In Romania, the general perception about mountains is that anything under 2000 m is for amateurs, and anything under 1000 m is not even a mountain. Anyone who would take credit for having hiked at less than 1000 m altitude will get a condescending look at most. The funny part is that those who think that way are rarely able to climb more than 500 m (and that’s the distance, not the altitude difference !), usually around their own car or in the neighbourhood of the cable-car station.
Therefore, the height of Mt Dikeos – the highest peak on the Greek island of Kos at 843 m – might not seem to be worth the time wasted to climb it. But both the effort involved and the rewarding view one gets up there are definitely associated with any other real mountain climbing.
It is equally true nevertheless that most tourists who attack Dikeos leave their cars in the picturesque (yet much too touristic to my taste) village of Zia, which already lies at 300 m, and start the hike there, so their climb is only 500 m. But not mine !
I chose to approach Dikeos from the direction of Pili, having in mind to visit the ruins of Old Pili, a castle situated at 250 m. But to get there you need to park you vehicle some 50 m below. And my vehicle was a bike, by which I came all the way from Psalidi – Kos area, thus from the sea level. Cycling all the way up to 200 m altitude can be very exhausting, so it’s quite understandable that I was tired even before starting to walk to the top.

Traditional Greek 4×4 all-terrain transportation