The Pelion will always stand out as one of the most unpretentious and friendly areas in all my travels through Greece. Any trip is enhanced because of the people that you meet along the way and no where was this more evident. People like the young girl who didn’t just give me directions to the Volos bus station, but actually walked me there and then offered to come in and help with my ticket purchase and schedules for the Pelion. The old couple who offered me a lift as I was walking the steep uphill stretch from Horefto to Zagora. They didn’t speak any English but dropped me off across the road from my dhomatia and gave me a rose from their garden as a parting gift. The young man who was heading from Milies to Volos to get groceries for his family’s restaurant and insisted on giving me a ride so I didn’t have to wait three hours for the next bus. The list goes on and on and the memories are priceless.
As well as wonderful people, the villages of the Pelion are picturesque and welcoming but all have very different characteristics. Two of
my favorites were Makrinitsa and Zagora. Makrinitsa is small but big on tourism, in a pleasant, low key way. The houses are clustered together and seem to cascade down the mountainside. Decaying stone paths lead above the houses to grassy spots where the views are spectacular and the only sounds I heard were the chirping of the birds. Makrinitsa can be easily explored in a couple of hours or lingered over for days. Most of the main sights are located around the main square. The best "sight" is the view over Volos and Volos Bay from the square and relaxing under the shade of one of the gigantic plane trees is not to be missed. The old stone church of Ayios Ioannis sits peacefully at the edge of the square and is open for visitors during the day. Cars can’t fit through the narrow lanes so bulky or heavy supplies are brought up by hand or pony train. The few souvenir/gift stores sit unobtrusively on the main road into town and the cutest and least expensive souvenirs are ceramic minis of traditional Pelion houses. By comparison, Zagora is the largest village in the Pelion but prefers to depend on agriculture rather than tourism for its livelihood.
It took almost 2 1/2 hours to cover the 58 km distance between Zagora and Volos. The bus ride was incredibly scenic but a bit of a nail biter due to the narrow and steep, winding road that stretches most of the way. We passed through Portaria with its stone courtyard and small waterfall near the edge of the village. Large green shrubs and pale purple wisteria hung over fences and partially shaded the road. At Hania, a popular winter ski center, a thin crust of snow still covered much of the hillside. Although this was the highest elevation on the route there were few guardrails along the snaky road and I was very glad that I wasn’t driving. As we neared Zagora, groves of twisted and knarled apple trees came into view and apple blossoms replaced snow on the hillsides.
Rather than the story book look of many of the other villages in the Pelion, Zagora came across as a working class village with square box houses and an air of practicality. I explored much of the village and the only post cards I could find were art cards at the local photographer’s shop. There was no Internet cafe but I was referred to a small computer school. Amidst a bunch of teenage boys who were playing computer games and learning computer generated artwork, the teacher offered the use of a computer at no charge and had one of his students show me how to convert the computer language from Greek into English. Zagora seemed larger than it really was because it sprawls over a large area. Instead of one main square there are four. My favorite was Ay. Georgios with its 18th century church and separate bell tower. Shaded by giant plane trees it was a popular spot for locals to get together and relax at the end of the day.
Eight km. downhill from Zagora sits the beach resort of Horefto. The sandy crescent shaped beach was quiet when I was there but it is one of the more popular beaches on the Pelion and is busy during the summer. Tavernas and rooms to let are easy to find and a bus runs between Zagora and Horefto a couple of times a day.