Following the Lead of Fairy-Tales
(Sharing the Fairy-Tale Treasure around Europe
Volos – Agria
My homeland
Location
Volos (Βόλος) is a coastal
port city in Thessaly (green part
of the maps) situated midway on
the Greek mainland, about
326 Km north from Athens
and 215 Km south from
Thessaloniki.
Location
Volos is the
capital of the
Magnesia
prefecture.
Agria is on the outskirts of
Volos. It is situated 7 Km
southeast from Volos.
Population
 Volos has a population of
around 141.675
inhabitants. It is the fifth
largest city of Greece.
 Volos has more than 65%
of Magnesia’s population
today.
 Agria has about 6.500
inhabitants and it is the
local municipality in
Volos with the highest
population growth in the
recent decades.
Emblem of the city
The Emblem of the city is the Argo. In Greek
mythology, the Argo was the ship on which Jason
and the Argonauts sailed from Iolkos to Colchis (a
port in Black Sea) to retrieve the Golden Fleece. It
was named “Argo” after its builder, Argus.
Districts of the city
After the last administrative division Volos in 2011 is the
sixth most populous municipality in Greece. It consists of
the following local municipalities: conurbation of Volos,
New Ionia, Agria, Artemida, Aeson, New Anchialos, Iolkos,
Portaria and Makrinitsa (photo).
Horizontal and Vertical Unbundling
Volos is built at the
innermost point of the
Pagasetic Gulf (photo) and
at the foot of Mount Pelion
(height of 1.624 meters,
the land of the Centaurs).
Volos is the only outlet
towards the sea from
Thessaly, the country’s
largest agricultural region.
Climate
Volos, as a Mediterranean city,
experiences a typical climate of
neither particularly high nor
extremely low temperatures
throughout the year. In summer
the temperature reaches 35 0C
and in winter it is reduced to
about 0 0C.
The climate of Volos is one of a
low humidity. There is a normal
distribution of rainfall throughout
the year. The dry season lasts
about two months during the
summer.
Flora and Fauna
 In the area of Volos and Agria there are the most species
of Mediterranean flora. Mostly, however, there are olive
trees, pear trees, apple trees, chestnut trees (photo), pine
trees and large areas with glass-houses with ornamental
plants.
 The fauna consists of domestic animals, foxes, squirrels,
turtles and snakes
Economy of the city - Occupations of the
Habitants
 Volos is an important industrial center. Its port provides a
“bridge” between Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
 The economy of the city is based on manufacturing, trade,
services and tourism and with its improved infrastructure
the city is increasingly dynamic. (photo: Cement factory in Agria)
 The city represents a fully urbanized Greek city with a large
population in tertiary employment (52%), 42% in secondary
and less than 6% in primary employment.
History of Volos
The Neolithic settlements of
Dimini and Sesklo lie on the
west part of the modern city of
Volos
In Dimini there are ruins of the
walls of an acropolis and two
beehive tombs dating in
between 4000-1200 BC (in photo
the ruins of settlement and a
representation of it)
In Sesklo there are the ruins of
the oldest Acropolis in Greece
(6000 BC) and also the
foundations of a palace and
mansions, among its most
characteristic examples of
Neolithic civilization.
History of Volos
 During the Mycenaean Period (1700-1000
BC), ancient Iolkos was founded in Dimini
area, which was the most important
economic and cultural centre of the time.
 Iolkos was the homeland of the
mythological hero Jason (photo: the man on the
right), who board the ship “Argo”
accompanied by the Argonauts and sailed
in quest of the Golden Fleece to Colhis.
 During the Classical period (6th century BC)
the town of Pagases “flourished” in the
area. It was the port of Feres (now the town
of Velestino) and it was founded in the
place of Pefkakia (seaside suburb of the city
of Volos).
History of Volos
At 295-92 BC, the Macedonian king
Dimitrius the Besieger, one of the
successors of Alexander the Great,
founded and named a city after him in
the foot of mountain Pelion. Dimitriada
became a powerful military station of
the Macedonians, and a strong
trading centre of the Hellenistic times,
and especially between 217-168 BC. In 1423 the Turks occupied the
castle of Dimitriada. Gradually,
In 197 BC, the Romans occupied
Dimitriada.
the coastal towns were
abandoned, and around 1600
the last Greek residents of the
town moved to Pelion and
founded twenty four villages.
