4 Days marches in Nijmegen / and a trip to Goch / Ton van Zutphen, July 2018

Ton van Zutphen aiming for his 10th medal during the Walk of the World in Nijmegen, the Netherlands,  and preparing in Goch, Germany  (where his grandfather, father’s side, lived and worked (1891 to June 1900)

Written at home in Leende, NL, last week July 2018 (tonvanzutphen@gmail.com)

It has been nearly two years since I wrote a blog; meanwhile the stats inform me that nearly 30.000 readers looked at any of the previous 21 blogs that I wrote since 2012. The first one took me to the Via Francigena in May 2012 when I lived in Rome. This is the official St. Francis walking trail to Rome. A disproportionate number of my possibly 'crazy' blogs are readers from Russia and the Ukraine…where I hardly know anybody; and I cannot offer the reader an  explanation for this. 

Admittedly, blogging is a bit of an exercise to ‘put oneself up there on social media’. Nevertheless, I also write because some of my friends, old working buddies, and family, remain genuinely interested in my travels and activities.

PART ONE

Last year I typed out and added some information on the document that my uncle Martin van Zutphen wrote before he died on a cruise ship close to Istanbul…heart attack. It was all a shock to us when this happened on 3rd October in 1989.

I will post this exceptional document later this year as some pics need to be added still.

My wife Biya calls me Anton and this is exactly the name of my grandfather Anton van Zutphen (or Antoon in Dutch) who was born in Veghel in 1872 and died in Eindhoven just at the end of the second WorldWar in May 1945.
Anton married a German beauty Anna Maria Hoffmann in 1897. She was apparently born out of wedlock and in the beginning to shy to respond to the advances made by Anton who according to some stories and pictures was  full of confidence and cash, had a good job as a cooper (barrel-maker) and was smoking big cigars since he was 16; and equally fashionably dressed during the German Empire period around the 1900’s. 

Coincidentally my youngest daughter Kesso Gabrielle next year has agreed  to marry a Swiss young man named Thomas Kueffer….which means cooper in German.  

Anna Maria was born in  Asperden 3 kms from Goch  in 1874 and had lived with her mother in Pfalzdorf also just 4 kms from Goch.  She and Anton raised 5 children of which my father Franz was the youngest, born in Neuss am Rhein in 1906.  So I decided to walk around the small town of Goch…along the river Niers and visit the streets and villages where my grandfather must have walked and lived…Kirchstrasse, Gartenstrasse where he lived on nr. 54, Feldstrasse where their first daughter Dina was born,  Markt, Steintor. All streets are there but as Goch was bombed out in 1943/44 for 80%, most of the buildings are new and only a few rebuilt in the old style. Goch in 1890 had about 5.000 inhabitants while in 2017 we count 33.000 people. 
More and more Dutch people buy houses in this border area here because Germany is arguably the cheapest country in Europe if you look at it from a  price/quality perspective. I had a draught Bitburg beer at 1,60 euros at the ‘Heidetreff’ bar in the Uedemer strasse. The Feldstrasse / Fieldstreet still has a charming 400 metres ending up in what must have been the outskirts of the hilly Pfalzdorf village where my grandmother had lived with her mother. Anton must have walked this stretch  many many times puffing his cigar while holding hands of the lady he was going to marry…happily ever after. The photograph below was taken in Veghel at the barrel making factory of the firm van den Tillaart. My grandfather started working as an apprentice when he was 12 years young. On this pic. he is standing fully left with a cigar in his hand, in costume and 16 years young. 'Den Heer'...or Sir Anton. 

The below picture taken in Neuss am Rhein (Germany) probably around 1908 presents Anton's nuclear family / clockwise Anna (mother of Jos, Ria, Toon and Henny..Anna was apparently accidentally killed by an English soldier in 1945 in Eindhoven). Then my grandfather Anton, Martin, the eldest son, Dina, the eldest daughter, Franz, my father, Anna Marie, my grandmother born in Asperden, Germany, and finally to the full right Frits. Toon lives in New Zealand with his lovely wife Josiena..also from Eindhoven originally, and Henny who lives close to Utrecht in the NL.  Please may you note the beauty of my grandmother!!

In Goch I stayed in the traditional Hotel ‘Zur Friedenseiche’ (At the Oak of Peace)…very good and top clean, managed by what we Dutch would call a typical German: straightforward, punctual with breakfast, clear on how to use the front door and parking lot. I enjoyed it thoroughly and can recommend it without any reservation. Centre of town, very nice room at 55 euros a night with excellent breakfast. I simply walked in without any reservation…plenty of rooms available. The owner Theodor Welmsen kept all the furniture from the mid sixties and it is as if you are stepping back half a century in time. Unfortunately he would not want to sell me one of his 3 'Stiefels'... a typical  traditional drinking device.

And  I walked along the old German railway line …the train from Boxtel in the NL to Wesel in Germany, with which my grandfather arrived in Goch in 1891 when he was only 19 years young.  The fact that I also stepped out of my comfort zone in the Netherlands, and worked in many places around the world, married outside the NL, and also carry his name….makes me feel somehow associated with him in a particular way.

For those interesting to spend 2 days exploring the Goch area  I can recommend a full day walk along the meandering river Niers, and visit the local museum and have plenty of good beers in the market place (Koenig, Veltins, Bitburg). I walked through all the places mentioned above and  in perfect weather. Unfortunately I found out later that training for the Walk of the World (every day 40 kms) requires more than just a 100 kms training over 3 days

PART TWO

So every year I do some walking to prepare myself for the 4 Days marches of Nijmegen…and with my advancing age…I realise I need to do more preparation. It is now the third time that the shin splint effect returns when I stretch my muscles too heavy. This time it started on the second day and I felt I had to restrain/limit the speed. Anyway a bit proud of myself…on day 1 I started at 5.20am and clocked in at 10.30 am sharp….first arrival of the group that walks 40 kms. At least 7 or 8 walkers that power walk or racewalk 50 kms each day, were ahead of me. The weather had been wonderful and sunny with a cool breeze when walking on the Waal-dyke along Oosterhout. Day2 I arrived at 12.30, day3 with Ruud from Venlo, and a Swedish army officer at 11.am.

And day4  with some pain at 13.45 hours finally. An interesting artefact is the pontoon bridge that the Dutch infantry puts every year together to enable the crossing of the river Maas at Cuyk (Ceuclum was the name during the Roman invasion where a fort was built as part of the road Nijmegen to Maastricht plus also a wooden pontoon bridge / and remember: the Maas was then a wildly meandering river fed mainly by the rains in Northern France and Belgium). Most walkers like day4 because of the throngs of people that are encouraging all 40.000-plus walkers during the final 7 kms. But I find the wide tarred road a hot walking blacktop, noise and music increase the perception of the heat, and I had run out of red Korean  ginseng that always gives a boost for at least a couple of kilometers.

