1 Oct: Mt Olympus

We pulled ourselves gingerly out from bed. Everyone was packing up and getting ready to go.

Austrian Uncle's bed is the one on the left. We got the best seat to his overnight performance.

The morning sky was breathtaking.

The baldy dude came over and commented that shuyi is very strangely dressed for a climb. He said that her jacket is like 'a little party dress' and proceeded to do a little Mr Bean dance to accentuate his point.

Shuyi pulled over my extra polo tee and it was still too cold for her. So we bought the jacket at the Refuge that says Olympus 2918. 2918 is not the zip code ala Beveley Hills 90210. It's the elevation above sea level for the peak.

We had a hearty breakfast and struggled to make the first step up.

Outside the refuge, we met with this couple who were with their little boy, preparing to descend. Their carried their son up to the peak yesterday. Such an adventurous family!

the one-eyed pirate boy

The sun had risen. What a sight.

Baldy's girlfriend/wife decided not to go up and chose to wait for him at the refuge. Wise women. We took some pics at the entrance of the refuge.

and off we go. The climb started with the same sparse vegetation we saw at the end of yesterday's climb.

We stopped every now and then for breaks as we feel confident that we have sufficient time and also because our legs were killing us.

i mourned for the buffet breakfast

the guy couple whom we shared room with in the background

by 'guy couple' i meant 2 guys. that's all

this is what you shouldn't wear for a climb

There was nothing much to say at this point as all we did was go up. And up. And then up some more. In the wise words of Inner Circle, 'push it push it some moreeeee'.

We started seeing less and less of vegetation. Eventually, it was all rocks.

From this

To something like this

We indulged in the luxury of time and took things slow. Taking many short breaks and pictures along the way.

E4 showed us the way

We finally reached signs that showed us the way up. The most popular is Kaki Scarla. It translates to 'something Staircase'. Go hit the guide books for that.

'Refuge A - Prionia' sounded like a good idea

Here is Austrian Uncle. We chatted with him on the climb up. He mentioned that he came here 20 years ago. He kept saying that he is going to 'take it slow'. And he did. Though he was clearly winded, he kept creeping up the mountain, taking breaks in between.

We stopped for another break and I decided that it should be a long one. At this point, there is no more vegetation. Only loose rocks and steeper gradients. We took another break and I started forming our initials from the rocks. The last time I did something like that was back in Tekong during my BMT days with little red pebbles at a camp site. I remember funny stuff like that.

shuyi's initial is backwards for YSL

Looking up, the view looked like this:

not encouraging

We were fairly certain that the horizon is where the 2nd highest peak Skolio is (around 2911). From there, if you decide to tackle the highest peak, Mytikas (2918), you would have to go down and up again. The final climb to the top requires getting on all fours and some scurrying up a surface of loose rocks.

We headed up. And up. But when we sat down for another break, we did not seem to get any closer.

Time for another break. It was getting really hot and we were bathed in late morning sun. We saw some black birds hovering about and I told shuyi that they were waiting for us to become their lunch.

hurry up humans, we're starving!

Some plants are just hardcore like that.

We sat there for some time and discussed if we should head back. Both of us were reluctant but reality took over. It was already noon. If you work out the hours, we would need another hour or so to reach Skolio. That's one more hour up and down. That would bring us back to Refuge A in the late afternoon. From there, we still need to head down (another 2-3 hours) and find some way to get back to Litochoro from Prionia.

Though it seemed early, we were running out of time. We decided to head back. and we were glad we did. While going down was supposed to be easier than up, we took as much time either ways. Shuyi admitted that her fear of heights set in long ago. It was still alright to look up and climb up. But looking down and walk down, staring at the steep drop below is another issue.

We did not reach the summit. Were we disappointed? I've to admit: yes. My heart says yes but my legs says 'stop walking' and my tummy says 'lunch + dinner + buffet breakfast'. There are times when you have to be realistic. Don't screw up the itinerary on the 2nd day of the trip.

Look who hitched a ride with us.

shuyi demonstrating the famous 'ass creep'

We went down more and were delighted to see clouds rolling up the mountain, coming straight at us. I kept taking deep breaths along the way, savouring the sweet mountain air for all it's worth.

