Discovering the mountainous Hellas (Greece)

by Pantelis Kevrekidis

Is Hellas something more than picturesque islands, good food and breathtaking sunsets? Absolutely YES! Apart from the islands there’s the mainland which is covered by high mountains, mountain series and plateaus.

To start with I’ll refer to mount Olympus, the highest mountain in the country, and its peak, Mytikas, which is 2917m high. In the Hellenic mythology, the peak of Olympus was the palace of the twelve Gods. You can still see the ‘angry’ face of mighty Zeus, the father of all Gods, if you look carefully at the rock formations. Olympus is located pretty close to Thessaloniki and this makes it really convenient for me and friends to visit the mountain very frequently for alpine trekking and climbing all year round. The scenery right from the top is magnificent and if the sky is clear you can have a fairly good sight of almost half of the country.

Meteora, which means “rocks hanging in the skies” is really something to experience! Meteora is located in Thessaly and they are huge rocks standing upright “penetrating the sky” and right on the top of them there are Christian Orthodox monasteries of Byzantine origin. It’s an absolutely surrealistic and unique picture. On these rocks there are numerous climbing routes which cover all the range of difficulty, from ‘easy’ ones to extremely difficult.

Lailias is another mountain located in central Macedonia with its peak up to more than 2000m, and it’s got natural ice climbing routes due to the microclimate during winter.

There are of course many more places and mountains to visit all year round, suitable for outdoor activities of any kind. This is my humble attempt to answer the original question at the beginning of this article. If you would like further information you can contact me at my email kevrekidisp@gmail.com .

You can also watch our ascents on YouTube:
https://www.youtube/watch?=23ZGi6eHfwo
https://www.youtube/watch?=J9b6YjWfsyl
https://www.youtube/watch?=h4MdzP9J4Us

Meteora general view
Photo Vasilis Dovas

Climbing on Mt Olympus
Photo Vasilis Dovas

Monastery on Meteora
Photo Vasilis Dovas

Spoilt for choice!
Photo Vasilis Dovas

Ice climbing on Lailias
Photo Mimi Manari

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