This year’s music I heard most was 1. Una paloma blanca from the George Baker Selection (1975), 2. Take me home country roads from John Denver (1971) and 3. Atemlos durch die Nacht from Helene Fischer (2014). I do recall meeting John Denver personally in Ouagadougou in 1985 when he visited the SAVE US programme. A very nice country boy indeed he was.

Anyway I made it for the 10^th time, received my gold-plated medal and joined the select club of those with 10 marches behind their belt. To serve this select group there are specially equipped resting places along the route (obviously the majority being over 60 years of age).

Nothing really exciting happened during this 10^th Walk of the World. Definitely more and more walkers use earplugs and walk in their own bubble…or are on the phone. All of this is not conducive to the friendly atmosphere that was different in the past.

One of the reasons I continue to walk every year is because of my student friend Cees Boonman who died 12^th July 2012 on a Sunday preceding the 4DaysWalk. I used to stay with him and his wife Antonet in their homes in Nijmegen. It is good to think of him and pray that he may see that his old study friends do remember him well, offer him a toast, and gather; as we do every Sunday preceding the annual march in the Kronenburger Park. Antonet’s family joins then and friends of Cees, plus usually Jan Konings, his wife Karin  and myself.  

CEES....jij bent niet meer waar je was. Maar overal waar wij zijn.




CEES,... you are not anymore where you were. But you are everywhere where we are.
















Also part of the ritual now is that the student’s friends (the Brommers) meet on day3 as of 3pm at café-bar ‘De Kroon’, Daalseweg 361, some 750 meters from the finish. A wonderful time it was again this year!! Some 47.000 walkers registered and a little over 40.000 finished this year’s biggest walking event in the world.

From left to right: Wilma (64), Wim (66), Gerard looking swell at 71, Antonet (58), and Ton (66).

The city of Nijmegen turns every 3^rd week in July into the busiest place in the NL. It swells from 175.000 people to receiving more than 1 million visitors over a 6 day period. Festivities with live music, expositions, street-theatre, even a special white sandy beach along the Waal is created, bars on the streets…about 30 extra locations. I ran into a trucker who collected the 1.000 liter cisterns in which the beer is now being distributed. He collected the Heineken /Amstel cisterns and his group refilled on a daily basis 75 of these huge metal shiny cisterns. Assuming that Heineken/Amstel group has a max. of 30% of the beer market in Nijmegen….. we are looking at a beer consumption of Nijmegen city alone of perhaps 1.5 million liters of beer over roughly 7 days/nights. !!! I was told only at the Black Cross event in the NL in ‘the Achterhoek’ or around Assen this year,  beer consumption of particularly the Grolsch brand is bigger per capita.  

Next year again…yes yes, hopefully with my wife Biya. And then every day 30kms.

See also this link:

Gouden Kruis 4daagse

This pic. was taken  in Oosterhout about 14 kms from the start day1 around 7.15am 

Ton van Zutphen: 100th edition Walk of the World / 4 Daagse van Nijmegen in the Netherlands

Ton van Zutphen finished the Walk of the World: 100^th edition of the ‘Nijmeegse 4 Daagse’

19-22 July 2016 / Received medal (pin) 8th year finisher.

Well oh well…what a city Nijmegen has become because of this 4Daagse event! A city with a more than 2000 year history, makes daily front page news in the Netherlands during the third week in July when this walking spectacle takes place. This year the number of 172.000 inhabitants grew to a daily estimated 375.000 people, including the 50.000 registered walkers. In the course of the week, which features hundreds of small festivities all over town, perhaps even one and a half million people were out and about. Some 50 nationalities were counted as well. A special WhatsApp application informed people to avoid certain ‘too crowded’ locations.  This special 100^th  edition sported for the ‘die-hards’ one-off distances of 55 kms each day (with 5.000 registered walkers!) and a pre-selected 100 semi-professionals who walked each day 100 kms. A Danish military unit marched all the way from Copenhagen to Nijmegen and then fully participated with packs of 10 kgs. Walking can be a serious pastime. You bet!

But before I started on Tuesday 19^th July a few things happened. As usual I prepare with a 3 days’ training  in the rural area around my sister Ellie’s cozy home in ‘Lith sur Meuse’. Walking alongside the rivers Maas and Waal is when the weather is good a perfect preparation. Nevertheless my work in Turkey is not conducive to training; somehow I cannot create the discipline, hence my condition as I get older …suffers.

Those who believe that the art of endurance walking is not to lead to any discomfort or even injuries are simply wrong. Here are a few…some of them known and walkers can live/walk with them: muscle pain, sprained ankles, blisters, ‘blacktop prickly heat’ (high temperatures heat up the asphalt roads and the dust gets all over one’s calves / an unpleasant but bearable prickly reddish result is called in Dutch ‘asfaltbrand’, which vanishes in a few days). All bearable. Other injuries are absolutely to avoid such: sheer exhaustion, heatstroke, dehydration, dizziness, and in my case during my training Shin Splint…runners and walkers get it when the training is too sudden too harsh. I combined my walking training with some racewalking which has a strong effect on the shins. And after 2 days I saw suddenly in Dedem/Batenburg before crossing the Maas with the tiny ferry we call ‘fietspontje’…a reddish part appearing just above my right foot. I was on my way to say hello to my nephew Henk in Bergharen…and as God had known all this: Henk is a retired and very experienced sports physical therapist. And he confirmed immediately what I feared…and suggested I may have to call off the 4Daagse and potentially also the planned hike around the Mont Blanc with my lady Biya a week later….WOW; I felt like being hit with a wet towel. I had planned all of this for months in terms of timing…and a shin splint could all change this planning.  Anyway, after checking with my friend Cor who is also a very experienced retired physician it was clear: ‘Ton, do not take e gamble on this’.

So I retreated and looked for plan B….change the daily 40kms into a 30 kms distance and walk slowly, take rests and put the legs up as much as possible. This proved to be an excellent adjustment as already during the warm day 1 the ambulances had to pick up and treat two dozen exhausted walkers. A different 4Daagse for me as normally I do some racewalking. This time it had to be changed and it worked out! Arriving in Nijmegen on Sunday early morning I went to the special mass for the walkers in the Saint Peter Canisius Church for an international pontifical catholic mass, celebrated by the Bishop of Utrecht, Mgr. Hoogenboom. ‘Eripe mede inimicis meis, Deus meus, et ab insurgentibus in me libera me. God please take away this enemy, and liberate me from this evil shin splint (a very liberal translation J). I felt increasingly better and also the next day when visiting my Brom-friend Jan Konings in Molenhoek…I thought I could do this 30 kms a day without too much risk.

