Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north from Athens and 215 km south from Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia prefecture.

Built at the innermost point of the Pagasetic Gulf and at the foot of Mount Pelion.

Volos is the only outlet towards the sea from Thessaly, the country's largest agricultural region.

With a population of around 200,000, it is an important industrial centre, while its port provides a bridge between Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Volos is the third of Greece's major commercial ports.

Modern Volos is built on the area of the ancient cities of Demetrias, Pagasae and Iolcos.

Volos was established by Royal Decree on 31/03/1883. Until 1954 it was called Municipality of Pagases. George Kartalis was the first elected Mayor of Volos.

The expansion of Volos was fast. The artisan tradition cultivated within the villages of mountain Pelion, concurrently with the riches arriving, via the port, to the city from all around the world, improved commerce and industry. This attracted investors from other areas. The brief occupation of Volos, during the Greek-Turkish conflict of 1896-97 did not affect the new developments.

The development of the new city coincided with the flourishing of neoclassicism. Public buildings conformed to this style and prestigious private buildings belonging to prosperous merchants were particularly sophisticated.

Archaeological Museum of Volos Modern History Museum of Volos City National Railway Museum of Greece, Railway Station of

Volos Tsalapatas, National Museum of Industrial History Silk Museum, at Nea Ionia, Magnesia Zogia Museum Gallery Kitsos Makris Folklore Museum Athanasios Koutroumbas Insect Museum Folklore Art Museum of Lyceum of Volos Greek Women Christopoulos N. Traditional Shipyard and Art Collection

Giorgio de Chirico, painter

Vangelis, composer

Lavrentis Mahairitsas, musician and songwriter

Theophilos Hatzimihail, painter

Yorgos Foudoulis, musician and composer

Vasileios Polymeros, rower, olympic medalist

Nikolaos Skiathitis, rower, olympic medalist

Paraskevi Tsiamita, athlete

Apostolos Vakalopoulos, historian

Olga Vasdeki, triple jumper

Sofia Vembo, singer

Volos participated in the Olympic Games, and as an Olympic City it helped to present a new face of contemporary Greece to a world audience. The city has also since played host to a succession of athletic events, such as the European Athletic Championships.

Airport: The city of Volos, along with the rest of Central Greece, is linked to the rest of Greece and Europe by the brand new International Airport of Central Greece, in Nea Anchialos. The airport represents the biggest air lane in Greece after Eleftherios Venizelos, with a capacity of 800 passengers per hour and facilities for almost 10 aircraft.

Volos is the first city in Europe to feature Seaplane Services through Argo Airways, which is based in Volos. The seaplanes connect Volos with Skiathos, Skopelos, Allonisos, Athens and Thessaloniki.

Railway:Volos' railway station building was built by Evaristo De Chirico soon after the liberation of Central Greece. Part of the station still functions in this picturesque 1884 structure, reminiscent to some of a stately home. The adjacent neoclassical building, built between 1900 and 1903 under Evaristo De Chirico, served as the administrative headquarters of the Thessaly Railways.

Twin towns — Sister cities:

Le Mans, France Pleven, Bulgaria Rostov-on-Don, Russia Smederevo, Serbia Sochi, Russia Antofagasta, Chile

The historical railway from Volos to Milies has been constructed in two stages, during 1894 and 1903. The legendary Moutzouris linked the commercial industrial Volos center to the rich and fertile area of Western Pelion, on the Centaurs mountain sides and olive groves.

Citizens of Volos and visitors keep on experiencing beautiful moments of the past, at the harbour, at the neighborhoods where Volos shares its joys and sorrows, at the tsipouradika.

A tsipouradiko is a place where you can drink tsipouro (=a drink similar to ouzo) and where the tradition of the area is alive. It has been a ritual that became an

institution which visitors

of Volos loved.

Bibliography and pictures:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volos http://www.volos-city.gr/Default.aspx?id=505&nt=18&lang=2

Presentation of Volos Editor: George Stavrou Comenius APE Team