Finally back to mountain air

After a few wonderful days at the crystal-clear Gulf of Corinth, we headed to the mountains of central Greece. In this mountain landscape, the highest peaks in Greece can be conquered. Due to the travel route, we (well, mostly me, Basti just has to go along :D) chose the Parnassos peak (2400 m) as our destination. To the west of the summit is the ski resort of Athens, we ascended from the east and quickly realized that not many people do that. The start of the trail is on the grounds of a monastery (900 m). A nice monk explained to us, with hands and feet, where to go and said we could park at the monastery. The entrance was completely overgrown and part of it was even fenced off. After about 200 meters of altitude, the trail became visible and we could progress slowly but steadily. At first, we stumbled through a forest area, but soon it became steep uphill on gravel ground. After about 1000 meters of altitude, we arrived at a kind of mountain plateau, where two cars, two houses, countless sheep with very good watchdogs stood, and luckily there was also a water source. We took a short break before heading up the actual mountain. However, this path turned out to be even more difficult. Stairs that once marked the way were filled with debris. Wire ropes that were supposed to make the ascent easier hung loosely on the rocks. Signposts were lying around somewhere, but surely no longer pointing the way. Another drawback was our footwear, which is why we decided to turn back at around 2200 meters of altitude. On the way back, we met a shepherd who was obviously shocked to see us. A confirmation that no one has walked this trail for a long time :D.

One highlight of this adventure was certainly our camping spot. Our neighbor was a friendly goat farmer who greeted us in the morning and evening and went about his work. In the morning, you could see the sunrise directly from the bed, and at night the stars twinkled competitively.