So I walked with the ‘grey wolves’: to be eligible to walk only 30kms a day one has to be 60 years and not younger than that. No need to start too early in the morning: as of 6.15am I took off…and day 1 was nice / weather good/sunny and the reddish area on my leg became smaller…but was still there. Day 2 same same…and day 3, I felt the urge to start walking fast…a beautiful road between Mook and Groesbeek presenting rolling hilly terrain and walking in the shadows with fresh air amidst large trees.  I simply walked on fast and did not stop until Nijmegen where I arrived as the first of the 30 kms walkers….This felt good but had it endangered the status of my shin splint?  A good rest and sleep confirmed it had not.  And de facto, the splint simply vanished a few days later fully…in time for the 9 days mountain hike of the TMB (Trans Mont Blanc).

                                                       1st Day 7 kms before the finish / 11.am / past town of Elst

So…….this Walk of the World has now become part of my annual life! What does that really mean in terms of planning…. Every year as long as I can I will plan about 10/12days for this event: training and participating; and as a norm walk the 40kms a day distance. Once retired it is easier to build up my conditions and stamina. I should have then simply more time. It is not just the walk; staying with my sister Ellie for a few days in that very ‘Holland-looking’ area of the big Dutch rivers is wonderful. Staying with Antonet in an apartment overlooking the beauty of Nijmegen and receiving her hospitality is another big bonus. Visiting my nephew Henk and his wife Marijke with my sister and enjoy taking a rest in their lovely garden and catch up, is yet another pleasure to look forward to. Meeting all the ‘Brommers’ from my university days presents also another great treat. A bit hilarious but day 3 of the Walk is up and down with a few hills…and we always have beers around 4pm outside of a  bar just before the finish and see and welcome the ‘ones that know that they are walking but do not really realise it’. Some sore sights but it is all part of this endurance walk.

                                                                           

                                       3rd Day 14 kms before finish before entering Groesbeek

And then immediately after the Walk….shower, say thanks to my host Antonet, catch the train and ride to Eindhoven/Valkenswaard to see my best friends Cor and family, Gerard, Odi …and have BEERS….

Thanks to all including Ellie, Henk, Marijke, Antonet, Frie, Gerard, Annet, Wilma, Frits, Jan, and all the old friends of Kees whom I am  privileged to meet every year on the Sunday afternoon for a an adult beverage pick-nick in the Kronenburger park.

Most heard song of the Walk of the World this year the same as last year: ‘Country Road Take me Home’ by John Denver (the singer I met in Ouagadougou in 1985); he crashed with his plane a few years later…a legend!

                                                                   

                Left to Right: Gerard, Frits, Ton, Frie, Wilma, Jan, and Antonet / 'the Brommers' 

Stats:

I walked on Brooks shoes as usual; size 13 US

Good breakfast with special mashed oxen meat in the form of a sausage (’osseworst’ a Dutch old fashioned specialty)

Food intake just fresh fruits and water / plus an energy bar a day

About 40.000 steps every day / no stops

Very light gear and clothing

4^th day some heavy rains early morning; I simply stopped twice and joined the crowds again.

Hope to be present again next year 2017.

Ton van Zutphen on a discovery trip to Korea in Dec.15/Jan.16

Ton van Zutphen on a discovery trip to Korea in Dec.15/Jan.16

After Spain, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Turkey and Greece….this was the sixth trip with my girlfriend Biya….now to her country.  Korea remains exotic, inspiring, surprising, and absolutely beautiful with its people and scenery. We went to Jeju island and all around Seoul, the capital city, a huge area where 10 million people live. It is dotted with mountains/hills to walk in. As it was the Christmas season there were lights everywhere and the Cathedral and the older churches (all built by French missionaries late 19^th century and of the same look as the Cathedral in Bangui! / see my blog on CAR) were full of believers and visitors. The small stream with its sidewalks, passing through Seoul’s city center was delicately decorated and a busy place to be. Crisp air and cleanliness all over. Joy to the world…..

Korea…South Korea obviously, entered into my brains and stomach for the first time in 1994 when I had a taste of delicious, exotic Korean food in the famous restaurant ‘Arirang’ in Dhaka, Bangladesh ( I still recall with gusto the spicy green mustard and raw fish). And ‘kimchi’, the traditional national side-dish, is always on the table in every Korean family. This fermented  cabbage dish with radish, garlic, red pepper and shrimp juice was stored traditionally underground in jars to remain unfrozen during winter. It helped generations of Koreans to stay supplied with vitamin C and carotene. In my country we have the famous ‘Zuurkool=Sauerkraut’ made of white cabbage, and also pickled with vinegar and black pepper.  It used to be THE famous Dutch winter dish, accompanied by mashed potatoes and a large sausage smothered in fat gravy. Hmm…delicious the way my mother made it in the fifties. She even called me ‘Toontje Zuurkool’ when I finished my second or third helping J. Kimchi is the soul food of Korea…there is even a kimchi field museum that shows and documents 187 historic and current varieties…using cucumber, radish, ginger, scallion, garlic and so on. Per capita the Koreans eat 18kgs a year of this delicacy. And during the Vietnam war in which Korean soldiers participated in the thousands, the then President Park Chung-hee told his US colleague Lyndon B. Johnson that kimchi was vitally important for the morale of his Korean troops…so put it on the menu buddy!   In those days (around 1970), the American military just started to introduce their now infamous MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat)…and this must have been quite a shock for the Koreans!  Now read-up folks: Biya’s older sister in Seoul actually has a refrigerator, a large one that makes excellent kimchi. The various stages of fermentation of mainly cabbage and radish are regulated electronically and the fridge produces kimchi of different texture and tastes depending on type of vegetables used and fermentation time. So the family always has it fresh from its own production-line. Incredible but true. We in the Netherlands when a pic. is taken say…’cheese’…in Korea obviously one says ‘kimchi’!  Finally I prefer the kimchi that is still fresh and has been fermented only a few days/weeks. I guess my taste for the more ‘matured’ kimchi which is spicier and ‘hot’ has to be developed…and I trust that will come.