We thought that we were the day's worse dressed list on the mountain. Then we saw this. The last dude on the left was only wearing a pair of shorts. Total badass.

We descended back to the lower areas with some vegetation.

It's good to see the E4 marker once in a while to assure yourself that you have not strayed from the path.

We kept going down and down but still could not see a glimpse of Refuge A. I couldn't believe that we have climbed so far up.

Finally, we saw Refuge A in the distance.

Lunch!

I was confused: why go up when we could have stayed here?

After lunch, we started on the descend. My toes were killing me. The canvas shoe offered no cushioning and I was wearing one of those thin, dri-fit socks. Again, no cushioning. I changed to my sandals with the socks. Remember: the pain is real and there is no one to laugh at you in the mountains.

More and more greenery. Beautiful.

The descend got more and more pleasant as the loose rocks we were treading on were replaced by a dirt track.

Shuyi stopped for a quick meditation.

ooommmmm...

We thought the half naked dude was badly dressed. But on our way down, we met a dude with a serious image problem. He was going up dressed in motorcycle leathers and carrying a helmet. And get this: we first saw him when he was going up and us, going down. An hour or so later, he was coming down AND overtaking us. Total badass. Maybe he just went up to Refuge A to use the toilet or something. Dude's making us look really bad!

don't be naughty. I poke you!

Shuyi was a bit disappointed that we did not get to see any donkeys on the way up the day before. But on the way down, along a side path, we saw this.

We were drawn to them by the bells they had on them. Initially we thought it was from the monastery we found on the map. Shuyi wanted to go and harass them but I objected. We have not found Prionia yet!

A stream... looks familiar.

Finally we have arrived! Donkey poo there for factual accuracies.

ta-daa!

We hitched a ride from a young Israeli couple and had a nice chat with them. They told us that even girls have to serve national service in Israel and Israelis are not allowed to go to Malaysia (as it was a Muslim country). I told them that they were not missing much.

The lady drove Initial D style all the way back to Litochoro. We were both getting real giddy. We bade them farewell and went back to the hotel for a change of clothes and went looking for dinner. Thank god we did our math and decided to come down. Not another night in the mountain please. You're not supposed to die in the mountains on your honeymoon. That is so not right.

Mt Olympus killed shuyi's socks

We asked a local's opinion on where we can get good food and was directed to this restaurant a little further away from the main square (remember the totally redundant fountain?).

The town was so quaint, it felt like a throwback in time. Thus the following photos will reflect as such.

pointless.

Dinner was calamari, some fried small fish and baked feta cheese. It may not look like it but it was fantastic. In Greece, if the seafood was frozen (not fresh from the sea), they have to list it accordingly in the menu. No matter, the frozen calamari tasted great. My brother told me that we can pop into any place in Greece and expect good food. That theory was mostly correct until it was proven wrong much later in our trip. More on that later.

Traditional barber shop.

Dinner was superb and there wasn't much to do in town so we decided to have coffee. Greek coffee. Greek coffee is basically coffee + water + heat, sans filter. So you end up with a thick cup of coffee swimming with the grounded coffee bean. They are served with cold water to freshen the mouth to better taste the coffee.

shuyi placed the papers there to complete the look

We chatted with the boss of the establishment: a Greek who spent many years in Australia. He came back to open a coffee place and stay for good. I tried to ask him why settle for such a shitty place like Litochoro (put in a nicer way of course) and he said that he liked it here. He said that the weather here is fantastic due to the proximity of the sea and Mt Olympus. 坐山靠海 is like the best location in feng shui no? Maybe Litochoro ain't such a shitty place huh?

All the oldies were at his coffee place playing cards. The World Cup qualifiers match was on TV (I think) and half of the old folks were watching it.

royal flush, niggas!

Back at the hotel, we marvel at the true piece of crap they call a lift. Normally for these old lifts, the lifts actually have a door. Not this one. The only door there is, are those on the outside. So when the lift moves, u can see/touch the moving wall.

See?

Back to our room. I watched a show about the many possible ways where mankind will meet Armageddon on the only english channel around. One of them involves CERN's Large Hadron Collider which is meant to harvest antimatter. The same facility which I saw in Angels & Demons on the flight back. Funny how these things connect.

It would be funny if we had another '6' behind, ala 2046.

Tomorrow, we go to Kalambaka!