Ypsario Peak, Thassos Island, Greece

1. Potamia (130 m) - belvedere, ridge point (900 m)

2 hours / 4 km / difficult / red point

Put the backpack on the back. The wearer of the backpack or the backpack itself must carry the appropriate conquering accessories, because without protection and enough energy, you know that sometimes it doesn't go well. Minimum recommended content: 1.5 l water, cap, sandwiches. Other suggestions: a chocolate, a waffle, a croissant. As for footwear, I wore regular sneakers, but those who wear ankle-high boots or ankle-high ankle boots have a remarkable advantage in this conquest.

Too early for such reverence, stand on your feet, Dane! Stand upright, boy, like the tall, tall pines that surround us and through which the dawn's light hardly breaks. But as details are not accidental in love, this little slip reminded me of my love for the princess, who asked me to prove my sincere feelings by bringing her the most beautiful mountain cones. A hint that I was to heed later when the time was right.

The vegetation was surprising. A flood of large ferns, a sign that it occasionally rains here. Although we were in the pine forest, we passed through thousands of ferns, growing in the glades that appeared more and more often with increasing altitude. This report pine / ferigi I would study it all day. The higher I got, and the hollower the mountain, the more ferns and the fewer pines.

There were growing signs of daylight. We climbed up with the thought that we'd still get out of the forest before dawn to see the wonder, the first kiss! And I was rewarded with .... God, what a kiss! What a day full of love it is! The sun rises out of the Aegean waters somewhere behind Golden Beach, just past Marble Beach. So hidden, shy. But he took courage with that first kiss! And he gradually emerged from the sea, taking off the coat he was wearing. He was divine! What colors! What madness! What a feeling! What tingles all the way to the bottom of the camera!

We were in a place where the pine forest, which had significantly thinned out, offered us this moment of prelude. Not far away we found marked on a stone a symbolic map that put you in front of a choice, half left towards Ypsario or forward towards another Greek enigma a little more hollow than the great conquest we had on the left.

We decided to take the left hook, so easy to climb up the pieptis, and the pleasure overcomes the effort when we reach the top of this challenging leg.

We really are climbing steadily. The ferns now dominate. Good thing it's cool. Don't think we missed the wet pleasure of this moment of foreplay, the sweat. From the gafait!

I photographed some goats. Four-legged. Some pushed rocks downhill as a sign that we were in their territory. They understood that I loved them, and even had the courage to approach, because I had the same courage. After swimming well up halfway up the slope, we found a resting place. I found a bench. It wasn't in very good condition. Next to it was a trash can. Yes, at 700 meters altitude, on a mountain path. As the temptation to continue the conquest was great and I was mentally prepared for a three-hour slog to the summit, we decided not to linger. Where the slope became steeper, the trail meandered in S's, climbing, climbing, climbing. Slowly but surely the view in front of us turned to stone. The boulders were formed mostly of an overlay of thin shale. I recognized these rocks on the roofs of the villagers of Potamia and the island in general.

Looks like we're almost there and we're up there. God, I wish! In the empty, exposed area. The sun, which had given us that first kiss of the day with the sea, was trying to soften our strength. We were wet even though it wasn't raining. That's how it is in love!

And here we are up there in culme! Hooray! To the ridge, up. But who do you think we met here? Smiley! No, not the one from Vocea Romaniei. Another one drawn on the grass with rocks in the shape of a smiley face. Kind of a bravo for making it this far. And here's another trash can. But next to that smiley face, which I kissed as it begged, were two arrows and some stone figures representing the altitude (900+) and a not-smiling face, because we haven't actually reached the climax, and we still have until the great conquest. And that's how I discovered the difference between the summit and the climax. 900 meters altitude for now and hopefully 1204 soon!

The view that opened up here at the summit was unrivaled. Mountain and sea all around. I could now see the other side of the island and the main and secondary mountain peaks. Photo, photo, and movie.

2. Belvedere (900 m) - Ypsario Peak (1,204 m)

1.5 hours / 2.5 km / red dot

I was so excited, so impatient, that I immediately followed the path in the direction indicated in the grass. But surprise again!

We followed the forest road for a short while, up to a log cabin, locked. Around it several benches, a barbecue, a gazebo and a source of water from a hose. We are at 1000 meters altitude. We have taken here, on a small rock, sandwich break. Spectacular views were shown in all directions. On the western spurs of the mountain, the forest road we had encountered, we were climbing from the east. The mountain ridge could be seen from south to north, where it was marked by a forest of antennae, which can also be seen from the ferry crossing from the mainland to the island of Thassos.