Interestingly the Dutch have created history in Korea. An accountant of the Dutch Mercantile Fleet (the infamous East India/VOC) Mr. Hendrick Hamel, based in Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia) was on a mission to Japan when his ship ‘De Sperwer’ crash landed in a storm on Jeju island in 1653. From the 64 shipmates only 34 survived and all were taken prisoner by the King. Coincidentally another Dutchman, also shipwrecked had been kept as a prisoner already for 26 years in Korea…name of Jan Jansz. Weltevree. The latter interpreted and it was clear there was no way back. According to the King it was the tradition in Korea not to allow foreigners depart that had arrived without permission. How different these days from those fleeing Syria!  This Dutch ‘colony’ of ragtag sailors had to live through many years of ups and down (work in the army, chop wood, beg, play the piper….) and finally Hendrick and 7 fellow Dutchmen fled the island in a small vessel after 13 years, and were able to reach Japan.  Hendrick wrote a book about his life in Korea which remained for over 200 years!!.. the very first,  detailed reference to Korea in Western Europe. Now, Koreans take pride that Hendrick has made their country known to the wider world. In Korea the word ‘Hamel’ stands for courage, perseverance and enterprise…words that also reflect the character of the Koreans themselves. The site where Hamel shipwrecked on Jeju island is a memorable one. An exact beautifully painted copy of the ship has been built sporting a museum on-board with the original ship’s journal. Next to the ship and close to Hamel’s statue is that of the second Dutchman that became an icon in Korea: Guus Hiddink, football trainer of the famous Korean-Eleven that made it to the semi-finals in the World Cup in 2002…and then lost against Germany.  And of course Guus is also ex-trainer of PSV Eindhoven, my football club in the Netherlands, of which my uncle Martien van Zutphen has been the President for many years in the seventies. I just joined the ‘Friends of Hamel Foundation’ in Hendrick’s  birth town of Gorinchem in the Netherlands where his family house has been restored with funding from the Korean government as well, and was inaugurated by the Korean Ambassador in June 2015.  Thus, as a Dutchman in Korea, one is in good standing!!

Overlooking the bay with 'De Sperwer' 

Guus and Ton

Then my special friend Biya and I share the passion of walking…long walks, mountain walks, walking along coastlines, up the mountains…..through the forests, fields and meet the flowers in all their colors and fragrances, see the sun coming up and setting down over the valleys and waters. That is Jeju island for you! With a Mediterranean climate this island is walkable along the famous Olle Trail. Initiated by Biya’s best friend, ex-journalist Suh Myung-suk the Olle Trail connects hundreds of villages through lingering paths, offering the beauty of this island with splendid vistas of the seashores at every corner. 21 Trails with an average length of 12 kms. take you to the prettiest parts of the island.  We managed to do 6 of them and while on Jeju island I experienced many for me ‘exotic things’…like the day I learned how to suck crabs; always different sorts of seaweed for breakfast/lunch/dinner (although Biya reduced my food intake to two and a half meals per day L); everywhere the genuine smiles of the Koreans, windiness as in the Netherlands back home, cooked mackerel and many fish I never ate before,  shell fish I never knew existed, I saw women coming out of the sea after harvesting seaweed, drinking the light Korean liquor that goes with the meals, passing through tea plantations and praying together while visiting a replica of the Via Dolorosa at the  large Catholic retreat center on the island; then walking and smelling the markets and seeing all this really exotic food! I never had soooo many tangerines in my life than during those 5 days on this island. Wow…what a place! Myung-suk soon became my friend as well and as a walker herself, she had actually finished the Walk of the World a couple of years ago (www.4daagse.nl). So she is in my good books of course. The three of us, Biya, Myung-suk and me plan to walk the ‘4daagse’ in 2017 together!  Yes, while writing this now and memorizing bits of those days of beauty, passion and living life to the fullest, Jeju island is good for the body and mind.  Definitely to recommend.

Myung-suk, Anton, Biya

Finally a note on the famous pair of trousers I bought…

Firstly…’Youngone’ is a Korean company I saw producing quality sports clothing already in Chittagong, Bangladesh in 1994….the CEO, accompanied by the COO and both good friends of Biya, invited us for lunch in perfectly arranged surroundings. Later, I had the opportunity to stock up on some high quality and professional sports and mountaineering apparel. Use it all the time now in Turkey (Ankara was minus 7 degrees C during the day all of last week in January). There is sort of a fusion dynamics going on in the clothing industry…and the Korean customer leads I believe: many people wear very good looking sports/leisure clothes during the day, except for going to the office of course. In particular water resistant trousers, with stretch belts and made out of wool and Gore-tex elements, with reinforced paddings around the knees…I found a pretty good looking pair of Mouflon, Xtreme Trail trousers, flashy green colored zips with inside Burberry look finishing’s….for 9 USD (10.000 Korean won) …in a local market. In fact Biya as usual did the bargaining.  It cost me less than one buck to adjust the width in Turkey and …now wear them all the time. And my lady will buy me another pair…blue-ish one…..she promised.

KOREA is simply 2 thumbs up:  Um Ghi-Chuk !!!.       And this demanding boy is soon to return.  

Ton van Zutphen / first time ever trip traveling / walking the Eastern part of SICILY, Italy (2015) / including Etna and Stromboli volcanoes / Oct. 31 – Nov. 6

Ton van Zutphen / first time ever trip traveling / walking the Eastern part of  SICILY,  Italy (2015) / including Etna and Stromboli volcanoes / Oct. 31 – Nov. 6   

How to start…Italy and certainly Sicily, has a name and fame…for beauty, weather, its charm, the food…the Italian way of doing and moving. These days one has to look for it…certainly in Sicily, which has become an island where tourism beats all drums; significant economic activity is hard to observe. Still lots of small traders around which conveys a pleasant feeling.  Obviously I had to ply the tourist spots but then…even in the normal towns like Catania and Milazzo, I found it difficult to find simple, straightforward old fashioned authenticity.  I had trouble finding the good restaurants where the locals go…. although my Italian is good enough.

There is a daily flight from Istanbul to Catania and upon arrival I decided to walk into town. Always good to sniff the air…along the derelict industrial area and the port. Two thoughts came up:

1 in my development/humanitarian work donors always talk about sustainability…long term expected results…well the EU/State supported industrialisation of Sicily has led to a vast, barren and non-operational area for hundreds of hectares between the airport and the town of Catania…Could it be like this all over Sicily? I trust not but yes I saw quite a bit of it later from the train rides I took;
2. Suddenly I started to compare the yachting port of Coconut Grove in Miami with its neatly stacked freshly painted boats, to the leisure port in Catania….unfortunately worlds and decennia’s apart.
The Southern part of Italy I learned at my university classes was called the Mezzagiorno (meaning the ‘afternoon’)…a region where life goes on but not too fast and where the climate and culture were dominating the life and work ethics. It is clearly still there. Indeed it has its charm. On the other hand, poverty resulted as early as 1850 that thousands of Sicilians left for greener pastures, some of them becoming quite successful in the US / famous like Frankie ‘boy’ Sinatra's family…others notorious like Al Capone in Chicago.

