A day in Volos – Day 1
Day 1 - Sofia-Volos. Full stomach - empty photo album
After a lot of planning, I decide to spend our first night in Volos. It is located about halfway from Sofia to Athens, a large port city, with a good selection of hotels, you can see some of the landmarks in a few hours – especially churches, most of which are within walking distance from the center.
As soon as you enter from the highway, Volos creates the impression of a very large city. Although the population is only 115 thousand inhabitants, due to the lack of high-rise construction (as is typical for most Greek cities) the city is spread over a serious area of 108 sq. km. For comparison, Sofia with its 1.5 million population has an area of 492 sq. Km.
The traffic is well organized, with many traffic lights, roundabouts and clear signs of forbidden streets, but typical of the larger Greek cities it is quite frenetic with all its motorcyclists, taxis, delivery trucks, mini cars with cocky she drivers, and everyone is in a hurry to reach somewhere (atypical for the Greeks, who generally do not bother about anything, but as soon as they get behind the wheel they immediately acquire an urgent need to get to their destination as quickly as possible.). Each of the participants in the movement maneuvers without worrying about giving signals, stops where it suits her and goes around you from the left, from the right, in front of your car … Remarkably, however, without resorting to a horn as often as I would expect in such a crazy move. Very soon, compared to the traffic in Athens, this here will seem to me downright slow, but I will get back on the subject after a little while.
The area around the port is very pleasant for a walk, with a pedestrian promenade similar to the one in Thessaloniki, but instead of a tower, it ends with the church “St. St. Constantine and Helena”.
Behind it there is a small park with several modernist sculptures of stylized trees, the church “St. Trinity “, and next to it a city beach and several taverns, among which the most famous and the oldest is Aura, in which we have the pleasure to have a mix of lunch and dinner together. The tavern was founded, as it is written above its entrance, in the distant 1883, which is the cause of many nostalgic reviews by locals in Google Maps.
I am willing to photograph the most famous churches in Volos during the most appropriate daytime – “the golden hour” – but my eagerness played a joke on us, because we sit too early in the tavern (before taking the tables out on the beach) and we leave too late (when the light is already quite scarce and I miss the so-called The “golden hour” of photographers). However, I manage to take a few pictures of “St. St. Constantine and Helena” and “St. Trinity” with the last rays of light, but I photograph the metropolitan“ Agios Nikolaos ”directly under the city lights, because it has already become completely dark by the time we reach it.
Our place to spend the night – the hotel Nefeli. Good value for money and a nice view of the neighboring roofs and terraces from the 5th floor. They have a miniature parking lot nearby in a super inconspicuous street (I had to run two wide circles along the neighboring streets before I was able to spot it), where it is difficult to get in and out with a big car, but it costs 6 EUR per night, compared to double this price at the parking lots along the port, which unfortunately I have to get acquainted with right the next day.
