Volos
If Athens was the Greek city that made me want to turn around and go home, Volos was almost the complete opposite.
Volos is one of those places that doesn't seem to shout about itself. It simply gets on with being a pleasant Greek city, sitting beautifully between the Pagasitic Gulf and the slopes of Mount Pelion. The waterfront is the obvious place to start, and it is a very good place to start. The long pedestrian promenade is full of cafés, restaurants and people simply enjoying being beside the sea.
And then there is the food.
Volos is famous for its tsipouradika, the little restaurants where tsipouro is traditionally accompanied by a succession of small dishes.
The interesting thing is that you don't necessarily sit down and order a huge meal. The food arrives as part of the experience, with seafood, meat, vegetables and other little treats appearing alongside your drink. It is a local tradition that goes back decades.
Volos also has an interesting industrial past, and some of the old factories, warehouses and other industrial buildings have survived and been given new uses. There is plenty of history here without the place feeling like one enormous open-air museum.
For anyone interested in ancient history, there are archaeological sites at Dimini and Sesklo nearby, while the city itself has its own archaeological museum. And if you fancy getting away from the city, Mount Pelion is virtually on the doorstep, with picturesque mountain villages and the Pagasitic Gulf providing plenty of opportunities for exploring.
One of the epic Greek stories is that of Jason and the Argonaughts, legend has it they set sail from Volos and, of course, the connection is commemorated with a replica of the Argo.But for me, the great attraction of Volos is simply the atmosphere.
It's lively without being overwhelming, attractive without being impossibly polished and, most importantly, it feels like a real Greek city rather than somewhere that exists purely for tourists.
Sit beside the harbour, watch the boats, if you're self-catering you can buy fish straight from the back of a fishing boad, you cannot get fresher than that, or have something to eat, and enjoy the view across the water towards the mountains.After my experience of Athens, Volos was a very welcome reminder that I don't actually dislike Greece after all.
I just dislike Athens.
And that, thankfully, is a completely different thing.
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