Greece: E4 European Long Distance Trail from Sfikia dam to Litochoro
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 58.4 mi
- Elevation gain
- 10,164 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 9,619 ft
- Max elevation
- 6,732 ft
- TrailRank
- 56
- Min elevation
- 19 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Coordinates
- 1987
- Uploaded
- October 7, 2018
- Recorded
- October 2018
near Lefkópetra, Central Macedonia (Greece)
Viewed 941 times, downloaded 62 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
It starts from the Sfikia dam, which does not appear to be open to the public, and follows roads through the villages of Sfikia and Rizomata (both of which have cafes). A steep climb follows through trees up to a ski resort, then the trail follows the side of the mountain reaching open grassland by the Bara shelter. After that I followed vehicle tracks along the ridge, before winding down through beech trees to the village of Ano Melia. Dropping through lowlands and more villages the route reaches the coastal plain which it crosses to the ancient town of Dion, where the museum and ruins are worth a visit. Finally it climbs through oak scrub to reach the new monastery of Agioy Dionysioy, before a final downhill stretch along the road (the original path being blocked by gates) to the town of Litochoro. The National Park Visitor Centre is on the left just before the town.
More information can be found on my daily blog starting on https://johnpone4greece.blogspot.com/2018/09/kastania-to-pieria-mountains-on-e4-day.html.
For my complete trek on the E4 across Europe read my book "Six Pairs of Boots: Spain to Cyprus on the E4 Trail" by John Pucknell available from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, the Bookdepository.com, lehmanns.de, bookspot.nl, and other good online bookstores.
Waypoints
Mountain hut
0 ft
'Bara' shelter
The shelter was locked when I passed apart from a glassed-in veranda which looked like a couple of shepherds were living there.
Museum
0 ft
Archaeological Museum of Dion
A museum of artifacts from the ancient site of Dion, which flourished between the 5th century BC and the 4th century AD.
Archaeological site
0 ft
Dion ruins
This is the site of the ruins of several temples and the ancient town of Dion, an important place between 5th century BC and 4th century AD. Sacrifices were made to Zeus, who lived in nearby Mount Olympus with lots of other gods. Celebrities in their day like Alexander the Great stopped here.
Religious site
Information point
0 ft
National Park Information Centre
Visitor centre for the Mount Olympus National Park, with displays on Flora and Fauna, Mythology etc..
Waypoint
0 ft
Ski lifts
Elatochori Ski Resort
Comments (2)
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Hi John. I'm looking to walk the E4 in its entirety, but am a little concerned about crossing the Sfikia dam. Did you have any trouble?
Hi Dan
Yes I had some trouble! Have a read of my blog https://johnpone4greece.blogspot.com/2018/09/kastania-to-pieria-mountains-on-e4-day.html . Firstly, getting down to the dam on an overgrown rack ending in slithering down some scree was a little difficult (there is a photo of the route on my blog), secondly, working my way around the high tension enclosure, and thirdly, trying to explain to the security guard how I found myself inside the closed electronic, security gates.
You have three options:
1) Avoid the Sfikia dam, although this means a 40 km detour eg via Veria;
2) Try and gain permission from Greece's Public Power Corporation to cross the dam https://www.dei.gr/en, although maybe difficult to find the right people;
3) Give it a go. I would carry the Anavasi map of the area so you can point to the E4 trail that you are following, you would risk a long climb back up the side of the valley if the company has blocked the path since I was there in 2019. Traildino.com and waymarkedtrails.org have the GPX track down to the dam.
You could also try and gain additional views. Anavasi ( https://anavasi.gr/ ) may be able to help as they are interested in hiking as well as making maps. You could also ask a question on the forum of Hellaspath http://www.hellaspath.gr/forum/ . There is an option for conversations in English but the most interesting ones are in Greek. Nikolaos Kroupi of Hotel Kroupi ( http://www.kroupi.gr/index.php ) at Elati may be able to help put a message there, he is certainly worth contacting for the section of E4 from Kalambaka to Argithea in the Pindus mountains.
Happy Hiking!