Mythical ways

The myth of Jason and the Argonauts of the Pagasetic Gulf who set out of Volos to win the dreamed of "Eldorado" of the East on the far coast of the Euxine Sea at ancient Colchis in the Caucasus, has always enchanted both Greeks and other Europeans so much, that they have not hesitated to reconstruct the Argo and row, as in the times of the mythical Jason and the historical triremes, to visit the renowed coast of the Black Sea, which is only recently emerging from the mists of myth into present day reality.

And the Symplegades rocks eventually condescended to allow them to pass and have remained open, as they did after the passing of the mythical Argo. So ships of Mt. Pelion set sail again with sails raised to rediscover their old routes and their old familiar anchorages.

The Old Town

Fortification on the Castro Wall

The "Castro" (castle) of Volos - a walled town situated on the site of the present-day neighbourhood of Palea, to the west of the city- was built in the mid 6th century AD. The same period saw the decline of the ancient city of Demetrias, a populous ship-building centre for the construction of oared ships, which had been created by Demetrios Poliorcetes, king of Macedonia, through the union of several smaller towns. New methods of ship building for the construction of small sailing ships grew up at several points along the coast of the Pagasetic Gulf. Small scale settlement predominated again in the communities which became established on the slopes of Mt. Pelion itself.

Thus a small harbour to the south of the "Castro" sufficed for the distribution of produce from the Thessalian plain and Mt. Pelion, together with a small fort for its protection from maurauding pirates.

The "Castro" came, in turn, under the jurisdiction of the late-Byzantine feudal lords, the Catalans and finally the Ottomans, when it ceased to be used as a fort. It was last attacked by the Venetian fleet in 1655. After this date the harbour began to grow in importance and, as warehouses were constructed around it, to develop into a port. On its eastern side, outside the "Castro", a residential neighbourhood of Thessalian grain merchants grew up.

From the mid 19th century, with the building of the new city of Volos, the "Castro" was allowed to decline. At the end of the century its south and north walls were demolished and the maze of winding streets within the old town gave way to a modern street layout.