Dimitris Georgiou
Partner, General Management



Why start with climbing and why focus on Mount Olympus?
Very simple, Dimitris is a climber and lives on Mount Olympus, well, on its foothills in Litohoro village. Also, Greece is 75% mountains. So, you cannot avoid them.
But, you do not need to limit yourself to them for, as you know from Zorba the Greek, we have also lots of islands
and sea - plus the rivers and canyons in and around the mountains. Dimitri is ready to make all the personal arrangements to take you sea-kayaking, rafting, scuba-diving, canyoning, or on a Jeep or Zodiac safari, for he is
a tested organizer by owning and managing, in parallel,
a large business in the book industry.
Need a guidebook, a photo album, a map?!

Katerini Michailidou
Partner, Local Promotion

Well, that doesn't interest you! Except if you are a Greek living in Greece reading this! So, we won't bore you describing the nitty-gritty of reaching local people.
The good news is that nature has been getting lots of attention in the past few years inside the country too, with regular features in the media. The best news is that primary and high schools now regularly organize trips to nature centers which themselves have become pretty good at describing the evolution and (many!) challenges of their local ecosystem, and some could even be qualified as small museums. So, the next generation will go watch birds instead of eating them!

Alexander Contos
Partner, Foreign Promotion



Why travel? Why Greece? Why birds?
I am not born for one corner; the whole world is my native land?, said philosopher and tragedian Lucius Annaeus Seneca astride two eras (4 BC-AD 65). Alexander has traveled overland to 63 countries on all continents, not yet Oceania and Antarctica, always as Northern Greece as his starting point. So ideally located it is, sitting astride Asia (ever heard the expression Western Mistress, Eastern Bride?), Africa (Creta's Ierapetra is Europe?s southernmost city), and Europe (before the European Union, Greeks did not include themselves when talking about this continent). So much that the migrating birds from/to Europe, Asia, Africa, also stop here at one of the 11 Ramsar sites or IBAs, raising the total species well above 400.

Yiota Polatidou
Manager



Why manage? Manage what?
Tourism and travel is one of the most demanding industry in terms of preparation and services. From designing a program, selecting appropriate hotels and guesthouses, booking buses a year ahead, dealing with vegetarians in meat-mostly tavernas, to fixing last minute problems or requests, assisting participants with special needs, answering hundreds of info requests, and much more. All that is Yiota responsibility at the office, and into the nights, when she takes home her laptop and cell phone, and into the week-ends when she goes into the fields with some or other group. The rest of the time, she is finishing a master's degree in Fisiki drastiriotita kai athlitiki anapsixi, oops!, we meant physical activities and athletic development... or, to put it simply, Leisure and Recreation.

Yannis Mavroudis
Guide



Yannis also lives on Mount Olympus, and climbs on it when he is not under the earth, excavating at the nearby ancient sacred city of Dion as part of the university team. He is full equipped, both theoretically (courses and certificates from the Hellenic Mountaineering and Climbing Association to the Chamonix, France, Association to the American Red Cross and the Hellenic National Center for First Aid) and in practice, with clients ranging from the U.K. World Challenge Expeditions and the U.S. Universities of New Orleans, Duke, Park, and Diversion and Delta-Sky Magazines, to the Japanese World Expeditions Consultants, and TOSOH. Just beware, his English was Brooklynized when he did his master at CUNY!

Michalis Styllas
Guide

What more guides?
Here is Michalis Styllas, another U.S educated young man, climbing from the bottom of the oceans where he specialize in sedimentology and geomorphology (M.S in Oceanography from Oregon state) up to the top of Mt Olympus, so often that he now also manages one of its refuges. But not only -you climbers may have hooked him on the Alaskan Range, the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, South America's Corillera Blanca, or even on Nepal's Dhaulagiri. Cho Oyo, Ama Dablam, and... the Everest! And you, runners, may have bumped into him on the blistering 140 miles Death Valley, the freezing 300 miles Alaskan race, or the 1.700-fot high Nepal running trails. Come run with him on one of Greece's mountains, he will know how to both entertain you and respond to any situation.

Want more guides?
Giannikos Vaggelis
Mauridou Maria
Nikopoulos Apostolos
Kapsalis Sakis
Dampasinas Kostas

Why guide? Guide what?
Well, you could go on your own, especially if you want to focus on preparation and management rather than on enjoying the nature and the activity, if you want to miss that traditional village, Byzantine bridge, scenic view, if you want to order from the menu at the taverna instead of telling the cook what to prepare, and, above all, stay stuck in a cove with your sea-kayak or take the wrong turn on the mountain path, and, last but not least, if you spurn an unforgettable companion ready to tell you the history - and the stories -
of the places you go through.