September 10: Arrival in Milies
We started the day in Meteora, where Chris lost drone #1 in the fog and drizzle and we drove the monastery roads in and out of clouds. But we couldn’t linger; today was the day we had to drive to Milies to begin our Mt. Pelion tour!
We headed south through the plains of Thessaly. Thessaly is flat and green. A light rain fell the whole way down the highway, which was delightfully traffic-free.
We left the A1 in Volos and drove straight through the city to reach the coastal road that runs down the west side of the Pelion peninsula, just feet from the water’s edge. The gray sky and rain falling on the water reminded me of rainy days in Biloxi.
The Pelion peninsula is a major tourist destination. Every beachside town has a range of hotels and waterfront tavernas, with the accompanying tour buses.
Pelion is also famous for its mountain towns, and Milies is one of those. Our first foray into Greek hill-town driving began with a shock. We left the coastal road to begin winding our way up the serpentines. Just as we reached Milies, we came around a bend to find ourselves nose to nose with giant tour bus heading downhill. The road wasn’t wide enough for both of us.
The Skoda was the clear loser, so Chris backed back downhill until he could get our car out of the way and let the bus past.
Lesson 1: mountain town roads are effectively single-lane affairs but allow traffic in both directions. Be prepared to yield!
Lesson 2: Greek hotels don’t necessarily come with parking lots. We left the car on the street out front for the two days we were in Milies.
We found ourselves the only guests at Hotel Mirovoli, run by the charming Anastasia. Once the rain stopped, our room had a view out over the hillside and the Pagasitic Gulf. We could see clear to Phthia, Achilles’ ancestral birthplace.
It takes about five minutes to explore the high street of Milies. We dined at a taverna with a charmingly handwritten menu, where the proprietor’s 10-year-old daughter was happy to seat us and practice her English.
We started the meal with a dish of pickled pistachio greens called tsitsiravla, which we saw in Pelion and nowhere else. Chris will eat anything pickled, and these were a big hit.
The wild boar stewed with plums was succulent. Highly recommended!