Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Argalastí
ARGALASTÍ
, an inland junction point, is the biggest place in the south, with a
post
office,
,
bank
ATM by the church, petrol stations and shops, as well as car rental.
Argalastí is close to the Pagasitic Gulf, with two
beaches
just a brief drive (or short walk)
west.
Kálamos
is about the longest and sandiest on the Pagasitic side, but the road runs
just behind it; there are dozens of apartments and two tavernas. Secluded
Paralía Páou
,
reached by a different, dead-end road, is by contrast fine gravel, one of the best on the
Pagasitic, but without amenities. En route there, stop at
Ayíou Nikoláou Páou monastery
,
restored as a conference and New-Age seminar centre but usually open to permit
viewing its
frescoes
dated to 1794; particularly fine are an Ancient of Days in the
narthex dome, townscapes with ships and a
Pandokrátor
in the sanctuary dome.
Hórto and Milína
Continuing south from Argalastí, you reach the sea again after 7km at
HÓRTO
, a quiet
little resort largely ensured against exploitation by its mediocre beaches. Just 3km
further,
MILÍNA
seems far more commercialized; the beach is scanty, the norm for
Pagasitic beaches, making it mostly a place to watch magnificent sunsets over the
offshore islets and distant mainland ridges from one of the waterside
bar-cafés
.
Beyond Milína to the south and west, there are no more shoreline villages, and the
barren landscape becomes increasingly empty, with only the occasional weekend villa
or moored boat to vary the horizon.
3
Plataniás
Heading south eventually brings you to
PLATANIÁS
(or “Plataniá”), on the Pelion's
south coast. One of the earliest Pelion beach resorts, Plataniás is essentially a collection
of low-rises interspersed with restored vernacular houses. Named for the robust plane
trees in the stream valley meeting the sea here, this is the biggest southern resort after
Milína, with bus service from Vólos, and excursion
kaïkia
- on which you can arrange
passage - calling most days from Skiáthos. The small beach is fine, but always busy;
from the olive grove just inland, an obvious path, threading spectacularly above the
coast, leads twelve minutes west to the much bigger and better strand of
Mikró
, with
naturist covelets in between.
Tríkeri and Ayía Kyriakí
Until 1974 no road linked southwesterly
TRÍKERI
with the rest of the Pelion; though a
broad highway now connects it with Milína in less than 45 minutes, this crab-claw-
shaped peninsula still feels remote and insular. The hilltop village of
Tríkeri
(“Horió” in
local parlance) has few amenities for outsiders so best to pass on down the hill to its
port town,
AYÍA KYRIAKÍ
. Transport by donkeys and mules is on the wane, but the
1500m
kalderími
that connects the two
is still well used (drivers tackle a winding, 6km
road). Ayía Kyriakí is still very much a working port with multicoloured fishing smacks
at anchor, and much the most attractive spot on this coast. It's also a very active
shipbuilding centre; in the boatyard, a variety of craft are still built as they always have
been, continuing the local seafaring tradition. Tourist facilities are few, perhaps because
there's no really good beach nearby.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING SOUTHERN PELION
There are few more restored eighteenth-century mansions here, but mostly the south features modern, self-catering
resorts and modest rooms for rent, more in keeping with the arid, more typically “Greek” landscape.
restaurant and wi-fi access; rooms, some with fireplaces,
feature lots
of st
one, some with wood floors. Self-catering
studios, too.
€60
ARGALASTÍ
Ì
Agamemnon
T
24230 54557,
W
agamemnon.gr.
This well-restored, eighteenth-century mansion-hotel has
a swimming pool, common areas stuffed with antiques, a
