October 10th – The Hills of Volos

Cruise ships mainly come to the modern Greek town of Volos, for the chance to visit the stunning monasteries of Meteora, a 2-hour drive away. However, on a windy day, we chose to stay a bit closer to the ship to explore the area around the city.

We first went to the Volos Archaeological Museum, which has a decent collection of finds from the local ancient sites – you get the impression that pretty much any town in Greece could dig up an impressive array of ancient artefacts.

Next we drove up the extremely winding roads that climb the steep hills of the verdant Pilion Peninsular, home to the legendary centaurs of Greek mythology. One of the main attractions of peaceful hilltop towns like Makrynitsa, are that they provide a cool escape from the heat of summer, however on a slightly chilly day like today, there wasn't quite the same premium on cool breezes. Even so, it made for an extremely attractive setting, overlooking the sprawling city of Volos below, to a background theme tune of trickling streams and rustling trees.

Fortunately, we have warmer weather forecast for the coming few days.....