DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0441
MOUNT OLYMPUS.
423
it is a very long- expedition, and we made it, alas ! a
work of seventeen hours, the last five of which, owing
to our having started late in the morning, were in total
darkness. The woods of the mountain come down quite
to the streets of the city, and the path led along the
edges of grand and romantic ravines, among which
we had glimpses of beautiful views, between the mist-
wreaths which rested clinging to the steep sides of the
valleys: in these ravines, several of them at less than
half an hour's distance from the bazaars of the town,
the scenery is as wild, rich and lovely as the finest bits
of Switzerland or the Tyrol.
We were soon in the depths of the glorious forest that
clothes the sides of the mountain, riding through deli-
cious fern-brakes under the lofty trees, chiefly pines,
oaks, chestnuts, beech, and plane trees, while among
the bluebells and harebells and a hundred other gay
wild flowers, multitudes of ripe Alpine strawberries
begged of us, by their bright colour, to stop and eat
them as we passed by. Higher up we came to a wide
open common, with several pools in which herds of
buffaloes were splashing and cooling themselves, and in
which were many wTide and somewhat treacherous mo-
rasses, — and from this we saw large groves of dead fir-
trees killed by the white moss, baumhaar, which clings
to and eats the life out of every branch, leaving only the
grey ghost of what was till lately a living tree — most
sadly weird and melancholy they looked. It was midday
before we reached a lone shepherd's hut at the foot of a
snow-covered summit where we breakfasted and rested
after our five hours' ride, — and then commenced the
last ascent on foot. The snow here lay in great masses,
and the bare crags and chasms of rock (in one of which
was a small glacier) were very wild and savage : the slope
E E 4
423
it is a very long- expedition, and we made it, alas ! a
work of seventeen hours, the last five of which, owing
to our having started late in the morning, were in total
darkness. The woods of the mountain come down quite
to the streets of the city, and the path led along the
edges of grand and romantic ravines, among which
we had glimpses of beautiful views, between the mist-
wreaths which rested clinging to the steep sides of the
valleys: in these ravines, several of them at less than
half an hour's distance from the bazaars of the town,
the scenery is as wild, rich and lovely as the finest bits
of Switzerland or the Tyrol.
We were soon in the depths of the glorious forest that
clothes the sides of the mountain, riding through deli-
cious fern-brakes under the lofty trees, chiefly pines,
oaks, chestnuts, beech, and plane trees, while among
the bluebells and harebells and a hundred other gay
wild flowers, multitudes of ripe Alpine strawberries
begged of us, by their bright colour, to stop and eat
them as we passed by. Higher up we came to a wide
open common, with several pools in which herds of
buffaloes were splashing and cooling themselves, and in
which were many wTide and somewhat treacherous mo-
rasses, — and from this we saw large groves of dead fir-
trees killed by the white moss, baumhaar, which clings
to and eats the life out of every branch, leaving only the
grey ghost of what was till lately a living tree — most
sadly weird and melancholy they looked. It was midday
before we reached a lone shepherd's hut at the foot of a
snow-covered summit where we breakfasted and rested
after our five hours' ride, — and then commenced the
last ascent on foot. The snow here lay in great masses,
and the bare crags and chasms of rock (in one of which
was a small glacier) were very wild and savage : the slope
E E 4