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THE VILLAGES
AFISSOS
Afissos, is a thriving seaside village, just 3 km along the coast from Lefokastron. For our guests who are staying in Lefokaston,
it is the nearest village with a good range of shops (Lefokastron itself has only one, very small one), and a number of waterfront
bars and restaurants. The beaches are good, if somewhat crowded in the high season, but as the summer essence of Afissos is
a cosmopolian bustle, this hardly matters. The only road through the village runs right along the waterfront, past the original
fishermen's cottages, most of which have been renovated but some of which, interestingly, remain in their original state.
LEFOKASTRON
Lefokastron, situated on the shores of the
Pagasiticos some two or three miles north of Kalamos, has hardly changed from
the tiny waterfront hamlet it has been for centuries. A few new houses have
been built, and a couple of tavernas have opened, but the atmosphere is still
as it has always been, an atmosphere of quiet calm.
The single-lane road winds down to the coast through the olive-groves,
giving the visitor marvellous views of Mount Pelion to the north, and these
views are particularly spectacular as the sun falls behind the distant hills
beyond the head of the Gulf.
KALAMOS
Kalamos is a small remote village approached by a
narrow road leading off the Volos-Milina road. The track winds down very
steeply through the olive groves, opening onto the end of the long beach of
sand and tiny pebbles. Behind the beach the houses are built under the shade
of the olive trees. The village is divided by a stream which has a tiny,
cultivated delta, and on the other side a small hotel and a taverna. Beyond,
in an almost separate community, there are several more old and very
attractive beach-side houses, one of which is a small grocer's doubling as a
coffee shop. Its water-side tables, next to the village fountain, are shaded
by a dense, green mulberry tree.
ARGHALASTI
PAGANIA
HORTON
Larger and more compact than Kalamos, Horton is
the last village on the main road before reaching Milina. It has beautiful
beaches right in the village, backed by coffee shops and tavernas. Like
Kalamos, a stream runs through the centre of the village, where small boats
are moored. Larger fishing boats are often tied up to the jetty. There are two small
grocery shops, several restaurants, at least one bar, and a number of coffee
shops. Horton has not been spoilt by development, and very
little has been done to the original houses to alter the character of this very
attractive village. Milina is only five minutes away by car.
MILINA
Milina is the largest of the villages in which
our Houses are located; it is the furthest south; and it is our home. At last
count the population was only 800 or so, but at the height of the season the
village takes on a bustling, cosmopolitan air. Last summer there were a dozen
eating places; tavernas, restaurants, an ouzerie and a pizza palace. They serve
excellent meat, fish and vegetable dishes (not to mention pizzas), accompanied
by local wine, fruit juices, beer or coffee, and all with their tables on the
long promenade, at the waters edge. There are a couple of bars, several coffee
houses, and a disco situated in an old stone building mercifully sound-proofed. You can buy meat,
fish, fruit, drinks, local sausages and cheese - in fact, the full range of
foodstuffs, and there are shops selling souvenirs and film.
Milina also has a small watersports centre where you can
hire motorboats, pedalos and canoes. The beaches in the village are pebbly,
and there are secluded bays just minutes away by car.
LAFKOS
As a base for exploring southern Pelion, Lafkos
is unmatched; cool, quiet and commanding magnificent views, this ancient
mountain village has restaurants, shops and easy access by car to the beaches
of both the Gulf and Aegean sides of the peninsula.
Life centres on the village square, bounded by the church, coffee shops
and tavernas. This great paved space is shaded by vast and aged plane trees,
and it is here that the tables are laid out in the summer. Because of its
elevation, Lafkos is always cool, even at the height of the season.
After a long hot day on the beach, few things are more pleasant than to sit under the
plane trees and savour the evening breeze.
There is no motor traffic in Lafkos; the crooked, cobbled
streets are far too narrow to permit the passage of cars, and steps discourage
motorcycles. Round every corner there is something to notice and enjoy, from
the spectacular views as the mountains drop away to the sea to a brilliantly
planted garden, an oasis of colour and greenery amongst the dark stone of the
houses, to the tiny design details to be found on the carved marble lintels
and cornerstones.
VOLOS
Volos, set at the head of the Gulf, is the chief
town of the province. The harbour was built in 1912, but the maritime town has
flourished since ancient times. The pride of Volos is the Argonafton, a wide
promenade lined with restaurants and coffee shops, where yachts and dinghies
of all sizes are tied up. The town is excellent for shopping. Here everything
is available, from an astonishing variety of fresh fish in the markets, to a
copy of yesterday's `Times' at the kiosk on the waterfront. There is also a
small gem of a museum, with an outstanding collection of painted stelae.
Behind the town, Mount Pelion rises dramatically, the tiny white houses of the
villages of Makrinitsa and Portaria seeming to defy gravity as they cling to
the slopes of the mountain.
The road south from the town runs toward the villages in which our
accommodation is situated, Lefokastron, Kalamos, Horton and Milina.
The scenery is magnificent. The road more or less follows the coastline of the
Gulf for the first 15 kms, and then climbs sharply through the olive groves
and fruit trees over a shoulder of the mountain, to wind through beautiful
upland countryside. From here you can see right over the Gulf, to the far
horizon dotted with tiny islands. Arghalasti is the local market town, and
then the road drops down again to sea level at Horton, before reaching Milina,
some 50 kms from Volos.
MIKRI PAU
Mikri Pau is one of those places, remote and
seemingly cut off, where one feels that little or nothing has happened for
decades, and perhaps even centuries. The rough track winds down through the
olive groves, passing the old, and now deserted, monastery where one can only
marvel at the splendour of the view the monks arranged for themselves.
Half a dozen, perhaps ten old houses under the trees behind the shore; a
magnificent sweep of pebbly beach and calm, exceptionally clear water.
Mikri Pau really is far from the madding crowd
PROMIRI
Beyond Lafkos, over the main ridge of the Pelion peninsula, the
ancient, stone-built village of Promiri clings to the
steep hillsides at the head of the long valley reaching down to the Aegean Sea
at Kat'i Yeorgi. Like Lafkos, Promiri is free of motor traffic, the narrow
streets are cobbled and twisty, with unexpected steps which deter all but the
most determined biker.
Promiri has traditional grocery shops (as yet no `supermarket'), and the main
square, shaded, as always, by a vast plane tree, is flanked with coffee shops.
TSANGARADA
& MOURESSI
Up
on the mountain in north-east Pelion are the ancient villages of
Tsangarada and Mouressi. Here the
scenery is completely different from south Pelion, with the old stone houses
dotted over the steep, densely forested hillsides which drop away to the
amazing blue of the open Aegean Sea. Both villages, though, have the
traditional paved square, and the 'thousand year old' plane tree which graces
the square of Agia Paraskevi in Tsangarada really should
not be missed.
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