Next, Declan tried to capture Venus as part of our borrowed Olympus handheld camera. In Greek mythology, Mount Olympus is the home of the Greek gods at the top of Mytikas. The mountain has an exceptional biodiversity and a rich flora. It has been a national park since 1938, the first in Greece. It is also a World Biosphere Reserve. [2] Map for an overview:[39] More detailed map of the Olympos region:[11] At Mount Olympus there are usually four consecutive areas of flora, but due to the complex topography and diversity of microclimates, these do not form an obvious clear sequence with altitude. Mount Olympus (/oʊˈlɪmpəs, əˈlɪm-/;[ 6] Greek: Όλυμπος, Romanized: Ólympos, also Ólimbos, IPA: [ˈoli(m)bos]) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus Massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, between the Regional Units Larissa and Pieria, about 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Thessaloniki. [7] Mount Olympus has 52 peaks and deep gorges. [8] The highest peak, Mytikas (Μύτικας Mýtikas), which means “nose,” rises to 2,917 meters (9,570 feet). [2] It is one of the highest peaks in Europe in terms of topographical prominence. [9] Every year, thousands of visitors admire its fauna and flora, walk its slopes and climb its peaks. Organized mountain huts and various mountaineering and climbing routes are available.
The usual starting point for climbing Mount Olympus is the town of Litochoro, on the eastern foothills of the mountain, 100 km (62 miles) from Thessaloniki. The entire region of Pieria Olympus has been declared an archaeological and historical site in order to preserve its monumental and historical character. Five kilometers from the sea is Dion, the holy city of the ancient Macedonians, dedicated to Zeus and the twelve Olympians. Its prosperity lasted from the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD. The excavations, which have been ongoing since 1928, have resulted in numerous discoveries from the Macedonian, Hellenistic and Roman periods. Currently, there is a unique archaeological park of 200 hectares, with the ancient city and sacred places of worship, outside its walls. Many statues and other priceless objects are preserved in the nearby Archaeological Museum of Dion. [22] Pimblia and Leivithra, two other cities in the Mount Olympus region, are linked to Orpheus and the “Orphic” mysteries. According to tradition, Orpheus, son of Apollo and Calliope (one of the muses), taught the mystical ceremonies of the cult of Dionysus (also known as Bacchus). [23] By the sea, in a strategic position, at the gates of Macedonia, is Platamon Castle, built between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. It was built in the ancient city of Heraclea. To the north is ancient Pydna.
It was here that the decisive battle between Macedonians and Romans took place in 168 BC. Between Pydna and Mount Olympus there is a fortified episcopal see from the Byzantine period called Louloudies and the Macedonian tombs of Katerini and Korinos. And during this time, they were gods, real inhabitants living on Mount Olympus, fiery joves for the poor mortals Semeles. To help you crack the code of action shooting, we`ve asked a handful of Olympus photographers for their top tips. On the north side, between Stefani and Profitis Ilias, the Musen Plateau extends up to 2,550 meters (8,370 feet), while further south, almost in the middle of the massif, the bara alpine tundra region extends to an altitude of 2,350 meters (7,710 feet). Olympus has many gorges and gorges. The most striking gorges are those of Mavrologos-Enipeas (14 km) and Mavratzas-Sparmos (13 km) near Bara and “cut” the massif into two oval sections. At the foot of the south, the large ziliana gorge, 13 km long, consists of a natural border that separates the mountain from the lower Mount Olympus. There are also many abysses and a number of caves, still today [when?] unexplored. The shape and arrangement of the rocks favor the formation of many springs, mainly less than 2,000 m, small seasonal lakes and streams and a small river, Enipeas, with its springs at the prionia site and its mouth in the Aegean Sea.
[12] [13] In Pieria, at the northern foot of Mount Olympus, mythological tradition had placed the nine muses, patrons of the fine arts, daughters of Zeus and the Titanid Mnemosyne. [20] The lion of Olympus is dead – once again – and all his friends come to mourn his death. Research on the plants of Olympus began in 1836 when the French botanist Aucher-Éloy studied them. According to this and subsequent studies, olympus National Park is considered one of the richest plant regions in Greece with about 1,700 species and subspecies, which account for about 25% of the Greek flora. Of these, 187 are characterized as significant, 56 are endemic Greek and among them 23 are locally endemic, that is, they can only be found in Olympus, and 16 are rare in Greece and / or have the limits of their distribution in northern Greece. [34] Only one year after the liberation of northern Greece from Ottoman rule, on the 2nd. In August 1913, the summit of Mount Olympus was finally reached. Switzerland`s Frédéric Boissonnas and Daniel Baud-Bovy, supported by a wild goat hunter from Litochoro, Christos Kakkalos, were the first to reach the highest peak in Greece. [29] [30] Kakkalos, who had a lot of experience climbing Mount Olympus, was the first of the three to climb Mytikas. After that, and until his death in 1976, he was the official leader on Mount Olympus.
In 1921, he reached the second highest peak of Mount Olympus, Stefani, with Marcel Kurz. Based on these explorations, Kurz published Mount Olympus in 1923, a book containing the first detailed map of the peaks. In 1928, the painter Vasilis Ithakisios climbed Mount Olympus with Kakkalos and reached a cave he called shelter of the Muses, and he spent many summers painting views of the mountain. Mount Olympus was then photographed and mapped in detail by others, and a number of successful ascents and winter ascents of the steepest peaks took place in harsh weather conditions. KPMG, for its part, missed a $1.7 billion accounting scandal at Japan`s Olympus. Black pine dominates on the east and north sides of the mountain, between 500 and 1,700 meters. In this area there are also hybrid firs in small groups and brush or small lumps, especially in the lower region and in the sites of Naoumi (west) and Stalamatia and Polykastro (east), where it is mixed with black pine and Bosnian pine. In this area there is also beech.
Although it creates a vast area of vegetation in the nearby pierian and Ossa mountains in Mount Olympus, it is limited to small groups that appear as islets, mainly in wetter places and the best soils. A particularly rich variety of trees and shrubs is found in the Enipeas Gorge. You can see elm, cherry plum, European yew, hazelnut, holly, cornus mas, manna ash, maple and a considerable variety of herbaceous plants. Gorges and gorges are covered with eastern plains, pastures, alders and greenery on the shore. a mountain peak in northeastern Greece near the Aegean coast; Considered by the ancient Greeks to be the place of residence of the gods (9,570 feet tall), the area of evergreen deciduous trees is gradually being replaced by European black pine ecosystems, forming compact clusters, with no intermediate zone of deciduous oaks, although the trees of these species are sporadically found in groups of black pines. On the northern slopes of the Xirolakos Valley, at an altitude of between 600 and 700 meters, there is a high fluffy oak forest of about 120 hectares. The Olympus massif is located in the middle of mainland Greece and is easily accessible from the national railway network on the Athens-Thessaloniki road and the secondary roads that connect the towns and villages around the mountain, the main starting point for excursions being the town of Litochoro, where there are many hotels and taverns. In addition, there are many campsites and accommodations in the coastal area of Pieria. The nearest international airport is Thessaloniki, and the train stations are Litochoro, Katerini and Leptokarya.
There are regular connections with KTEL buses and a taxi rank is located in the central square of Litochoro.