the outside wall of the monastery of dionysios it was destroyed and further destroyed by the ottomans and the germans in the 40's, but it is currently in the process of being restored.

a happy family.

my ladies. pretty lucky.

artemis has a myriad of teeth and is awaiting a couple more. she is eating a multitude of different foods, here a nectarine, and has tried watermelon, bread, and tomato among others.

more ruins on the mountainside.

if sleeping is the sign of a happy baby, then the hike and backpack were a great success.

the moon over the sea from the side of the mountain.