I checked into the Agathae hotel on the Via Etnea 229 a central location in Catania  (I found out later that I was often welcomed as the guest who had the pleasure to find the last room available…and then never saw any other guests around…haha). Had a Bangladeshi meal of dal, bhat, curry and my Dhaka days came back. Washed it down with half a litre of dark Sicilian red ‘Nero d’Avola’ in a trattoria just off the main street where the weekly weekend market takes place with mostly (illegal) immigrants selling things that I am surprised will find a large clientele. Anyway that is Italy for you: a lot of street life and selling stuff all over.

By the way…the dark ‘black-nero’ red Avola wine was suggested so precious in the past it was called in the Netherlands the ‘tears of Christ’.

The next morning on All Saints Day I went to the cathedral and loved the quietness of this vast Baroch style building. Mass was said for about 40 devotees. It had started to rain and that is why I decided to travel to Ragusa and Noto first. Also in Ragusa a few hours later the ‘John the Baptist’ cathedral was impressive with mass ongoing until 13 hours. 
The whole day upto 15 hours in Ragusa…the only people on the street seemed to be coming from church or those buying cigarettes from the vending machines. It was eerie to be in such a large town without people. I found the secluded ‘Trattoria Tinchita’, managed by young people on the Via Sant’Anna and had the best Campari soda in my life! Sitting outside in the coolness under a veranda I enjoyed the simple and good home cooked food while the rain continued...the few passers-by must have considered me mentally deranged…or alcoholic! Who knows, perhaps both. I was immensely enjoying myself. In the end there was no bus nor train to take me out of town so I checked into the anonymous Best Western (which wasn’t a B.W. anymore…but to attract customers they had kept the signs…). The once beautiful bridge over the river Santa Benedicta has been totally spoilt by an ugly iron railing to keep the jumpers off. Incredible…how burocracy can kill beauty.

On ‘All Souls Day’, very early I boarded the commuter train to Noto. Painted all over with graffiti… even the windows inside…A very quiet ride of over two hours through tunnels and valleys fielding the typical Mediterranean landscape (olive trees, orchards with millions of oranges, and bush). Now here is a pretty town: Noto is not to miss! I wandered a few hours through this beautiful Baroque town with its churches, some of them huge!, with scores of ill kept monasteries and palaces and everywhere 18^th century built houses to admire. A real treat for the eye. Featuring a piazza and market where the old (male) city dwellers talk, drink coffee and ‘aperitivos’, amidst clouds of cigarette smoke. Just imagine to have been borne here and return upon retirement and meet the old family and friends again. And settle in this unique town until heaven calls you. Bought a large chunk of mortadella, bread and black olives for lunch and sat munching in a park. Then late afternoon moved on with the bus to Catania and switched onto another bus to Nicolosi Sud. Interestingly the privatisation of the public bus system in Sicily has led to a plethora of bus companies, some of them without parking places…it is really go and look for which company goes where at what time. The bus stopped at 19 hours and I checked into the only hotel…again anonymous…something like Pin Ain…again I was the only customer in this non eventful place. Although I did purchase the famous and high quality per barba and pre barba ProRaso shaving soap and creme at very favorable prices....definitely good stuff!   www.proraso.com. 

Morning 3^rd November I continued with the bus to the foot of the ETNA, active volcano, rode the cable car upto 2500 metres and then walked for about 90 minutes to 2920 metres to enjoy the world famous ETNA crater and all its beauty in the snow. Yes, again this was worthwhile: snow, lava rocks, lava sands and ash and a nice hilly climb and descent; air pure again with astonishing vistas and the cloud patterns changing all the time! The full climb to the summit at 3329 metres is doable without great exercise throughout the summer. Not this time for me without a guide nor winter gear. Nevertheless…it is a barren volcano, unlike the STROMBOLI where one walks more through the clover and bushes. Tourists were ferried to the 2900 metres viewpoint in large IVECO Unimog type trucks. Impressive. When I came down I had to wait for 4 hours to catch the return bus so I started walking and got a ride from some Germans who took me to Catania where I had my first and best ‘Arancini’ in a local trattoria. Very tasteful and it reminded me of the Dutch/Indonesian ‘nasi-bal’ that you only find in the Netherlands. I never looked for the other typical Sicilian snack ‘Cannoli’, anticipating it to fatty, sugary and sweet for my taste.

ETNA volcano at 2920 metres

On to Messina with a very slow train and then change to Milazzo, the port, where I walked from the railway station into town and checked into a B&B and had roast chicken and potatoes / and a good sleep in the best room of the house at 50 euros. Breakfast was so disgusting I never ate it…cakes and Nescafe without milk…yeek…not for me.

Then the fast boat to Stromboli island the morning anchoring briefly at the islands of Volcano, Lipara, Panarea and finally Stromboli's main port. Now inhabited in November by let’s guess max. 2.000 people. In the summer I guess tripling that number. In the old days of the Bergmann/Rossellini movie making couple, this trip must have taken upto six hours with old steamboats…1949…was the time…with technology used that pre dates the 2^nd World War. Must have been indeed a very isolated place to live…only fishermen catching tuna, and a few shepherds in those days and all young males gone off to Napoli, Messina, Palermo or the USA. The two fell in love while the movie ‘Stromboli, terra di Dio’’ was made (a raw ‘naturalist style’ movie showing a real eruption, though small, of the volcano!).  Ingrid and Roberto, although both married, had a child, divorced their spouses and then married each other…it created a scandal in the USA…even in Hollywood! I passed the house, nicely painted sandy-rose colour…where it all happened.  

Stromboli volcano from San Bertolo village

I checked into a pension ‘La Pergola’; good enough and the nice thing is that it is all walking on the island. Streets are too narrow for cars…only the short 300 metres coastal road at the harbour is fit for vehicles…the usual Vespa scooters and Aprilia tricycles run the race here with a lot of noise. In the afternoon at around three o’clock we walked up the volcano for about 3 hours with a guide called Antonio and a group of 28 participants each of which was charged 28 euros. Antonio made a nice income for himself that day…tax free as well I suppose; no bills, no receipts: cash in his hands. He did not explain anything just was busy in a nice and professional manner to keep the group together…only one Italian called Andrea  in the group by the way…many Germans, Belgians, French this time. Several had to go back because they were not fit. Nice climb / hilly not difficult; really worth it and then the peak of the mountain at 926 metres was astonishing: we arrived in the dark and had an hour to look/film the eruptions of the volcano…more like hiccups every 7 minutes…with lava and ash spouting in the air at a distance of less than 80 metres as the crow flies. By ANY standards this is impressive, colourful and something to experience. It was also pretty cold and windy. Going down was different and reminded me of the Kilimanjaro…shuffling through the loose lava sands at high speed; this time in the dark although we all had torches.  ‘Look out Ton…here is where you fall and break a leg’.  A sweaty rundown…all the way to the village in 2 hours…must have lost 2 litres of water. Very tiring for me …and afterwards that ‘sweet pain feeling’ of accomplishment feeling your muscles all over. Walked over to the pension and showered, then slept like a log.

