| Page Views: 13,566 Last Visit to Volos: August, 2003 | Volos, Pilio and the environs by StefanosS - last update: Nov 22, 2004 |
There are so many to do in the region!
Sea and mountain, nature and antiquities, legent and history, gastronomy and culture...
There are so many to talk about!
Thessaly, according to the scientists, was covered by the sea, and raised up at about 8,000 BC. This fact can be traced on the greek word THESSALIA, as THESSIS + ALOS, that could be translated as "place of sea" or "place of salt". Thousands of years later, an ancient town existed near Volos with the name "ALOS", and not far from its ruins, today is a modern town named "ALMYROS", a word that in modern Greek, has exactly the same meaning ("salty"). It is possible that the great violent rearrangement of the earth surface that happened 8,000 years BC. has to do with Noah's Flood and the analogous recordings in the mythology of other civilisations.
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|  | One of the most strange figures of the greek mythology is that of the Centaurs: a perfect horse body but at the place of the neck there was a man's trunk with arms and head! Centaurs were living in the region of Pelion and were rather calm people, hunters, doctors, wisemen, teachers. What kind of monsters were they?
The answer is very simple, and can be also found by the greek word KENTAVROS, that has two components: KENTOO + TAVROS that means to GOAD a TAURUS (or ox). Centaurs were the "cowboys" of Magnesia, leading their herds to the grasslands! And it is well known that a man can do this job only on the back of a horse! As the land was still partially salty, agriculture could not be a good job. It is remarkable that there is not any referance about female centaurs! Their wives were absolutely humans and are depicted riding on the back of Centaurs! Later generations kept this name, though most of them had already other occupations.
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| A Centaur on an ancient plate |
| | Though Thessaly was a "place of sea", Pelagonian, a chain of mountains comming down from NW to SE (central Macedonia, Chalkidiki including Athos, Olympus, Ossa, Pelion, the island of Evia) was already a dry land for the last 140 million years, as one of the oldest dry lands of the European area. This could be a good reason for the great variety of plants that can be found on Pelion, along with the good climate. Among these plants, there are many pharmaceutical herbs, more than one half of the pharmaceutical herbs of the whole planet! According to Greek mythology, many Centaurs were famous doctors. Aeskulapius (Asklipios), the ancient god of medicine, was born at the foothills of Pelion and was trained by the Centaurs.
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Try my TRAVELOGUES about Volos and the region.
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An interesting web-site about Volos and the region is the one of the Port of Volos (available in both Greek and English):
http://www.port-volos.gr/index_frameset_EN.htm
Please have a look also at my pages:
Skiathos island
Skopelos island
Alonnisos island
Pelagos or Pelagonisi or Kyra-Panaghia island
Yioura (or Gioura) island
Psathoura island
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StefanosS's Volos Travel Tips
 StefanosS's Volos Travelogues | | | |
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 Comments for StefanosS about Volos | | | | |
amype0630 Sun Sep 10, 2006 22:40 UTC
Would you happen to know if there have been any archaeological sites, where a large horse from the Bronze age was discovered? | codrutz Tue Apr 25, 2006 14:41 UTC
Hello Stefanos. Volos must be one of hundreds of destinations in Greece :) | etfromnc Fri May 27, 2005 23:26 UTC
I know some people who live in Volos but have not made it there yet. Your Volos pages made it even more interesting including the tip about scuba diving and fishing, although I am not even highly interested in scuba diving. Thanks for the effort!! | shivan Wed Jan 7, 2004 13:08 UTC
lovely page Stefanos! |
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