Mount Olympus

Day 136: We reluctantly took the decision to travel to Mount Olympus to climb the mythologically famous peak because it involved a gruelling six hour bus ride from Kyllini. We are now so pleased we made the effort.

We stopped over one night at the Hotel Helena in Larissa, a hotel that is in desperate need of some serious investment to refurbish it. With that said, it served a very good Greek style breakfast and the duty receptionist gave us a gift of a bottle of wine. Another example of the famous Greek hospitality.

The following morning we took a train to Katerini and a local bus on to Litochoro, at the foot of Mount Olympus. I don’t usually pass comment or grade train stations. I was however, very impressed with the train station at Larissa. We walked there the evening before taking our onward train, to confirm its location and the train timetable. What we found was more of a community centre than a mere train station. There is a large covered outdoor space with a children’s play area and tables and seating for locals to meet and socialise. There was a children’s birthday party in progress while we were there. Some of the seating was designed as railway carriages. I didnt see a train while we were there but the place was buzzing. Other railway station designers take note.

In Litochoro, we booked into Hotel Aphodite. This now officially ranks as the best accommodation we have enjoyed since we left home. It oozes with style, is spotlessly clean, the staff are wonderful and it serves, possibly the best breakfasts I’ve ever eaten.

Like all well prepared travellers, we had arrived a day before we intended to begin our quest to climb the famous mountain. The idea was to hitch hike the following morning to Gortsia outside Litochoro to start the climb, as the local bus stopped running some time ago.

We decided to walk out to the road on the outskirts of town to ‘scope it out’ only to find the Mount Olympus Information Centre and its marvellous exhibition about the mountain.

We soon realised we were very very lucky we stumbled across the Information Centre. The lady at reception advised us that the Refuge B, where we had intended to stay overnight on the mountain had closed due to a water shortage. It hadn’t rained on the mountain for 45 days. I said, well, we’ll stay at Refuge C, just 15 minutes away. No, you won’t, advised the woman, its fully booked until next Thursday

Your only option, we were advised is to take the alternative and much more popular route from Prionia to Refuge A and stay two nights there. The lady was very helpful, she helped us plan our route and phoned Refuge A on our behalf to book two beds. I thought this appeared to be overkill as the hostel accommodates 108. It wasn’t, as I learned, Mount Olympus is a hugely popular hiking destination.

When taking my booking the lady at Refuge A made it clear that because of the water shortage, there were no showers and the toilets are only operational from 6pm to 8am. I agreed without hesitation, such was my desperation, to get an opportunity to climb the mountain after the effort of getting there. It would only be latter that Sheila and I would realise what a huge discomfort we signed up for. Going three days without a shower and with only limited use of a toilet proved a very uncomfortable experience.

So, my well constructed plan to hike a ‘loop’ up and around the mountain was in tatters. The good thing about the revised plan was that it was a physically less demanding option. This would be something that we would both be grateful for at a latter stage.

The new plan would involve three days and two nights on the mountain.

After an early breakfast and having left most of our belongings at the hotel as we didn’t want to carry heavy packs up the mountain, we set off on the 15 minute walk to where we intended to start hitch hiking.

The second car that drove past, with three young Romanian tourists in it, stopped to give us a lift after just five minutes. They planned to climb the mountain as we did. Only they planned to do it in two days and not the three we planned. That meant they would have to climb to the peak on one day and down again as far as the Refuge. Stay overnight at the Refuge and descend to Litochoro at the bottom on day 2. A manageable plan if you are young and fit.

During the 45 minute drive up to Prionia we chatted and exchanged stories and future plans. It shows how chance meetings can change your plans because by the time we reached Prionia, I had convinced them to go and hike the Vikos Gorge after Mount Olympus.

At Prionia, Sheila and I set off on the E4 up the mountain towards Refuge A. The E4 is one of two European long distance footpaths that cross Greece. These European footpaths are good trails to use as they are invariably well signposted and normally but not always well maintained.

The hike from Prionia to Refuge A, through a forested landscape was as close to my idea of heaven, as I could reasonably hope for. The forest was mixed evergreen and deciduous. Mostly Black Pine and Beech trees.

We climbed 1,100m to an altitude of 2,100m in 2.75 hours and arrived at the Refuge just after midday. We possibly could have managed it a little quicker but instead took our time and enjoyed the views. At times we could see the mountain peaks above us and at other times, down the Enipeas Canyon to the sea some 20+ kms below us. It was a tough hike but hugely enjoyable.

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We took the opportunity at the Refuge to speak with others who had returned from the summit. Opinions were vastly different. Some said, it’s a relatively easy climb, most reasonably fit people could do it with ease. Others said, it is a very strenuous climb and only experienced mountaineers should attempt to climb to the summit.

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We rose early to catch a magnificent sunrise and set off excitedly and apprehensively at 8am behind a number of others. From the start, it was hard going, hiking up a steep gradient. The trail is reasonably well signed and obvious. We took the wrong path twice but realised quickley and didn’t lose much time.

We climbed slowly above the tree line and continued up the lunar landscape. The views up and down were sensational. After 2.5 gruelling hours we reached the summit of Scala. Sheila and I were tired and elated in equal measure.

Olympus is a massif with something in the order of 30 peaks, the highest at 2,919m is Mytikas. All the different assents of Mytikas involve a technically challenging climb. Only a small percentage of those that climb Olympus tackle Mytikas.

Sheila decided against climbing Mytikas and choose instead to climb to Scolio, alt. 2,912m. I decided to attempt Mytikas. Well, start towards it and if it got too hairy, to come back down.

The climb to Mytikas should take between 30-60 minutes from Scala. It took me a full hour using both hands, It was the most challenging climb I have ever attempted. My heart was in my mouth for much of the time, as one slip would have resulted in a fall of hundreds of metres.

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It took me a further 40 minutes to climb back to Scala to meet with Sheila. The climb had been the most exilerating thing I have ever done. The hike back to the Refuge was just as hard, if not harder than the journey up. We arrived back ay 3.30pm, 7.5 hours after we left totally and utterly exhausted but with a huge sense of acheivement.

Both Sheila and I had been looking forward to the hike back down the Enipeas Gorge to Litochoro. It is reputedly the most scenic part of the 3 day adventure. The hike down to Prionia where we started, we knew would take just over two hours. Then instead of getting a lift back the rest of the way we intended to hike the 4 hour trail. Those we asked estimated it would take between 5-7 hours. I figured 6 hours .

It was the most beautiful hike I’ve ever taken however, although it was downhill, a drop of 1,700m, it was no walk in the park. In the end it took us just short of 8 hours. Obviously, the previous two days had taken it out of us. We arrived back at the marvellous Hotel Aphrodite utterly exhausted but with a huge sense of acheivement. Spending time in this most sacred of places in the home of the Greek Gods was a privilege and something I will never forget.

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