 STROMBOLI: image of the kind of eruption I witnessed...what I saw was smaller though but the fire/colours were there!

Good breakfast next morning and a stroll across the coast and village of san Bartolo; most houses empty; went to church and bought some bread/mortadella again. Then the long boat trip back to Milazzo; bus to Messina and slow train again to Giardini Naxos where I arrived around 6pm; dark again. I decided to walk up the hill to Taormina (the big touristic attraction along Sicily’s eastern coast…I wonder really why…) and nearly had myself driven over by the local ‘Schuhmachers’ that race up and down the large Via Crocefisso that is unlit! But the reward was nice…suddenly I ended up in the centre of the old medieval city where the rich tourists from all over the world think they can do bargain shopping. Factually one restaurant, one shop selling high-end fashion accessories, one ristorante, one shop and so on. I managed to book a room outside the city walls, in the very very nice Hotel Natalina where the owner and his daughter Eva welcomed me with a Sicilian red. Bottle came complementary. Grazie mille! A perfect drink to start the evening.  I followed Eva’s advice and really dined well at ‘Trattoria da Nino’ just up the hill toward the bus station… marinated mussels this time.

Still in Taormina next day I descended the Via Madonna delle Grazie (one dangerous passage with loose rocks) and walked all the way to the resort town of Giardino Naxos to buy a cable for my I-phone. In the church I found a small exposition about the ‘sindona’, Christ’s burial garment…with reference to Edessa…now Urfa in Turkey where I travel regularly. Coincidence…perhaps. Then continued to the Isola Bella where people were still swimming and walked up again the hill to Taormina; finished my bottle of red and had a good siesta. Really not much to see/do in Taormina other than watching shops and people…and the Greek theatre which was closed when I arrived at 4pm. Aggrh! I walked again around town had a sandwich, went to bed early and took the first bus out of town to Catania and was  there in time to see the famous fish market in operation. Good! Very good products; fresh and a lot of hullaballoo…just like a market should be. Unfortunately I choose again the wrong restaurant…food was ok but the horse steak not juicy nor tender. Around noon I started to walk to the airport and flew back to Istanbul in time.

 Here is a pic from a stop over in Istanbul / famous Pudding shop in Sultanahmet quartier

                                                          visited in 1973 / visited again in 2015
                                                                             RICE pudding  

Then back to Gaziantep and home. Really a good time; could have been much better with MSF by myside. Alone is alone. I did meet quite a lot of travelers but we all are individuals…the itinerary has been planned and very few travelers these days…(only these days?) opt for joining a fellow traveller.

Back to work for the last haul..with travels to various parts in Turkey (Mardin, Istanbul, Ankara) and Iraq (Erbil and Dohuk). Change of employer as of January 2016…..coming up soon!

This Sicily parcours I managed by bus, train, ship, hitchhiking and walking: Catania-Ragusa-Noto-Avola-Nicolosi Sud-Etna-Catania-Milazzo-Stromboli-Milazzo-Messina-Giardini Naxos-Taormina-Catania and its airport.

Always shouldered my 35 litres Vaude backpack bought in 2009 / with 9kgs in it

Walking sticks Leki titanium
Total of 148.543 steps = about 104 kms in 7 days…is 15 kms daily average; actually walked really only a couple of hours a day…lots of sitting in trains/buses
Sicily has no substantial long distance trekking routes.

Walking along the MOSEL river in Germany (Ton van Zutphen, September 2015)

A   beauty trip in Germany : walking along the river Mosel  from Cochem to Koblenz (Ton van Zutphen 13-14 September 2015).

 

Everybody sees Father Rhine as ‘la grande fleuve’ in Germany…and true this is. (Note that in German the rivers are masculine, in French feminine…warum denn?). The Rhine is majestic with its busy shipping, and its crossing of Germany from South to North before entering the Netherlands. The Rhine with its 1233 kms is not as long as the Danube with 2855 kms but the latter one only runs for a few hundred kms through the Southern part of Germany toward Austria. Twice I spent  a few months along the Rhine: once in Neuwied am Rhein in 1978 and as of November 2013 some four months in Bonn. The sights that the Rhine offers are pretty, especially from the Drachenfels Mountain in Koenigswinter; though these sights are nowhere near the beauty that offers the Ahr River and the Mosel River. Walking along these two small meandering rivers in Rhine-Westphalia is a treat.  (See my previous blog on the Ahr valley walk).

The ‘Mosel’, ‘la Moselle’ or in Dutch ‘de Moezel’ is known for its picturesque villages all along from the source of this river in France. Everywhere it is simply pretty and cosy, all the way until the Mosel joins the Rhine in the town of Koblenz.  There is the predominantly white Mosel wine already known to the Roman battalions that entered the area close to 200 years BCE. Some ruins and artefacts commemorating that ‘adoring Bacchus’ was an important pastime, do prove this. Somewhere along my walk I saw an inscription that said: Wine is the noblest drink in Germany (Richard von Weissaecker, former President). Although I believe indeed that there are a couple of regions in Germany where wine is very popular (and relatively good!) I would be willing to argue that 95% of Germans would disagree:  BEER is King in Germany…and will always be!  (See my previous blog on Koelsch tasting).

So I took an evening train from Bonn to Cochem town where I could hardly find a hotel room. Checked finally into a very ancient hotel ‘Alte Thorschenke’, had a ‘Veltin’s beer and slept. The next morning I crossed the village of Cochem, still full of mainly Dutch and Belgian tourists sipping coffee, and started my walk with a steep ascent so I could have my first view of the old castle and the vineyards already at 9am. Weather was perfect and nobody on the go…just this Anton boy-man.   The special treat about walking along the Mosel is that in general one goes up the ‘Moselsteig path=hiker’s trail’ and descends every time the next village pops up. Good for the calves of your legs; less good for your knees. The trail guides say this is a difficult route…I do not think so; everybody with a normal pair of legs and lungs can do this; just consider a bit of sweat! The vineyards displayed themselves in abundance…wine ripening; maturing and in some villages the wine harvest parties were already announced (I missed these as most of these start as of mid-September). Villages came and went during the first day: Cochem, Klotten, Pommern, Karden, Moselkern. All of these beautiful…but without a life!!  What has happened in the past 30 years…..Let me tell you my opinion after talking to Heinz in the bar of the hotel ‘Zur Burg Elz’ in Moselkern, where I arrived around 6pm.  Heinz is in his eighties and was having a coffee (and a Schnapps which I offered him gladly)…retired wine farmer… loudly complaining about the lack of ‘stuff happening’ in his village of Moselkern. He said that 30 years ago there were 23 ‘Kneipen’ (local bars) and today only 2. All the younger Germans are leaving, not wanting to do the heavy work that wine growing requires…this is done by cheaper workers from Eastern Europe, who come and go and do not stay nor invest in this village. Then the tens of thousands of tourists that populate the campsites with their tents, caravans and campers (50% Dutch!!) do not buy in the villages nor go there for food/drink. No these guests, loaded with dough, bring all their stuff from the NL, B. or F. or purchase what they need in the large cash and carry markets like Lidl, Netto and Aldi, to name a few. Local businessmen are only few now. Houses are being purchased by ‘tourist immigrants’ that do not integrate….anyway this is an identical story as what happened to many rural areas in France as of the seventies. So..no fun anymore for travellers like me. Even the ‘Kneipe’ in which I met Heinz closed up before 10pm.

