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A Trip of 2 Halves – Olympus and Meteora

Last year Hugh Jordan, Operations Coordinator for KE, travelled on our Sacred Summits of Olympus and Meteora holiday, trekking to the highest peak i... Read more
22 Sep 2023 3 minute read
Filed under Blog
A Trip of 2 Halves – Olympus and Meteora
Last year Hugh Jordan, Operations Coordinator for KE, travelled on our Sacred Summits of Olympus and Meteora holiday, trekking to the highest peak in Greece and visiting the breathtaking floating monasteries of Megalo and Varlaam. Have a read of his blog and discover his highlights on this magical trip. 
 
 

Olympus

It might be a cliché but summit day was truly amazing (yes my group were blessed by the weather gods). I always enjoy sleeping high up in the mountains but eating breakfast outside the refuge with the great views up to the day’s objective and back down the valley to the coast was a tremendous start to the day.

Our route from the refuge up to Mytikas (the true summit of Olympus) first took us through shady forest. This soon petered out as the path gained altitude to leave a stark mountain landscape. The walk soon reaches the 1st summit of Olympus – Skala. From here we left the path and approached the short but spectacular scramble towards Mytikas. It starts by descending and traversing a ridge before rising towards the true summit. The scramble is never difficult but of steady interest as you follow the marked route. We retraced our steps back to Skala and a small way down the mountain before taking a balcony path, this cuts across the mountain with the summit on one side and views out to the coast on the other. The path then curves round to the stunningly located refuge C for a second night high in the Greek mountains. What more could you want!


 
 

Meteora

For me, the most memorable day of this section was the arrival day. Having seen photos of the rock formations on the internet I knew they would be spectacular. However, arriving in Kastraki (the village at the bottom of the rock formations) you realise that the formations protrude straight out of the village and you are really spending time among them. Truly breath-taking. They are almost touching distance! Weaving through old paths (rather than taking the roads) means you see the monasteries from the base of the rocks they cling to – a different/unique view from most of the people who visit just by coach! Seeing the monasteries up close, you really appreciate the work that went into them as the ‘cling’ to the top of the rock towers, especially Varlaam. The first monks to build these monasteries really did have an epic job!

 

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