A PICTORIAL AND INFORMATIONAL APPROACH

LITOHORO

L itohoro is one of the nicest places in Greece . Located in the N Greece abt 120 km from the borders and 80 km from the subcapital Thessaloniki it has the best avantage to join sea and mountains at close distances As widely known around the globe , Mount Olympus is world famouns as the �house of gods� of the ancinet greeks. The top edges of the mountains viewed by tilt are showing the �en face� profles of humans. This is the reason the ancent Greeks were locating the Gods in this place. One of the mountain tops is is the highest all over Greece with a height of 2917 m above sea. The village of Litohoro is in the downhills of the mountains with height abt 500 m above sea. Most of the inhabitants were fishermen but today the village is very popular and touristic place. This teext is mostly a pictirial overview and guide of the seightseeings of the village

LITOHORO aero view

A BIT HISTORY OF LITOHORO

The name: There are many different opinions about the origin of the name . One case comes from the name of Leto a very nice ancient woman having origin from the city. Another opinion is that is originate from Liti meaning pray Or possibly from the word Lithohoro meaning the city of stones . Or possibly from the very loose relation ( Lytos) of the local citizens with the Turkish dominants before 1821 And little historical information As stated by the local traditions the ancient inhabitants were the possession in the Dion city ( a place famous today for their monuments , It is 9 km far from the citry of Litohoro and abgt 16 km from Katerini) and were living a little southern of the modern city These people were the last trusters to the gods of the ancient Greece. The emperor Theodosios the great has sent inhabitants from other islands to christianize the local people. This possibly the way the more recent inhabitants of Litohoron were good sailors Saint Dionysios has came around mid 16th century and established a monastery. That time the monastery was several km towards the heart of the Mountains. The monastery had a joint history then with the village

AN OVERVIEW OF THE CITY

A photo of the main road as you enter the village

The plaza , a quite popular point very enjoyable by the younger people . ON the ond of it there is a piscine with water coming from the mountain. This water is later used for watering the gardens outside the city ON same space man shows are held every

year. One of them are the Pierian artisitc shows . Teh picture below shows the piscina on the fdar point. Itis a point that every morning or evening older anbd younger people are

ON same point as you run across the main street you can find also the municipal library . The ground floor invites also special demonstrations as eg the book show held evey year

One of th nicest to view is the metropolitan church of the village . This is the church of St Nicholas as you run to the main sdquare fo the village

πΥΡΟΣΒΕΣΤΙΚΗ ∆ΗΜΑΡΧΕΙΟ

Two other intereting biuldings as you run across the main road. Here is the ambuillance and municopality offices

And some interesting views on the main square !

One surely of the nicest places to be viewed is the Enipeas river . The river can be found two ways • Taking the road towards the mountains and on abt

50 m after the parking turning at left , just before the bridge. It is a 200 m road

• Directly from the main square by riding downwards This point offers an excellent view of the river . The river is a little extraordinary. All the water passing though it is lost and never reaches the sea. It is what the ancient Greeks call a �blind river � As for the history , Enipeas was one servant of Zeus (Jupiter ) . For special reasons that I can�t refer here Jupiter has made him a blind river

Enipeas

Wxceot viusting the main square , the city offers an excelletnt view of nice narrow roads that mostly remnind island cities and villages

High school High school

Walking in main road

Using the rod at the right of LItohoro for Dion , we pass into the moutain The forst we meet into this road is the sport center �PIros Dimas � called after the olympics winner of heavy weights

As shown from the mountain

Passing on road and for abt 2 km from the main separation there is a guard office. IT operates mostly on summer periods normally for preservation against fires

The cluster of St Dionysios (latin:Denis) is found before you �ride� to the

mountain 3 km from the village , at the right road . Originally built inside the mountain , the new building has been made last century a little after? the second war . The recent years it has been filled by many people. Interestingly every Sunday it is filled by more than 400 people attending the liturgy. Most of them still remain after the liturgy to listen to the day�s religious teachings,

A TRIP TO THE MOUNTAIN

On the road you will find some stands for preservation from the sun or rain. Please be noticed that rain can �appear from nothing� also during summers

And here is the the first resort in the length of 7 km far from the village. IN that point there is a hotel- cafe resort where soemone can eat or drink somethink . At ther right of tha point there is a mobile radio antenna and all this point is ideal for resting esp for summertimes

And a few more pictures from this point

Here is a picture from Prionia , the latest point a car can drive. From this point all trekkers visit the mountains by foot only. Also there are eccellent pictuers from waterfalls

This is the older closter of Dt Dionyssios , inside the mountain , located abt 7 km from the turn or abt 11 km from the village. The closter has more than 2 centuries of history and as far as i know/remember it has been burnt on the second war. The oriest has lived also on a cave 5 mins far from the closter YOu can see pictures from the news closter at the end of this report..

