Hiking in Greece: Hermes playground at Mt Ziria

The Ziria mountain range is home to the second tallest peak of the Peloponnese. Taygetus is first, Ziria (or Cyllene or Kyllini) is close second. The Pleiad nymph Taygete resides in Taygetus, the Pleiad nymph Maia resides in Ziria. A few more peaks around the Peloponnese and you will master the entire Greek mythology.

The name Ziria is derived from a Slavic root meaning “acorn” (Croatian žir, Serbian Жир). The tallest mountain is Mt Cyllene at 2.376m above sea level. Historically, it is located on the border between Arcadia and Achaia, but with the modern distribution of prefectures, it now belongs to Corinth prefecture. The mountain got its name from the eponymous mountain nymph Cyllene, the wet nurse of god Hermes. At the eastern part, which is called small Ziria, the highest peak is Chioni at 2.117 m. A natural border between Big and Small Zireia is the Flabouritsa ravine, through which passes the river Sythas, ending in Xylokastro (Flabouritsa means “small flag”, similar to Mt Parnitha’s Flabouri and Flabouraki). Ziria’s southern border is Lake Stymphalia, the location of one of Hercules’ labors. There’s also the artificial lake Doxa and the periodical lake Dasiou, which appears only during the winter. At Ziria there are extended forests of coniferous and many interesting kinds of wildflowers have been registered and are considered protected under the Natura 2000 treaty.

The start of the path at the Meteorological station kiosk

Today’s hiking route starts on as snow day at the meteorological station kiosk, then crossing the Flabouritsa ravine, reaching a plateau and then Hermes cave to observe from above (as the snow does not allow going inside) and finally reaches the ski resort. This route spans 12.81 kilometers, involves an elevation gain of 634 meters, and takes approximately 4 hours 30 minutes of moving time when snow is present. Why Hermes though?

If you are looking for local guide to help you conquer Mt Olympus or any other peak, have a look at Skyhook.

Hike the world with Skyhook!

The genealogical tree of this mountain’s inhabitants is huge, so let’s start from the start. After losing the Titan wars from the Olympians, titan Atlas was cursed to carry the heavens on his shoulders. This didn’t stop him from having many children with his wife Pleione. Their seven daughters, the Pleiades, fair nymphs as they were, could not escape the insatiable appetite of the male Olympian gods. We talked already about Taygete who gave birth to the Spartan hero, and now it’s the time to talk about Maia. She was the oldest and, according to the legend, the prettiest of them all, with deep black eyes, but extremely shy at the same time. She was born on Mount Cyllene, one of the peaks of the Ziria mountain range, on the border between Arcadia and Corinth. She didn’t like the company of gods, so she remained hidden in a cave on the mountain (I’ll show you where later), away from everyone.

One day – or better one night – Zeus approached here in her cave on Mt Cyllene, cunningly as always, although we don’t know the exact details of their meetup this time. He was sneaky enough to visit her at night, when his wife Hera was fast asleep. Regardless, their relationship ended up in Maia giving birth to Hermes at that same cave. Tired as she were from giving birth to a god, she wrapped the baby in a blanket and fell asleep. To her surprise, baby Hermes did not sit tightly as babies tend to do. He got up, crawled all the way to Thessaly and started playing with a tortoise, using its shell to make the first lyre musical instrument. Hermes was the protector god of merchants, businessmen and thieves. Do you wonder how this came to be? When in Thessaly, he stole a herd of cattle from his older half-brother, Apollo. To hide his deed, the four-day old Hermes made the oxen walk backwards, thus confusing their whereabouts. Although a god raised with ambrosia and nectar, he wanted to try meat as humans do, so he killed one of the oxen to grill it. Unfortunately, he didn’t like the meat and returned to his mother, who was unsuspecting of his mischief. Obviously, Apollo became enraged and threatened to destroy baby Hermes. When confronting his mother, Maia said that it was impossible for a baby to commit such a thing. Hermes made a blunder in revealing his mental age by jumping into their argument. But the youngster, cunning as he was, gifted the lyre to Apollo, thus earning peace, and getting to keep the cattle for himself. Even today, one of the peaks of Cyllene is called Chelydorea, which means to skin the turtle’s shell, in memory of the way this great musical instrument was made.

A view of Chioni summit as you exit the ravine

Maia’s name translates as midwife, and she did play a role in nurturing and raising young Arkas, the eponymous hero of Arcadia, when Hera transformed his mother Kallisto into a bear out of jealousy towards Zeus. Maia as a goddess of growth, was especially revered in Roman times, although associated with Vulcan (the equivalent of Hephaistos). There is a theory that the month of May (Latin Maius) was named for Maia.

Hermes cave is located at an altitude of 1.700m, extends over 1.200sq.m. and 8 chambers and presents a rare, white and impressive lithic decoration. The Hermes Cave is one of the few that are located at such a high altitude and is characterized by stalagmites, stalactites and small lakes. The path to the cave is quite steep and a bit hard to find, if you don’t know how to look for it, and it is better to go in the summer. Unfortunately, too many visitors means a lot of litter inside the cave. There are two mountain refuges located nearby, Refuge A and Refuge B (Loukisas), maintained by EOS Corinth.

Hermes cave is located directly under this spot (it’s a bit tricky to find the path)

Ziria is a popular winter destination as it has a ski resort, beautiful hiking trails and a network of forest roads, and is also close to the large urban centre of Athens. The main ascents to the highest peak are from Ano Trikala in Corinthia or the plateau (Kampos of Ziria), where there is an asphalt road and two mountaineering shelters. This year the snow was scarce, so the ski resort operated only for a few weeks. If skiing is what you are looking for, try the Pindos mountain range and northern Greece.

Find out more about this hike through Flabouritsa ravine at Ziria in AllTrails. Thanks to Utopia Adventures for taking me along this route. You can read more hiking posts under the tag hiking. If you liked this article, share it with your friends. You can also follow this blog, follow me on Instagram or Facebook, to never miss a post. Until next time!