Attention! From here follow the pathnot the forest road! For they're parting, and it's a pity what's to come. What's next? Still climbing! More and more often we come across signposts which, in addition to the red dot, indicate the elevation we've reached. 1030,1054,1080,1092. We're getting close. We climb steadily again, up to the first rocky peak. A tourist was already coming down. He was one of the three we met on the trail, with whom we walked in tandem until about 800 meters, after which he distanced himself. Now he was coming back, we were still climbing. He was a Hungarian, over 60 years old, in much better shape than us. But I didn't come to the competition and I didn't set out to conquer it at the same time with a Hungarian or any other tourist.

The path led us through a rocky area to the edge of the cliff. What hau was below us! We were giddy with love, though I can't say we were head in the clouds. Or maybe I was and didn't realize it, the best proof that I was in love.

Although the trail had apparently ended, only with the parachute you could continue from there, we had not yet reached the top! We had lost the trail about 10 meters behind, because from now on it follows the ridge, but on its western side, as the eastern one is impassable. We read some more altitude markers, we climb up, and... for the first time today there was a ...... descent. Not a big one, just 30 meters that took us back to .... forest road from earlier that bypassed the rocky and spectacular part that we did at walking pace.

3. Ypsario Peak (1,204 mdm)

100 meters ahead of us, in easy uphill we had our target to conquer, Ypsario Peak, 1204 meters above sea level, the highest point on the island of Thassos.

The final assault was easy. Here we also came across a concrete platform, where I suppose they tried to mount antennas, but gave up. We're on the crest of the ridge, on the top of the ridge, on a superb cliff and looking down to the sea shore Skala Potamia and Golden Beach and the marble quarry on Marble Beach. Extaaaaz! What a sensation! What fulfillment! What a conquest! Ever since I saw this mountain ridge, I fell in love with it, but I didn't tell her until now. Now she has received my love and in turn has let me conquer it step by step until the climax. Thursday, July 13, 2017, 8:45 am.

The fulfillment of my love, of this conquest, will remain forever recorded on the summit of Ypsario where the 1204 m high summit marker is fixed by a closed metal box in which you can find .... list of conquerors. I didn't expect to be first! In a notebook with a pen, here's where you can record "amphostyle". I wrote down a few lines and mentioned and signed as AFA user.

The sun was shining, but we had to pose and shoot. Fairytale images: the sea on the horizon, the burning sun high in the sky, the cliff under our feet, the haul that yawns 5 meters from us, isolated pines, isolated ferns, alpine void. MOUNTAIN, my love! Thank you for loving us so beautifully this time!

4. Ypsario Peak (1,204 m) - Potamia (130 m)

2.5 hours / 6 km / red dot

Usually the transition from climax to normal, natural state takes less time than the other way around. We got off the Ypsario the same way we came up. The sun was getting stronger. We enjoyed every shade we encountered. We take a rest stop. We contribute marking the road with a decoy sea of stones. Our manure, engineered! For those who will be passing by. At the lodge we made another sandwich stop. We also finished the water supply. We filled up with water from the hose. We're moving on. We say hello to Smiley once more, drop a few packages in the trash. Next is the steep descent. Asparagus, red flowers of the red wisteria...... Bench, trash can, bench, trash can, bench, trash can, about 3 - 4 pieces all the way. And the descent is demanding. I got the speed. Too high. Ferns, pines, more and more pines. We can smell their scent, which we didn't smell on the way up. Forest road, forest, shade, pause. Strang pine cones for the princess. Forest roads. The spring in the tree. I hadn't even seen him in the dark. Cold water break. We refill the plastic bottles. A little more and we reach the car. We start. We come across many beehives and as we're looking for pine honey and honey of other kinds, here comes a house with a shop for sale with no salesmanwith a box in which you can leave the money for the products purchased. We didn't find anything for sale, but from other reports, there usually is. We entered the village of Potamia. We were buying pine honey from the village shop. It was sold somewhat unofficially, the proof, the lack of label on the product and the unclear price. Like many products and services in Greece. The car drives us to the harbor of Skala Potamia, where our loved ones are waiting for us at the beach. 12 o'clock. No more beach! No more mountain! Love is beautiful.