May 13: Arachova
I woke up this morning feeling quite sick. It was only later that I thought about the signs next to the sinks telling us that the water was not drinkable. I distinctly recalled taking a drink from a sink when I got up in the night….
However, I didn’t feel sick enough to say no to coffee and a breakfast that included honey made by Kostis’s own bees. We had the dining room to ourselves. The guides had all arisen before dawn so that they could walk down to the town of Livadi and then all the way back up past the Defner hut to the summit of Parnassus. This was part of their training, or their final exam or something.
Our itinerary for this day was supposed to begin with an ascent to the summit of Mt. Parnassos. Alas, our enthusiasm for climbing was minimal, or perhaps nonexistent. We walked part of the way up under the ski lift, which was already steep, rocky, and utterly awash in spiky plants. There was no escaping the damn spiky plants!
The slope uphill of us looked just as steep as the bit we’d already ascended, and we felt at that point that we had a pretty good understanding of the landscape. I thought I might puke (didn’t…), and Chris’ foot hurt. Wise mountaineers regularly turn around just short of summits. And we still had to walk all the way to Livadi. We decided it would be fine to send the drone up to see what there was to see and then head back down.
The walk down from the hut started out rocky but quickly descended into piney forests again. The whole of Greece was covered in spring blooms. Up this high, the wild irises were blooming.
Our hike today ended in the town of Livadi, but we stayed in Arachova.
We called our pickup, Hilda, when we guessed that we were about an hour away from the end of the trail. It turned out that it took us a bit longer to cover the distance; this was entirely due to the fact that mountain bikers have taken over this trail and turned it into single-track, which is surprisingly difficult to traverse on foot.
She drove us to Arachova, which is very touristic. We stayed at the elegant and comfortable Guesthouse Paeonia.
Arachova is very pretty, but I fear it suffers the difficulties of all Greek mountain towns that have become tourist destinations. The main road through town is also the main regional road between towns; we had to drive through here on our way to Eptalafos at the beginning of our journey. So do all tourist buses. That central road is barely big enough for two cars to pass abreast, to say nothing of also functioning as the main parking area for buses loading and unloading. AND the main pedestrian walkway. The vestigial sidewalks are laden with merchandise, mostly “traditional” items sold as souvenirs-mountain shepherd’s crooks, junk made out of wool, local honey.
I’d expected to like Arachova more than I did. It was a shock to hear American voices again after so many days in the wilderness. On the other hand, the Greek swallows’) voices were distinct and original; I’d never heard them singing their nutty springtime songs before.
But there is some value to being in a town. For example, I’d accidently left my sunglasses (purchased in Switzerland the previous year, alas!) in Heraklion. For days, it had been impossible to replace them. Though Arachova didn’t have anything resembling a range of normal merchandise, it did have one fancy boutique selling Izipizi glasses-this brand is mostly about readers, but they did have a few (somewhat) reasonably priced plain sunglasses.
Our hotel proprietress had suggested that we dine at a restaurant serving traditional foods, but it proved impossible to get a reservation. We found an unpretentious taverna, where we dined on wild greens (horta-a classic Greek food) and I had the most delicious veal steak in a creamy poivre sauce with mushrooms. The curry in the traditional sauce au poivre was inspired!
