It was only about an hour or so bus ride from where we live in Thessaloniki and then we drove a little ways up the mountain to start the hike. Mt. Olympus is more like a series of peaks than a single mountain and it was really beautiful.
It was also really warm so we were all in shorts but there was snow in some parts still!
The hike up to the first refuge where we stayed the night was pretty tough but comparable to what I've done in NH. There were definitely people in our group that were faster and slower than others. I was somewhere in the middle and made it in about 2.5-3 hours.
The food up there was actually quite delicious. The first day for dinner I had meatballs and potatoes and the next day for lunch I had a really good bean soup. And here's where we slept (although not very well):
There were I think 20 of us in this room and about 7 in another smaller room. It was definitely a fun time and a good bonding experience with some other study abroad students. I wish we had done something like this at the beginning too, but it was still good. We woke up bright and early the next morning to climb the rest! We couldn't technically summit the mountain because highest peak was too snowy and we're not expert snow rock climbers obviously :). I was okay with that though and the hike we did was definitely difficult enough. It was pretty scary at some points and very steep. At times we had to cross snow patches on slants, thankfully though with the help of guides and ski poles.
There were also a few times when we were basically rock climbing a little bit. And we also had to go down this craziness! But it was okay. Better than I thought. I was impressed with myself.
So we made it to a second refuge and drank some delicious mountain tea before a smaller group of us headed out for a short hike up another peak to see the view of the other side. It was pretty amazing. It felt like we were on top of the world. I didn't see Zeus though :/.
Yay we did it! Time to come down.
Awesome trip :) We were all pretty sore after and for the next few days. It wasn't too bad though. Someone actually said to me "oh, it's funny you're like the least sore and we all run and you just do yoga." Oh silly people, yoga is the best :). And hiking's not too bad either, I forgot how much I like it so I'll have to try to do it a few times this summer.
I'll do one more post before I leave (ah! in less than a week!) so look out for that.
My facebook album from Mt. Olympus: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041225&id=1325820025&l=50ad7242dd
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