Saint Dionyssios

Instead of driving towards north we took the road that passes the village and goes to the mountain to the southern. Ther are two very interesting points to visit The first is Profitis Ilias , a very close point to the village with an excellent view of the area The other point is Agiannis with an excellent garden for play and pickicking. The point includes also a church and a restaurant.

ROUTE TO THE OTHER SITE OF THE VILLAGE

waterfalls Prionia

Litohoro has an excellent set of beaches with the crispest water , though quite deep for swimming.

A view of the sea of Plaka . Mylos is one of the most popular places for swimming and clubbing ( esp the nights) .There is also a busstop. There are many seaches and club on the sea. Thoiusands of people from all over Europe are coming here to visit and enjoy sunbathing via organized travel agencies or by their own These are some nice pictures of the beach and the club here , The waters are quite deep but indeedmost of the year are very clear. It is my top point for swimming asd he sand has the smallest rocks on the sea on all the region

inside view of MIchel

A ROUTE TO BEACHES

Plaka Thisis the name of the region that includes also Mylos. All this region is full of organied beaches and full of taverns and other nice sight seeing

Gritsa Nearly the same i can say about this wonfderful place.There is also the marine of the region YOU may see two verynice picture of the marine below At the far end of the marine the φαρος ανδ πως

το λενε? are fully made by big stones. The marine as shown below is a recnt make of the

LItohoron village ( ie after 1998)

Railway station ( Eurobeach) The reail way station is close and part of the Gritsa beach. The beach was foir many years underexploited until the recent 10 years when there was a reconstruction of all this region. Now there is a place for childerns joy , organized tents and a bar as you pass at the right side of the beach . Now nearly similar to Myloi

The station Children joy

Road to the beach

Food Food in LItohoron and the nearby areas is very easy to find . Most of the taverns inside LItohoro can be found on the main street , the main square as well in the road towards mountains. Most of them especially on the middle of the village are also making roasted on the spin . As it happens on over Greee you can taste the famous sandwitches with suvlaki ( slmall kebabs) or giros But also in these taverns you can taste the more traditional spinned goats However there are several �Imibisses� that are more specialized to fast food meals

p[izzaria on main street

taverns towards mountains

KlImataria: one of the olders on the road above main square

taverns

and a fast

ENTERTAINMENT

Patisseries Bars cafes and others There are several patisseries on the viillage 3 of them can be found in the main road. One of the oldest is on the main square. The same company has also a bar cafι a little downwards of the road Across the road you can find many bars and other cafι�s . The bars are surely are the enjoyment of the younger people There are many bars and cafes inside the village as well in the beaches Most of the bars can be found ly on the main street IN the beaches as shown previously there are the organized bars. MAny of them have �girls only� dance nights . But also there are some more isolated bars as for example Akrotiri , one very recently open in a point between Gritsa and Plaka . More van be found on the pictures

Liangas new store LIangas patisserie Akrotiri

on the main road

FESTIVALS A.O. HAPPENINGS Every year several festivals and happenings in Litohoron and more broadly to Pieria are held The main festivals happening are the follwing: • Olympus festival: For 2003 is the 32rd festival with a two months duration. Nowadays it is a

joint venture between the Ministry of culture and the Olympic Festival Organization with shows across all the νοµο of Pieria This can include musical theatrical and old tragedies More than 5000 viewers are usually attend these shows many of them are foreigners

• Cultural Summer : This is the �native� cultural program from the municipality of Litohoro from the cultural center of Litohoro Most of these shows are made by local artists and are free of charge

• 4th Youth Balkan Festival : This is the special for Litohoron this year A main happening held every week in the city is the bazaar . It covers part of the main sub- square � a point between the main square and the Enipeas river that covers not only direct vegetable market but also clothing and more general products

From the bazaar

Show from popular pop Greek singer ìôñ. Dion (Olympus festivals)

Shows on the Cultural summer

PUBLICATIONS

RADIO STATIONS

Litohoron has only one newspaper and a several local book productions. The newspaper is a municipality edition /newspaper edited once a month in offset and of 12 pages There are several books edited by the municipality and are the reference to Litohoron

Litohoron has only one commercial radio station R Ekfrasi 106.8 which a small station on the top of the town Its program is mostly consisted with music. However there are still some cultural and other kind programs> Most of their music pro-gramming consists of CD and MP3s Except this station there are two relay systems from station from Thessaloniki. As far as I know the one of these relays is inactive

Ekfrasi

One of the relays

Sometime Christmas in Litohoron !!!