Pelion: Where the Sea Gods meet the Mountain Deities

Short vacations beginning of July are a blessing for body and soul because you return home and the long summer is still ahead. So I couldn’t resist the invitation to this stunning place called Pelion.

Blue and Green for as long as the eye can reach.

And …bad pictures taken direct to the sunlight by an amateur KTG who sees almost nothing on the screen or just a bright mirroring of herself (lol)

On the very bright side Pelion has so much to offer, overwhelms you with its beauties and a life that appears to be quite simple even though you know every well it’s not: But it is magic for a city woman, stuck in a lake of cement buildings in a suburb of south Athens.

And there you travel four hours from the Greek capital into a “paradise” on earth with good and fresh food, a skilled chef at home with his own veggies, herbs and fruits orchard, a wonderful view to enjoy the morning coffee hearing the birds song and the barking village dogs.

Food

Marinated lamb wth oil, wine, fresh herbs and i don’t know what else, baked wrapped in pergament paper with potatoes and a Horiatiki salad. What else do I want? Oh, fresh bread and a beer:)

From the plant to the plate

Lots of fresh and delicious fish and other local delicacies, often cooked by friends who live in the area. I can’t even recall them. It’s the taste that counts, not the names. I think the difference it’s the often local seeds and the oil they use for cooking.

Negative point: in most restaurants the french fries are suspiciously fried in the same bad oil and they all taste everywhere the same…

Another negative point is that quite a few restaurants at the sea side lack professionalism, hiring only young and unskilled waiters and cooks with the effect of long waiting hours for the service, even if just 2-3 tables occupied. They were lucky I didn’t miss the bus to Athens, but I had to take my fish portion in a package onboard. I was so hungry but I didn’t dare to open it and eat my grilled kousomoures on the bus. There would be certainly riots by the other passengers and the driver would have threw me out at the first possible roadside where he could hold for one minute… Stupidly enough I was seating right opposite the door in the middle.

House cat

No, they don’t eat the cats. They feed the cats who need to take another long nap under your chair, to show you his gratitude for the meal, one more meal, of course. He isn’t bothered by the midday heat and neither do I.

Stairs

Oh, these Pelion houses scattered in the villages in areas of even smaller elevation. Stairs are everywhere: stairs through the village, stairs to go from the road to garden door, stairs from the garden to the house and then the clue, the inside stair to the upper floor.

I must say it was an excellent exercise for me to go up and down to many stairs in so short time. No pictures available, though, as I was looking down where I stepped and never had any ambition to take a picture.

I wondered how old people do this, but I saw old ladies with walking stick slowly coming down the stairs to the village square after they have certainly absorbed their adventure to get out of their homes managing 100+ steps.

Random pictures from internet.

Swimming

Beautiful beaches, organized or free, a little fuller over the weekend, but usually quite and with lots of empty space.

Boufa beach- my favorite:) – Don’t overcrowd it when I’m there, please.

Avoid it the Pagasetic Gulf close to Volos and its close villages due to the pollution at the bottom of the sea as it hasn’t been cleaned since the devastating storm Daniel in September 2023. Neither the damages on the main roads leading though the South Pelion mountain to the part on the Aegean Sea haven’t been repaired or fixed yet, but that’s another story.

Another area to be currently careful is the east of the Pagasetic Gulf down to Milina due to purple jelly fish.

Have a nice summer, too, and remember: the best relax right form the beginning is to leave all your worries, problems, issues behind, empty your brain and enjoy even a short weekend.