Pelion – Olympus – Dion - Meteora & Thermopylae 4 Day tour

Tour the legendary mountains of Pelion and Olympus. Hike the picturesque traditional villages of Pelion, admire the mythical Mount Olympus, and visit the archaeological park of Dion and its museum. Be impressed by the cluster of the sandstone rocks of Meteora and visit the monasteries. Witness the battlefield of Thermopylae where King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans fought Xerxes and his multitudinous army.                 
 

 

Description

Day 1

 We will start our 4-Day Alternative tour driving Northeast towards the mount Pelion, Centaur’s homeland according to the myths. We will make stops for your needs and finally we will reach the city of Volos where you will have the opportunity to walk the pedestrian seaside road and have lunch if you wish. We will continue driving uphill towards the famous village Portaria. Arriving at Portaria, we will check in at our hotel .


A little later your driver will take you to Makrinitsa village. You will have the opportunity to hike the picturesque stone alleys, admiring the local architecture and the traditional stone buildings. You will reach the square of Makrinitsa from where the scenery of Pagasetic gulf is really majestic. This is a balcony with outstanding view. You can sit at the same square under the shadow of the centuries - old plane trees and take a juice or a coffee enjoying the sound of the several springs around you. You can also visit the small but nice Byzantine museum and the Church of Saint Ioannis .

After this unique experience your tour driver will take you back to Portaria where you can walk around and have your dinner tasting the local dishes !!.

 

Day 2

 We will spend our second day touring the traditional admirable villages of Pelion mountain . If it happens this second day to be a Saturday or Sunday you will have the opportunity to take a wonderful train ride from Ano Lechonia to Milies .The train is named Moutzouris and runs only these two days. If you take the train, then you will meet your driver at Milies .If our second day is not a Saturday or Sunday , we will continue the tour by the vehicle to Milies village where you will explore another picturesque village.

We will continue touring the villages of Vizitsa and Pinakates and finally the Tsagarada village where you will witness the many centuries - old plane tree which became a tourist attraction because of its age!! At the same square, beside the plane tree , you can visit the old church of Agia Paraskevi . You will have lunch at the same area tasting the local dishes.

Not far away from Tsagarada , the sea side village of Damouchari is located , the village where the famous movie ‘Mamma Mia’ was filmed . After Damouchari we will take the way back to Portaria village, but first we will stop at the highest spot where the village Chania is located. .Chania is a ski resort and it’s very busy during the winter . We will reach Portaria a little later where we will make our second overnigh.

 

Day 3

 After a good breakfast we will leave the mountain Pelion and we will drive north towards the mountain Olympus, the home of the 12 Gods .Approaching the Olympus mount we will first stop at Dion archaeological park, the sacred place of the Macedonians .You will visit the archaeological park and the museum before we start our uphill driving to the mount Olympus. We will drive at an altitude of 1000 meters where we will stop at a refuge and stay for lunch and from where you can capture the amazing view with your camera .

After lunch we will continue towards the old monastery of St Dinysios. You can visit the monastery and you can hike a not difficult path towards the waterfalls of the gorge Enipeas. The natural environment is really heavenly and you will really enjoy this stop.

After we conclude our experience at the mount Olympus, we will drive West and after passing the cities of Larisa and Trikala about 2,5 hours later , we will reach the town of Kalambaka which is located beside the Meteora rocks .

We will check in at our hotel and a bit later we will start our sunset tour at Meteora. You will be amazed by the cluster of the high dark sandstone rocks. You will be driven to several spots for majestic pictures and finally you will witness a fantastic sunset from the best spot . After sunset you will enjoy a delicious dinner at a local restaurant and you will be driven back to your hotel for your overnight.

 

Day 4

 We will start the fourth day of our alternative tour by touring the Meteora rocks , the incredibly beautiful landscape created by nature about 30 million years ago. It is a big cluster of dark and high rocks and is today considered a unique phenomenon. This unique and inaccessible place attracted Christian hermits as early as the 10th and 11th centuries .They started living at this area and later they started building monasteries on the top of these rocks. There were 24 monasteries but today only 6 monasteries are inhabited officially. The area has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

You will have plenty of time to visit three monasteries and we will tour the area and stop at all the spots from where you will take hundreds of photos .After this unique experience and a nice lunch, we will take our way back to Athens.
We will make a stop at Thermopylae where you will see the hot Springs of Thermopylae , you will walk the land where the battle of Thermopylae took place between the 300 Spartans and the huge Persian army, and you will admire the monument which was built in honor of King Leonidas .

Finally, we will take the way back to Athens to conclude our amazing tour.