All what remains is walking…and oh Lord, the Mosel area really is a pretty sight! I could not understand why so many cyclists believe that their way of pedalling is so good…the cars that pass over the provincial road are in the thousands every hour….the exhaust….pffff. No Good at all. I was seeing all this while walking about 40-to-100 metres higher overlooking the road that follows the meandering of the Mosel. And again…surprise…no fellow walkers at all!

The next day took me through Hatzenport (very nice village with some life), Loef (see pic with vineyards…a dead village!), Kattenes, Lehmen to finally Kobern, where it started to rain so much that I quit and waited for the train to Koblenz…it was 13 hours and only 15 kms walk to Koblenz.  I decided to go for lunch in Koblenz where I had a thick Argentinian streak with a pint of Koenig’s Pilsener. Walk finished.  A bit tired but as MSF would say with ‘sweet pain in the legs and shoulders’. Then train back to Bonn Bad Godesberg.

 

Friends and readers, it is as simple as this: walking in Germany is always good; the scenery along these tested trails remains what it has been for over the 150 years that people walk them. Like me…you will find beer, sausage, sauerkraut somewhere…not everywhere anymore…but somewhere and in that  sense Germany does not change! And I finally tasted some good acrid white Mosel wine….had three big tumblers…and that was enough. I am a red wine drinker!

 Some stats:

1.       I walked on my Meindl’s GTZ with vibram soles

2.       Did 44.200 steps day 1 = about 33 kms (up and down but not too much)

3.       Did 26.700 steps day 2 = about 20 kms even less up and down than day 1

4.       I only had 1 Veltin’s, 2 Bitburg Pilsener's and 1 Koenig’s Pilsener and 3 big glasses of the best     Moselwine I could buy in the only bar I visited. No sweat next morning at 7am

5.       Food…not special…all tourist’s catering these days I am afraid

 Finally…and totally unrelated…although the town of Loef (pronounce Love)…is also exceptional / here is a pic I believe is something special. Anton aus Strijp, Eindhoven in Batman, die Tuerkei!

 

Ton van Zutphen on Mount Olympus in Greece / August 2015

Ton van Zutphen on Mount Olympus in Greece / August 2015

Ton van Zutphen and the Mount OLYMPUS range in Greece…up and away to its 2917 metres peak and summit Mytikas: August 2015  / how to do it the easy way!!!!

 

As part of a wider itinerary during this summer leave, MSF and I decided to walk up and get to the summit with an arduous climbing and clambering of close to one hour and a half, for the very very last stretch to the Greek blue and white flag that marks the highest point of the country.

Interestingly….we had expected that:
 

1. This major mountain ascent, apparently the most popular of all mountains in Greece would be full of mountaineers, backpackers, adventurers; ….nothing like that: even in August when the chance for bad, rainy weather is relatively small. In Litohoro town we saw only one mountain gear shop...and it was closed. No business coz' of the economic slump?

2. Contrary to what all these travel related booking sites want you to believe: there is place enough in all the refuges on the Mt. Olympus. In refuge ‘A’ (called Agapitos at 2060 meters altitude) we were one night the only visitors to use a sleeping hall with 18 bunk beds (only very cold water to shower…straight from the glacier).

3. Equally..no need to rush once you get to the scenic town of Litohoro…have a good sleep first at the hotel/auberge ‘Etinea’, overlooking the picturesque central square, and start walking the next morning; get going not later than 9am. Alternatively from Litohoro, you take a bus or hitchhike to Prionia (get out at the taverna site) and start walking before 4pm to refuge 'A'

4. Some routes indicate a suggested time…again according to travel books / but we took much longer although we walked without long rests / so be aware of positive marketing efforts. Our rhythm was 75 minutes walk and 5-10 minutes rest

 

Getting around and to the top…one walks through a National Park that was established in 1936! So take your water, there are no litterbins…one tries to have a zero eco print. All is kept clean; food and drink can be bought at reasonable prices at the refuges which are stocked up by mule trains. Last stop really during the summer to stock up safe and potable water is at the Prionia taverna...but bottled water can be bought in all the refuges.

 

A few weeks before this trip I consulted several websites but could not define exactly the most logical route to the top…nor exactly the time needed to walk/climb. Indeed there are several alternative ascents to get to the summit. We walked the one, many mountaineers use in case they start from the village of Litohoro. This route ‘for dummies’ as elaborated below can safely be assumed as the less dangerous one…and by the way seems also to be the most beautiful one!

So..why not start in Litohoro, a nice friendly town 10 kms from the sea; apparently with sandy beaches…that we did not visit. From the train station take a cab and/or walk a few kms to where the bus stops…regular buses into Litohoro town.

I recommend to stay in hotel ‘Etinea’ (same name as the river that originates on Mt. Olympus): good value for money, rooms with a view, nice family atmosphere; you can leave your luggage safely here.  Have a meal at ‘MezeMeze' in the village, where Costas the chef served us a very tasty liver dish with mustard sauce, accompanied by the day’s fresh sardines catch and Greek people’s wine ‘Retsina’. Go say hello to George who runs a small tourist shop across the street from the Greek Orthodox Church. George is always there, always helpful, knows everything and everybody; sells more than you would ever think of at bargain prices (he looked for Zorba the Greek, English edition…and could not find it in his shop..haha). Curiously, George like many city dwellers has only seen Mt. Olympus from afar…he has never been further than Prionia…that is ‘by car’ he told me. I am afraid you have to believe me when you want exact knowledge about how to go to the top. Even the staff in the tourist info centre had not done the climb.  MSF and I spent gorgeous time in this pretty and relaxing town. The Church is so well maintained and open throughout the day. The bell tower is impressive and children were playing around it. Couples hugging each other  on the benches under trees, while elderly Greek ladies dressed in black hurried into the Church. Remember it never hurts to pray before the climb!!