(photo: The theatre of Dimitriada)
History of Volos
During the Turkish
occupation, the financial
and cultural activities took
place in mountain Pelion.
Through the 18th century,
Pelion evolved into one of
the most significant
centres of the Greek
region, yet the entry of
Christians inside the fort of
Volos (a new name for
Dimitriada) remained
forbidden. (photo: manor house
in the village of Pelion. It was
built in the period of Turkish
occupation)
By 1881 (2th of November),
after the Constantinople
Convention, Volos and the
wider Magnesian territory
joined the recently liberated
Greek state.
History of the city


After 1881 the expansion of Volos
was fast. Fulfilling all the necessary
requirements relating to investor
capitals, manpower, expansive local
market force, raw materials, Volos
turned out to be a robust industrial
city. The most lucrative businesses
included metallurgy, tobacco,
textiles, tannery and food supplies.
The port of Volos supported these
activities very well (photo).
Between 1941 and 1994 German
and Italian troops occupied the city
of Volos. But this did not halt the
industrial and economic
development of the city. Nor a
terrible earthquake in 1955 which
caused significant damage in most
of the houses (photo).
History of Agria
 Agria was created in the early
19th century. It had small huts
inhabited by 17 residents of the
villages of Pelion, when they
harvested their olives. They
traded their products from the
small port of Agria.
 After liberation from the Turks
Agria developed commercially.
There were large warehouses in
the town. The most important of
the products of Pelion were
handled by the port, which was
the most important in Magnesia
in the early 20th century.
History of Agria
 There was a high population
growth in Agria after the
earthquake of 1955. Nowadays
more and more people leave the
urban environment of Volos and
settle in the area.


Today Agria is a modern seaside town,
“full of life” throughout the year. Its
inhabitants are engaged in farming, are
employed in tourism, many of them
work in industries in the region.
The town has many restaurants, bars
and cafes, which in summer are filled
with tourists and visitors.
Historical / Famous Persons from VolosAgria
Rigas Fereos (Velestino Magnesia's 1757 – Belgrade 1798) - Writer.
He was the forerunner of the Greek War of Independence. Through his
literary work he incited all enslaved peoples of the Balkans into a
revolution against Ottoman Empire. His vision was a Balkan federation
of free nations. For this purpose, he travelled to Europe (Bucharest,
Vienna, Trieste) and organized secret revolutionary groups. He was
arrested and murdered by the Turks at Belgrade. He is displayed in the
currency of ten cents.
He said: “… one hour of free life is better, than forty years of slavery
and prison...”
Historical / Famous Persons from VolosAgria
 Anthimos Gazis (1758-1828)
was a scholar, a philosopher
during the Greek Enlightenment,
a cartographer and one of the
heroes of the Greek War of
Independence against the
Ottoman Empire (first photo).
 Gregory Konstantas (Milies
Pelion, 1753 - Milies Pelion,
1843) was a Greek scholar,
priest and an important
personality in the pre-revolution
movement of the Greek
Enlightenment (second photo).
Historical / Famous Persons from VolosAgria
Theophilos Hatzimihail (18701934), Known simply as
Theophilos, was a major folk painter
of Neo-Hellenic art. The main
subject of his works are Greek
characters and illustration of Greek
traditional folk life and history (in
picture: The Greek hero Ath. Diakos).
He settled in city of Volos in about
1897 from Lesvos island where he
was born, searching for occasional
work and drawing in houses and
shops of the area. Many paintings
of his wall-drawings exist today. He
spent most of his life in Pelion. His
protector at the period was the
landholder Giannis Kontos, for
whom he did many works. Today
the house of Kontos is Theophilos’
Museum.
Historical / Famous Persons from VolosAgria
 Giorgio De Chirico (1888-1978)
was a pre-Surrealist and then a
Surrealist Italian painter. He was
born in Volos where he spent
the first twelve years of his life .
