We camped at Sylvia Camping on the coast under the mountain. The campsite is pleasant with its own little beach and coffee bar on a beautifully situated terrace, but there is little else within walking distance. We found a restaurant further along the shore where we were entertained by a turtle and numerous kittens.
The following day we cycled to Litochoro at the foot of the mountain (a journey which was much longer than we’d anticipated and a continual ascent) and discovered that this was the day of the International Olympus Marathon – Running with the Gods!
The runners start at midnight from Dion – the sacred city of the Macedonians, run up Mount Olympus topping each of the three peaks and then down the other side. Runners come from all over the world – amazing! We saw them coming in throughout the afternoon.
They’re very keen on mountain running and marathons in this part of Greece. The Ursa Trail has a marathon, and when we hiked in the Pindos up to the Astraka Refuge at 2,000m we met a number of runners going up and down the mountain.
We then wild camped overnight at the Old Monastery on the mountain. That afternoon we walked to the Sacred Cave, and in the the morning hiked up and back to Prionia – a beautiful walk