 Here is the preferred ASCENT with some comments to cheer you up:

A view of Litohoro and  part of the Mt. Olympus National Park 

Day 1: 

Litohoro-Prionia-Refuge 'A' / Agapitos

We took 6 hours to Prionia;  than a bit less than 4 hours to arrive at refuge 'A' (total over 20kms).

From Litohoro to Prionia start at the hotel ‘Etinea’ and keep going once you enter the National Park….feels good with some heavy walking…up and down; lots of forest but no restos …the 7 bridges one has to cross before arriving at the Prionia taverna…’took forever’. I was carrying a pack of 12 kgs and it was sort of warm, but not sticky and no insects. An array of beautiful mountain flower welcomed us...what a chance to see these as summer is the best season for blooming flowers on Mt. Olympus. Ahhh.. this refreshing fragrance of the pines....cleans the lungs! Nevertheless the track was challenging: up and down is not the natural habitat for a Dutchman ( we are good at running and cycling against the wind in the polders...haha). MSF did much better. A good meal with the obligatory Greek salad and a lovely cheer-up from  MSF at the taverna and we decided to continue and walk to refuge ‘A’….another 4 hours 90% of the path up and up and up….

That was a heavy day for both of us, although we are considered to be fit. The refuge had good food, drinks and it was great to wash the sweat off; with very cold water...definitely less than 10 degrees C.. from a piping system that was connected to the glacier 400 meters up the track. 

Day2:

Refuge 'A' –Skala peak and restpoint – Mytikas (confirmed to be the less dangerous ascent) / then back to Skala, on to the Skolia summit at 2911 metres) and back to refuge 'A'.

The ascent to Skala from the refuge is very scenic and took us well over 2 hours;  all upwards with a stone track less easy than day 1. We had splendid views with darting deer and a herd of wild horses; and  followed a Greek walker called Adonis in his tracks. I had left most of my luggage at the refuge and felt more confident……anyway at the sight of the Mytikas summit I was less assured…I have climbed a bit ‘on all fours’ but not for a very long time…and all around Mytikas summit there are NO safety facilities. Indeed if you slip..and fall…that’s it. You’ll be in heaven or hell earlier than any Greek rescue team will get to you! It took us climbing and clambering over 1 hour to get to the Mytikas top from the Skala restpoint. WOW, I felt pretty good! MSF carrying less weight than I, and not as tall and also more experienced…had a distinctive advantage; wonderful to have a guide to trust and follow! We made it and arrived around noon.  After the usual pics. the descent was also at times scary although the markings where to climb and descent (the latter on all fours again plus your bum!) are very visible and spot on! Back to Skala and then for an easy walk up to the Skolia summit just 8 meters lower than Mytikas but a straightforward path;  followed by a long slow descent back to refuge 'A', where we arrived around 5pm. The descent can be painful for the knees…walking sticks are one’s best friend!

Another heavy day of more than 10 hours walking on Mt. Olympus! Lots of clouds, rain threatened a bit...with rumblings of thunder suggesting that Zeus was moving around with his entourage of gods, muses and Nike,...the goddess of victory. We were indeed treated with majestic vistas…throughout. This landscape has not changed  by the  human hand at all…pure nature. No wonder the ancient Greeks decided this was the place that was inhabited by Zeus and his gods and goddesses.

 

Here are a few do’s and don’ts for the last difficult / possibly dangerous stretch from Skala to Mytikas:

    
          Use good boots with a deep profile on the soles
          Strictly follow the markings : yellow with a red circle
          I had cyclists’ padded gloves on…very very useful
          Have your clothes and backpack fit tightly ; I would consider a pack of 4 kgs as the max.
          It can be hot, and/or cold…use sun cream continuously / plus cap / plus a windbreaker
          Take one litre of water per person plus some energy bars

           

         Don’t climb when the weather is bad…if it rains never go!
         The climb is full of loose stones and is slippery at times; don’t go fast; just go steady
         If you have a problem with heights…don’t do it
         Don’t take your walking sticks / leave them at Skala…many people leave baggage there
         If you are already tired…wait until you feel strong again / no adult beverages!

Sunglasses...yes or no...? I did not because it reduces the clarity of vision I needed.

Please note finally that ...climbing and using this route: anybody reasonably fit with a firm foot can do this. We saw children not older than 8 do it....admittedly they were born in the French Pyrenees.


                    

This still was taken at Kalakos refuge at 2710 meters, a lunch stop for us (with lentils soup!) on our descent to the Muses valley. Look at that yummy cracker of a summit called Mytikas in the back.   Looks inviting to the real 'pro' ; slightly threatening  to mountain kids like me.

The preferred DESCENT looks like this:

Day 3:

From Refuge 'A' to Refuge 'B' (Apostolides)  and/or 'C' (Kalakos) and then walk via the Muses valley to refuge ‘Petrosgourka'..a good walk of 7 hours plus…easy to do after day 1 and 2.  A bit up and up the first 2 hours...then descending gradually.....

One crosses a glacier and can have a good lunch at ‘Kalakos’ refuge  (name of the first Greek who ascended Mytikas with 2 Swiss mountaineers in 1928). Then a stroll through the Muses valley, where Zeus used to be entertained. More easy walking through pine forests and beech forests...greens all over now! Until arriving at the very wonderful refuge ‘Petrosgourka’ where Nectarios and Thomas made us a wonderful meal and breakfast. The Greek omelette was the best omelette I had this year...fresh eggs, onions, feta, olives, bread and the Greek Nescafe (to which I got totally used to).  

It was in this refuge we realised we had lived and really inhaled the atmosphere of the Mount Olympus area fully. Life in all its fullness. God was clement: our weather had been perfect and the walk/climb awesome. Vistas that remain in our minds. And…we managed the dangerous part very well.  A bit of beer and wine after that to celebrate.

 

Day 4:

Starting just after 9 in the morning from the Refuge a nearly 4 hours descent to the main road at Gortsia; we decided to hitchhike and car nr.  6 car stopped and took us to Litohoro village…in time for rest, laundry chores and general clean up. In the early evening dinner at Meze-Meze with a big jug of draft beer…!

 

So…..if you decide to climb Mount Olympus you could do what MSF and I did…it is a trip never to forget: good for the heart and soul, for the body and spirit; and for your health! Tiring yes, challenging, for some. True, the Gods on Mt. Olympus blessed this trip with fine weather, nature abound and feelings of being in the mountains that are never to forget. One can only accept the mountain; its beauty, its smells, its panoramas and its people. All those we met were positive travellers and workers. We felt that all of these had chosen to be on this particular mountain of Olympus. And so were we MSF and TVZ.

We recommend it!

Yours faithfully,

Anton/MSF