 John Hadji Argyris (1913-2004)
was among the creators of the
Finite Element Method (FEM)
and Professor at the University
of Stuttgart and Director of the
Institute for Statistics and
Dynamics of Aerospace
Structures.
Historical / Famous Persons from VolosAgria
Evangelos Odysseys
Papathanassiou (born in 1943 in
Agria) is a Greek composer of
electronic, jazz, progressive,
ambient and orchestral music, under
the artist name Vangelis. He is best
Known for his Academy Award
winning score for the film “Chariots
of Fire” (1982), and scores for the
films “Blade Runner” (1981) and
“1492: Conquest of Paradise”
(1992). In a career spanning over 49
years, writing and composing more
than 40 albums, Vangelis is
regarded by some music critics as
one of the greatest living composers
of electronic music.
Historical / Famous Persons from VolosAgria
Nick Mangitsis. Climber and trainer.
Born in Agria in 1968, where he still
lives. He is the only Greek who has
climbed the highest peaks in each
continent (7 summits),who has
reached the North and South Pole
skiing(photo), who has crossed the
Sahara and crossed the Aegean
Sea by kayak.
He says: “We don’t do everything to
become the best in the world but
the best in “our” world. "
(photo: Himalaya – Everest)
About the name of the city/town
 According to a Byzantine historian of the 14th century,
Volos was known as Golos. The most widely accepted
theory for the derivation of the city’s name suggests that
Volos is a corruption of the Mycenaean Iolkos, which had
become distorted through the ages to become “Golkos”,
later “Golos” and subsequently Volos. Others contend that
the name originates with Folos, who according to myth was
a wealthy landlord of the region.
 Agria was named either because of the goddess Artemis,
the protector of the fields (Agrea Artemis in ancient Greek)
or from the many wild (agria in Greek) olive trees which
were in the area.
Landscape that I love
The water front of Volos –
2km for a walk
Landscape that I love
Mountain Pelion
Sports
 The most popular sports in
Volos are football and
basketball. But the city has a
tradition in rowing and water
polo.
 The men's soccer team
“Olympiakos Volou” (photo)
struggling in the Premier
League. In women, the football
team "Volos 2004" (photo) is the
favorite to win the Greek
championship this year, while
the basketball team struggling to
stay in the Premier League.
Sports
Vasilios Polymeros is a
Greek rower. He was born
in Volos in 1976. He won
the bronze medal in men’s
lightweight double skulls
with Nikolaos Skiathitis
(also an athlete from
Volos) at the 2004
Summer Olympics in
Athens (second photo) and
the silver medal in men’s
lightweight double skulls
with Dimitrios Mougios at
the 2008 Summer
Olympics in Beijing (first
photo).
Monuments of the city
The University of Thessaly
was founded in 1984. The
University is based in Volos,
but operates corpuses in
Larissa, Trikala and Karditsa,
other cities in Thessaly. The
University comprises four
faculties – Humanities,
Engineering, Agricultural
Sciences and Health
Sciences. (photo: This building in
Volos Beach houses now the
Administration of University of
Thessaly. Originally was the Tobacco
Warehouse "Papastratos" and was
built in 1926)
Monuments of the city
The steam driven brick factory
“Tsalapatas”. It was built in 1925
under the instruction of Belgian
engineers aiming to the
production of bricks and tiles.
Today the factory does not work
(it stopped in 1975). Nowadays
it includes the Museum of
Brickworks “Tsalapatas”,
restaurants, pubs and music
scenes in it.
Monuments of the city
The Neoclassical building of the Bank of Athens (also
known as Bank Kosmadopoulos) is one of the few historic
buildings of the city which were not destroyed during the
earthquake of 1955. Today it is the Library of the University
of Thessaly.
Monuments of the city
The Railway Station of
Volos was built in the late
19th century (photo ).
The Railway Museum is on
the first floor of the building
houses (photo).
Monuments of the city
The Archaeological Museum of Volos was built in 1909
with money provided by Alexis Athanasakis, to be stored in
this written tombstones which were from the cemeteries of
the ancient city of Dimitriada. The building is neoclassical.
