Stopped in Adonis Café & Bistro for some water and a Mythos midday today after a long walk through Litochoro. The water was wet, the beer was cold — perfect.

There’s something about this place that’s hard to put into words if you haven’t walked its streets or looked up at Olympus through the early summer haze. Litochoro isn’t just a town at the base of a mythic mountain — it’s a place where past and present coexist in every stone wall, every winding alley, and every splash of river water from the Enipeas Gorge.

History here runs deep. This was a key village in the Greek fight for independence. The mountains above sheltered resistance fighters in World War II. And every summer, runners from around the world gather here for the Olympus Marathon — a brutal 44-kilometer race up the sacred mountain and back, known locally as “Running With the Gods.”

In fact, it’s a setting that runs through my new novel Running With the Gods. The story opens right here in Litochoro — a small café by the river, a conversation between two veterans trying to let the past go, and a reminder that even in places of beauty, the shadows of history and memory are never far behind.

Sometimes the best way to process all that weight is with a good walk, cold water, and maybe a cold Mythos also.

You can read more in Running With the Gods, available in print and ebook October 1, 2025