Gidiki massif activities with Olympos Trek

About the area.

Gidiki or “Nessonidos oros” (Mount of Nessonis) in ancient Greece, is a protrusion of the Thessalian plain at the west / southwest foothills of Mt. Kissavos (Ossa), 15’ by road from Larisa. In the ancient times the area was called Nessonis from the homonymous town Nesson. The place and the massif itself, has also been well known in ancient Greek ana Roman times for the green Thessalian marble (Thettalikos lithos), which was extracted here, being one of the five most expensive types of marble in the known world of the time. The Byzantines who followed the Romans, extended the use of this green marble even further. So, it is not surprising that four of the main columns of Agia Sofia in Istanbul are made out of this marble, as well as many decorations in many branded buildings in Europe (UK, Italy), even in Cuba! In many spots, the extraction continued to out days. The extraction locations are still quite well seen and very interesting to visit.

Apart from its historical interest and because of its special morphology, Gidiki massif offers a great variety of outdoor activities for sport and leisure, such as rock climbing in a fully organized climbing site (55 main climbing routs of various grades and lots of variations), interesting Via Cordata / Ferrata routes, very nice ridge hikes, as well as a quite demanding fell running route (mountain Marathon running).

All the above, along with a natural beauty of a special character and the fact that the place lays only a few kilometers away from Larisa (15’ by road), make Gidiki undoubtably an ideal destination for all these activities especially in autumn and spring, as well as in winter! We consider it grate luck having this place so close to Larisa and the greater area!

How we go there.

In our Google Maps you will get all the road directions to get there.

Rock climbing site’s Guide.

For the site’s climbing guide, please look here.