Monuments of the city
“Panthessalikon” stadium
It was built in 2004 and it was
the site of football matches (first
round) during the 2004 Summer
Olympics. It has a capacity of
22.700 seats.
It is the home stadium of
Olympiakos Volou F.C.
Monuments of the city
The cinema
'Achilles' launched
in 1925 and
housed several
cultural events of
Volos for 65 years.
Today it operates
as two multiplex
cinemas and
entertainment
venues.
Monuments of the city
The building of the Bank of Greece started in 1935
and is still today one of the most striking buildings
that adorn the coast of Volos.
Monuments of the city
Volos City Hall was
built in 1970 by the
great architect Dimitris
Pikionis, inspired by
the architecture of
Pelion, considering
that the city of Volos is
mainly determined by
the atmosphere of the
nearby Mount Pelion.
Monuments of the city
Park of St. Constantine is the oldest in the city and
is the most loved area for walking.There are cafe,
playgrounds and lush flower beds in it.
Monuments of the city
The building complex
“Spirer tobacco
warehouses” was built in
1926. After the Second
World War it housed
successively several
companies marketing
tobacco, the Tobacco
Agency, some crafts. Today
it houses the Museum of
Volos, the Historical
Archives of the City and
Library.
Monuments of the city
The church of St. Nicholas,
the cathedral church of
Volos, was built in 1934 by
A. Zahos. The particular
temple with whimsical
masonry, borrows elements
from the Byzantine tradition,
but below the aesthetics of
the architect, who gave
special attention to the
external appearance of the
building and its monumental
appearance.
Monuments of Agria
In the area of Agria, on Anemoutsa hill, there are three
quaint chapels: one of the Holy Archangels, one of the
Holly Cross (photo) and one of the St. John.
Monuments of Agria
The factory that
produces bottled
beverages (EΨA) was
founded in 1924 by
two Greek
businessmen, brothers
Cosmadopoulos. It is
famous throughout
Greece for the lemon.
Monuments of Agria
The old railway
station of Agria. A
stop on the route of
the train which
operated with
charcoal and served
until 1971 the
villages of Pelion
linking them to
Volos.
Recipe
Traditional plate in the villages of Pelion. It is based on the sausage,
green peppers and tomatoes.
First fry the sausage and green peppers separately. Then peel the
tomatoes, cut into small pieces and put them in the pan. When the
tomatoes boil, add sausage, green peppers, salt and pepper. Cover the
pan and let all ingredients boil together until vegetables become tender
and sauce become “thick”.
We can add eggplant, which we fried first.
The music of the presentation comes from the Greek
composer Vangelis and it has the title “”.
The students of F and C classes who cooperated for the presentation
of Volos and Agria are:
George Agoritsis, Nasia Antoniou, Kostas Argyropoulos, Nikos
Vavalios, Filippa Grammatikou, Mirto Dramitinou, Vaso Kandila, Kostas
Karaoulis, Maria Klitsogianni, Rafael Koukouselis, Maria Kostopoulou,
Vasilis Makropoulos, Sabina Mastropanayioti, Giovanni Bardokou,
Achilles Batras, Oltis Beido, Elleana Rebelakou, Cleo Sebitrasi,
Thanos Stilianidis, Kostas Tegas, Anastasia Tzafolia, Katherine
Tsalapata, Katherine Avdelarou, Panayiotis Agapitos, Sophie
Akrivogianni, Maria Aretha, Nick Vassiliou, Sophia Vassiliou, Angela
Gerovasili, Milltiades Zaharakis, Themis Theodoropoulos, Kostas
Kolovos, Maria Kontoriga, Hara Koromila, George Kostanasios,
George Makris, Chris Makropoulos, Panayiota Mastropanayioti, Nick
Betsos, John Pllaha, Demetrius Rentiniotis, Athena Stilianidi, Marina
Triantafillidi, Demetrius Tsalapatas, Apostolos Tsalikis, Thanasis
Halkias
with the help of the teachers of our school:
Christina Sarri, Helen Kefala, Sophia Vassiliou, Xanthoula Danilopoulou.