It has become a yearly ritual: at the beginning of the summer, we make a pilgrimage up Mt. Hymettos (Imettos in modern Greek). This ritual began two years ago when Carly Jacobs, Michelle Arok and a few others tried to find their way up the hill, and made it about half way. Last year we found our way to the top, but not everyone came (and we lost a couple of people along the way, who ended up wandering around on the other side of the mountain for a few hours). This year we announced the departure this morning at 5:30 AM, and everyone was there--including all the Kaplans, with Ellie rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
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| Starting off in the pre-dawn cool. |
After an hour, we made it up the gentle paved and dirt roads, past the dogs that hang out near the Navy base, past the fire watchtower (which was locked this year), to the point where we scramble up the steep path. The next forty minutes were challenging, with the sun coming up--but at least it stayed cool. And along the way there was sage and thyme perfuming the air.
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| Close to the top! |
We all made it! Whew! Fabulous views of all Athens, down to the Piraeus, only slightly obscured by the nephos.
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| SWOOP! |
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| Mama and baby girl (yes, that's a geodetic marker.) |
Then came the perilous walk down, with a memento buried for next year's group at the skull and bones...
And we rounded off the morning with crepes back home. Now we are all too tired to move! Leslie wanted me to mention that it was a total of 5.03 miles, 12,000 steps, all before breakfast.
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