PELION, MAKRINISTA - VOLOS

On Saturday morning after breakfast the buses picked us up at our hotels and drove us to Pelion and to the traditional and well known "Pelion Railway". The old train then took us through the mountains and cliffs and gave us the most astounding view over the area that was beautifully colored in all the warm and bright colors of autumn. A completely different side of Greece than the one I am used to so far. The mountain was filled with olive trees, pines, apple orchards and it is known to have some of the best hiking trails in Greece (as well as exotic beaches with mesmerizing cobalt waters, I've heard...). The area is for sure an absolute paradise...

Pelion has a lot of small villages such as Makrinitsa, Portaria, Milies, and Tsagarada and during the day we visited some of them before we ended up in Makrinitsa where we ate a late lunch and saw the most beautiful sunset. 

A good advise: if you ever come to visit this area, then you need to check out Selina's hostel in Pelion! Before I found my apartment here in Athens I stayed at their hostel here in Athens, and the whole organization is just amazing. I have never been there myself (yet!) but my heart is pumping for Selina and I can strongly recommend looking it up!

After Makrinitsa the buses drove us back to Volos and we got some time at our hotels to get ready for the night. Volos is the sixth most populous city of Greece and is known as the center of Greek gastronomy and the city is also an important industrial centre as its port provides a bridge between Europe and Asia.

That night our buddies had reserved a whole Tsipouro (brandy from Greece) place where we had a Greek dinner and started the party. We ended up taking the party to a park outside where we all talked for hours and before I went to bed that morning I followed some people back to a hotel room where we played some games and talked. 

That day, and the whole trip, was as I mentioned before one of my biggest wishes and dreams coming true and I feel so grateful to have experienced it. Although, I have to admit... Being young and stupid I realise in retrospect that I wasted far too much energy during the trip on meaningless things instead of being in the moment, but at the same time I think it's inevitable in this age and on this experience abroad. After all, life is still going on, with all that entails.

With lots of love, Elsa ♡