Mount Olympus and The Greek Gods

I’ve been in Greece many times mainly kayaking in the Ionian sea or island hopping. I’ve never been to any of their mountains, so I decided to go to the famous Olympus. This is where all the mythical Gods are located. I’ve never had any interest in the Greek mountains because first - we have many mountains in Bulgaria, and second they are higher and more interesting. However, the Olympus mountain and Mytikas peak deserved attention because of its unique climbing experience.

We went in September and the weather was great. This was very important for our successful climb because the last part of the hike wouldn’t be possible if it is raining and it is slippery. Since we needed only 5 hours to reach the foothills of Olympus from Sofia, I and my friend decided we do not need to spend our precious holiday days. We hopped in the car on Friday at the end of the working day. We slept in a camp on the seaside close to Litochoro. The other half of my company decided they will enjoy Friday in the mountains and they had a really nice stay in a Refuge C.

I and my friend had to do a very fast ascend early in the morning on Saturday in order to catch up with the rest. So, at 4 o’clock using our headlamps, we started our hike. We started at around 1100m a.s.l., in the Prionia area. We had to gain about 1800 meters elevation and then walk the same way down. We had a brief stop at Refuge A to have breakfast. I noticed that compared to most of our huts in Bulgaria the huts (refuges) in Greece are 100 times better looking and 1000 times more welcoming. If you have more than two days I recommend sleeping in some of them. Book well in advance as they are preoccupied during the summer and early autumn months. The plan was to follow the green line.

We had to meet with the others coming from the red line, and start ascending through Louki route. We arrived almost at the same time as our friends at our meeting point. The next part of our trail looked and felt more like climbing than hiking. It is a good idea to wear a helmet, even a one for cycling, which is what we had. A lot of small rocks are falling and even if you are very cautious there is a big chance you will push down some rocks. If you see rocks falling, don’t forget to yell: “Petras” πέτρες which means rocks, to warn the other people.

You do not need other climbing equipment to do the climb. The view on the top was of course amazing. Other peaks and the sea are visible all together, so there is no need to add anything else in the landscape. We took the purple way back, passing another peak called Skala. We walked the whole way back to our starting point. In the end, we got pretty exhausted. Luckily there was a sea and we hurried to relax our bodies in the warm, nice water.

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Cheers,
Eva

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