Question 1

Volos on Your Own

Accepted Answer

Most of Volos is flat, so the waterfront and the shopping streets are easy on foot. For the Pelion villages or the Neolithic sites, take a taxi or a bus. The waterfront: A seaside park runs along the promenade between the university's Papastratos building and the church of Agios Konstantinos, and Anavros Park continues from there to Anavros beach. Ermou Street: This long street, parallel to the promenade and pedestrianized in parts, is the main shopping street. Cafés gather around the cathedral of St. Nicholas, patron saint of sailors. Archaeological museum: The Athanasakeio Archaeological Museum is at 1 Athanasaki Street. In 2026 it opened Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., so check before you go. Brickworks museum: The Tsalapatas brickworks in the Palea district made bricks and tiles from 1926 to 1978 and is now a museum of industrial history, with its kiln and machinery still in place. One short ride: Makrinitsa, a Pelion village of mansions and cobbled paths about 6 km northeast of Volos, has a coffee house painted with a fresco by the folk painter Theophilos. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own.

Question 2

Getting Around Volos

Accepted Answer

City buses and taxis cover Volos and its nearby beaches. The flat streets suit walking and cycling, especially along the waterfront. Twelve city bus lines run around Volos. City bus 6 goes from city hall to Alykes beach, and bus 5 runs from the bus station to the beaches at Agria and Platanidia. Hail a silver taxi in the street. Drivers must give a receipt, so ask for one if the fare seems wrong, note the plate and call the tourist police on 171. Several streets in the center are pedestrianized, mainly around Ermou Street and the church of St. Nicholas.

Question 3

Tsipouro and Meze

Accepted Answer

Volos is known for its meze and for tsipouro, a strong clear spirit distilled from what is left of the grapes after winemaking. Tsipouradika, which serve it with seafood, stay open all day, unlike many other restaurants. Tsipouro has 40 to 45 percent alcohol and comes in small glasses with a little dish of meze. Thessaly is one of the regions that also make an anise-flavored kind. Greeks usually eat dinner late, between 9 p.m. and midnight, and many tavernas, grills and restaurants are closed during the day. Tavernas serve mostly meat dishes, and at a psistaria, a grill house, the meat is ordered by weight. A pita gyros from a souvlaki shop is by far the cheapest option on a budget. A food market is held every Friday.

Question 4

Tipping in Greece

Accepted Answer

Tipping in restaurants was not traditionally a Greek custom. Even so, customers usually leave a small tip on the table, often a euro or two. Tipping taxi drivers is uncommon. Greece uses the euro.

Question 5

Myth, Mountain and Painters

Accepted Answer

Mount Pelion, behind the city, was the home in legend of the centaur Chiron, who taught heroes including Jason, Achilles and Heracles. Its villages keep their traditional houses, built of carved local stone and slate. Pelion in winter: The higher slopes get enough snow for skiing from Christmas to Easter. Makrinitsa's museum: The Museum of Folk Art and History of Pelion fills the fortified Topali mansion of 1844, just below Makrinitsa's main square beside the Metamorfosi church. Theophilos: The folk painter settled in Volos in about 1897 and painted in houses and shops around the area, spending most of his years in Ano Volos. De Chirico: The painter Giorgio de Chirico was born in Volos. His father, Evaristo, was the engineer who designed the city's railway station and the Pelion railway, and the Giorgio de Chirico art center in the city shows exhibitions and a permanent collection.

Question 6

A Brief History

Accepted Answer

People have lived around the inner end of this gulf since the Neolithic, and the ancient cities of Iolcos, Pagasae and Demetrias all stood where Volos is now. The modern city grew quickly after it became part of Greece in 1881. The Neolithic: Sesklo has the remains of the oldest acropolis in Greece, from about 6000 BC. At Dimini, a ruined acropolis, walls and two beehive tombs date from between 4000 and 1200 BC. Mycenaean Iolcos: A Bronze Age settlement with a Mycenaean palace complex stood on the Kastro, or Palaia, mound in western Volos. Demetrias: Demetrius Poliorcetes, king of Macedon, founded Demetrias early in the 3rd century BC, and Philip V of Macedon later named it one of the three "fetters of Greece," with Chalcis and Corinth. Golos: The town is recorded again in 1333 under the name Golos, which is of Slavic origin. The modern form, Volos, is first recorded in 1540. 1423: The Ottomans took the town for good and strengthened its fortress, and the Christian population moved up onto the slopes of Pelion. 1881: Volos joined Greece with the rest of Thessaly, with about 4,900 inhabitants, and then grew fast. Refugees from Ionia, Pontus, Cappadocia and Eastern Thrace arrived in the 1920s. The Second World War: The quick action of the local rabbi, Moshe Pesach, and of the Greek authorities saved about 700 of the city's Jews from deportation to the Nazi death camps. 1955: Two earthquakes in April destroyed nearly a quarter of the city's buildings, and much of Volos was rebuilt in a modern style. To learn more ashore: The Athanasakeio Archaeological Museum, at 1 Athanasaki Street, covers Magnesia from the Paleolithic to Roman times, and its oldest collection is the painted grave stelae of Demetrias.

Question 7

Volos with Children

Accepted Answer

Volos is an easy city with children, with flat streets, waterfront parks and beaches a short bus ride away. Older children can add a Neolithic village or an old factory. Younger children: Walk the seaside park on the promenade into Anavros Park, which ends at the open municipal beach at Anavros. School age: At Dimini, outside the city, children can walk among the excavated houses of a Neolithic village with a free audio guide in Greek or English. Shade is sparse, so go early in the day. Teenagers: The Tsalapatas brickworks museum keeps its presses, clay tanks, wagons and kiln in place, so you can follow how bricks and tiles were made.

Question 8

Beaches

Accepted Answer

Anavros beach is in the city, but most locals take the bus to beaches farther out. The water generally gets clearer and cleaner the farther you go from the port. Anavros: An open municipal beach at the end of Anavros Park. Alykes: The municipal beach in the Alykes district, about a 5-minute drive southwest of the center, has a lifeguard, showers, changing rooms and a beach bar. City bus 6 goes there from city hall. Agria and Platanidia: Beaches out beyond the cement works, reached on city bus 5.

Volos

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Arriving in Volos