To the home of the gods

Have you ever traveled by bus in Greece?  Yeah, neither had I.  Now, having experience it, I can say that it is the only way to experience Greece in all its glory.  And by glory, well, I mean more discomfort and inefficiency and, yeah, that sort of thing.  I don't mean to complain, but I don't think I've ever had to pay more for a less enjoyable experience in my life.  Well, drilling cavities might compete.  I suppose it could have been worse, but...the day went something like this:

It seemed like a reasonable proposal: head to Thessaloniki by way of Mount Olympus/Litohoro.  In hind sight...

The bus was late.  Maybe that should have warned us.  (That and the outrageous ticket prices.)  But it was only 15 minutes late, and it is Greece, after all.   At least this time we didn't have to wander the streets of Athens searching for the bus station. 

Still, the bus came and we dutifully piled onto it and began our decent down the mountain.  We paused various places, picking up and dropping off passengers as we went.  

We stopped in Amfissa, where, we eventually found out, we were supposed to change buses.  Nice of them to mention it.  

On the next bus we headed out again, still hopeful that we would make it to Litohoro before nightfall, but a little uncertain as to how many more unexpected bus changes we might have to make.  

At least the scenery was beautiful.  

Another stop...in Lamia...but eventually we figured out we were to stay on the same bus.  A little disappointing, considering how unhelpful the driver was...and how little he liked to use the fan or AC.  (So hot!)

We stopped again near Larisa and finally had a bathroom break.  

Now, at this point, I should explain something.  I've never been in Greece before.  Thus, I've never been to Litohoro (our ticket destination) before.  It may be surprising, in light of this, that I had no idea what to expect.  I barely knew where Litochoro was on the map, and I had a vague understanding that the hostel we booked was near it.  In retrospect, I should have studied several maps of everything before embarking.  I also should have modified my expectations of the bus to actually take us there.  

It went something like this.  We were on a highway, about an hour after passing Larissa, when the bus driver actually made an announcement: "Litohoro!"  We started gathering our things.  The bus slowed to a stop...near an exit...on a two lane highway...with no town apparently anywhere near.  They let us off and gave us our bags and drove away.  

....Uh...thanks?  But where's the town?  Where are we?  Where do we go from here?  We figured walking up the exit would at least take us in the right direction...

"Litohoro, 5km" the first sign stated.  A 5km hike uphill with a 30lb pack on a warm day was a daunting prospect, to say the least.  We trudged to a nearby gas station hoping to ask directions, when suddenly a man pulled over and offered us a ride.  Gratefully, we accepted and he dropped us off a few minutes later in Litohoro.  A quick lunch of gyros helped further boost our lowered morale.  

It was about then that we found out that our hostel was by the sea - back in the direction we came from.  *sigh*  There was nothing to do but laugh, thank God for kind people, and regroup.  We debating waiting for a bus or walking.  Taxis were out of the price range.  In the end, we walked: 7.67 kilometers we walked, until we finally found our hostel.  (That plus the walking we'd already done puts us over 5 miles.) 

At least there's a good view of the Mediterranean and Mount Olympus.  And good food and hot showers.  

Yeah, it was quite a day.  But reflecting on it (after the class I just took) makes me think of the Apostle Paul.  He had to walk everywhere (unless he was sailing).  And he probably had his fair share of unhelpful people (like the bus driver) and helpful people (like the man in the car and the girl at the hostel).  He probably had good days of relatively easy travel, and bad days when nothing seemed to go right.  And yet, somehow, he learned to be content in every circumstance.  Lord teach us that contentment!

Just for fun, this is approximately our route from bus station to hostel (7.67km).