We conquered Mount Olympus!

We were starting to get bored of doing the same-old touristy things in Athens.... so we decided to climb Mount Olympus!

After hitting up all the usual tourist spots in Athens we decided we wanted to check out another part of Greece. Initially we were thinking about going to one of the Greek Islands but since we both were recently sunburned we decided to check out Mount Olympus which is in northern Greece.

We hopped on a bus that would take us to a cute little village called Litochoro.

 Of course the bus we would be riding on for 5 hours didn't have a bathroom on-board.... so I had pay 0.50 euro  to use the bus station bathroom and it ended up being a squaty potty!

Now this was my first encounter with one of these bad boys... luckily I have experience popping a squat so I knew the procedure.... Little did I know that I would be using this kind of toilet exclusively the next couple days.

Litochoro, Greece

We relaxed in town for the day and ate some Greek food... Ryan apparently loves Gyros.

The next morning we got up early and headed to the mountain! We could have started the hike from a starting point in town but there was also a starting point higher up the mountain called Prionia (we chose this starting point). Our starting elevation at this point was 1100 meters (~3600 feet).

Excited for my first hike abroad!

Prionia Starting point 

We followed the E4 trail starting at Prionia (yellow outline)

The hike started off pretty nice... we were surrounded by nice lush greenery, there was a nice chill in the air, and we had tons of energy. But then there was a sudden change... I now like to call this trail the Stair Master 5000. There were log stairs through-out at least half of this trail and most of the path consisted of scree.... this combined with the constant inclination made this hike hard to enjoy.

Our first view of the peak during our hike.

We decided we would take the trail starting at Prionia to a refuge (Refuge A). This trail was 6 km (~3.7 miles) long with a 1000 m (~3280 feet) elevation gain. This hike was pretty tough to push through.... it took us a little over 3 hours to make it to the refuge.... and we were exhausted! We filled up on pasta, bread, and wine at the refuge and contemplated what we wanted to do next.

First refuge meal.

 We decided we would relax the rest of the day and get an early start in the morning to reach the summit.

Our sleeping arrangements

The refuge had dormitory sleeping arrangements so we made ourselves comfy. It was actually pretty hard to sleep... I kept waking up through-out the night but at least it was warm. We woke up at 0600... and headed to breakfast. During breakfast we met Thomas whom was traveling solo... we made plans to climb up together. After breakfast we set out for the long trek ahead...

Our morning view

Never ending evil hill of scree and incline

Exhausted. 

 After about 2 hours of hiking we reached the top of a small peak called Skala... where we took a little break and got a nice view of the highest peak Mytikas. Mytikas is the highest peak of Mount Olympus at 2918 m (~9573 feet).

Wondering how the heck we are going to summit....

After a nice rest we started our journey to Mytikas! Unfortunately my pictures do not show how utterly terrifying this trail is... it's classified as a class III rock scramble  meaning we would need to use both our hands and feet to get through the trail. At one point during our climb Ryan and Thomas weren't sure they wanted to continue.... I told Ryan I would catch up with a group ahead of me if he wanted to just wait but he insisted I couldn't go alone..... after this he kept telling people I forced him to climb ... lol, men.

I wish I took better pictures showing the terrifying scene below us.... but honestly I was trying not to look down in the first place and there weren't many safe stop spots to take photos. During the whole climb Ryan could be heard saying things like "This is crazy" or "You've got to be f*&$ing crazy to be doing this kind of shit". It had me cracking up a bit, but alas, after a long adrenaline filled climb we made it to the top!!!

Mount Olympus Summit.

I'll never forget Ryan's first words when we reached summit..... "I'm never climbing a mountain again" lol. We took some photos, signed the log book, and rested a bit before heading back down. I took a few more photos on the way down since it was a bit easier when you're facing outward.

All smiles when descending

Ryan and Thomas taking their time

One wrong move and SPLAT!

Descending from the top of  Mytikas to Prionia (our original starting point) took us about 4 1/2 hours. The descent was more brutal than the ascent! From the constant decline our knees ached and since our feet would shift forward in ours shoes we got a few blisters and one of my poor toes is swollen and the toenails looks like it's going to fall off soon. But all in all it was an awesome experience!

We are now back in Athens to rest and recuperate and in two days we will be off to Warsaw, Poland!

Bye for now!