‘No time to waste’: Greece bids for Mount Olympus to be included on Unesco list of world heritage sites

Officials have long lobbied for peak that rises 2,918 metres above sea level to be given coveted designation

More than four decades have elapsed since Evangelos Geroliolios made his first ascent to the home of the ancient gods. At the top of Mount Olympus, on the rocky peak of Greece's highest mountain, he felt unalloyed awe.

I've never forgotten that unique moment, that unique feeling up there on the throne of Zeus," recalled Geroliolios, who as mayor of Dion-Olympus now spends a great deal of his time administering the area around the site.