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Into The Mountains: From Thessaloniki To Delphi

July 25, 2021 /

There is something very special about moving on when travelling. One of our travel maxims has always been: move on while you still love a place. For us, that mix of emotions of being sad to leave somewhere clashing with the excitement of heading to a new place, somehow encapsulates the very essence of travel. It’s an exhilarating feeling.

But before we leave, Friday July 23rd marks our last full day in Thessaloniki and just like the previous four days the afternoon temperatures hit 37/38 degrees, but the ever present sea breeze just takes off the edge and keeps even the hottest time of day pleasant.

Agios Panteleimon

For our last day here we embrace a real mix of cultures. After our customary morning coffee round the corner we visit the tiny but beautiful church of Agios Panteleimon, packed with icons and artwork and filled with the delightful aromas of incense. 

Whilst we were in Turkey last year, it was impossible to ignore the history of the man credited with Turkey’s unification. Ataturk, aka Mustafa Kemal, was actually of Macedonian origin and was born and schooled here in Thessaloniki. His birthplace and childhood home is now a fascinating if eulogistic museum dedicated to his life story and, being adjacent to the Turkish embassy and manned by embassy staff, it’s a bit like stepping outside of Greece for half an hour.

Ataturk’s birthplace
  • Ataturk
  • Ataturk
  • Presidential Seal

After immersing ourselves in culture and history for the past few days, we go off piste a bit and visit two sports stadiums: the national stadium Kaftantzogleio, followed by the Toumba Stadium, home of the notoriously passionately followed PAOK Salonika football club. Both are pretty impressive, the former having been built for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Thessaloniki has been fabulous, but now the wanderlust is kicking in and Saturday morning finds us revelling in the excitement of moving on, and we are soon heading down to the railway station.

Our next destination lies a few hours south and at considerably higher altitude, up in the mountains at Delphi. The train journey from Thessaloniki to Tithorea, the nearest that the railway line comes to Delphi, is on time and efficient, and we arrive in Tithorea mid afternoon not quite knowing how to complete the onward journey. As it turns out, there is no public transport, and, as we are the only passengers disembarking here and just one solitary taxi sits outside the silent station, we don’t have too many decisions to make. What we gain in simplicity, we lose in bargaining power and have no choice but to accept the fare.

View from our balcony – Delphi

And so we arrive in Delphi, jaws dropping at the scenery as we look over the edge of the colossal ravine on which Delphi sits. We are now in the midst of fabulous ancient history, but as well as this, the mountain scenery is just way beyond our best expectations. It truly is breathtaking. It’s also, unusually for Greece, ski resort territory. If you didn’t know that skiing exists as a pastime in Greece, well, the nearby village of Arachova is a popular ski destination for well-to-do Greeks, with this area receiving annual snowfall from November to February. And yet from our balcony we can see the sea, some 1800 feet down the mountain.

For the next few days mountain air will replace the city and hiking trails will replace walking city streets. We are in for a very different experience. 

Sunset over Delphi

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