Mount Olympus with the highest peak in Greece – Mitikas (2 918m.) will compete with another 77 nature phenomena, in order to win the award for one of the Seven Wonders of the World. 216 national parks and nature landmarks participated in the first phase of the competition. The voting for the second phase has started and the nominees are down to 77.

Olympus needs to gain most of the votes until July 7^th, when the voting is over. If it manages to get enough votes, it will go to the final round and will be among 21 finalists – candidates for one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

The mountain is the only candidate from Greece, which had to pass through the first phase of the voting on the website www.new7wonders.com. The website, which organizes the competition, received 440 offers from all over the world for nature wonders. Other landmarks, such as Meteora, Santorini, and the stone forest on Lesbos Island were suggested for participants in the competition. They were eliminated and did not get to the first phase.

Mount Olympus is known worldwide because of its history, cultural meaning, and the treasures in its fauna. Olympus takes also a sacred place in the Greek mythology as a home to the twelve Gods. Many are the reasons, for which each year Olympus attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. The mountain is also the first one to receive the status of a National Park in 1985 and is under the protection of the law.

Mount Olympus will have to compete with many strong candidates, among which are the Belogradchik Rocks, Lake Ohrid, Danube River, the volcano in Mount Vesuvius in Italy, Mont Blanc in the Alps, Niagara Falls, and Grand Canyon in the US.