Volos, Greece

In our original itinerary, we were supposed to be visiting the island of Lemnos. Due to high winds, however, and the fact that we would have been going ashore by tender boat, the captain made the decision to drop the port. Instead, today, we visited Volos.

We had an excursion booked for Lemnos, which was, naturally, cancelled, and we were automatically transferred to one in Volos. Instead of an archaeological site (which I was quite looking forward to), our replacement tour visits two mountain villages. The meeting time was 10am in the playhouse, after breakfast, and we were boarding the tour coaches at around 10.30am.

Beyond the town of Volos, the land rises quite dramatically. This was Mount Pelion, where our two mountain villages awaited us. These were Portaria and Makrynitsa. The drive up the mountain itself was quite a thrill-ride (much like the bouncy sea last night); narrow, steep and very windy, and it was clear the coach drivers know exactly what they’re doing. I’m not sure I would be very comfortable driving up there in a car never mind a coach, wondering what’s about to come around the next bend…

Portaria, our first village, was okay – very pretty in some respects, with a leafy square, and a few interesting looking buildings – but didn’t give us much in the way of views (considering our height up the mountain, that’s what we craved the most). There seemed to be some confusion over where the meeting point was to be after our free time; when we discovered precisely where it was – just down the road and round the corner – we regretted not having walked down there sooner, as there appeared to be a  narrow gorge with a stream running through it. Hey ho – maybe next time…

Makrynitsa was much better. The views across the city below were really quite stunning, and the little village itself was charming, with its buildings huddled alongside a main street that, in turn, hugged the contours of the mountain… the pure definition of a mountain village, in fact, and is sometimes referred to as ‘The Balcony of Mount Pelion ‘ due to its stunning outlook.

After an enjoyable tour, its a shame we had such a long wait in the queue to get through security back at the cruise terminal. Even after taking everything off – rucksack, camera, belt, mobile phone – I still managed to beep as I went through the scanner. Turns out I’d left my sunglasses hanging on my t-shirt.