Volos sits at the head of the Pagasetic Gulf, a calm sheltered bay in central Greece, and the Greeks say it was from here, from the ancient city of Iolkos, that Jason and the Argonauts set sail in search of the Golden Fleece. A replica of the ship Argo rests near the waterfront, a handsome piece of nonsense that still draws the eye. The modern town is largely newer than you would expect, because earthquakes in 1955 damaged much of it, and so there are many broad, practical concrete blocks. In the neighbouring Nea Ionia, the name recalls the refugees who arrived from Asia Minor in the 1920s and brought with them a taste for strong spirits and good food.
That is the other reason to love Volos: tsipouro. In the tsipouradika, small taverns by the harbour, you order a bottle of the clear grape spirit and a plate of meze arrives free with every round, with octopus, mussels, grilled fish and fried cheese. You are not expected to rush, and nobody will mind if lunch lasts three hours. It is the correct way to say goodbye to a ride.
Behind the town rises Mount Pelion, the legendary home of the centaurs, and the roads that climb it make for outstanding motorcycling. The loop around the peninsula takes in thick forests of beech, chestnut and plane trees, hairpins that climb through the villages of Portaria and Makrinitsa, and slow, rewarding roads along the east coast to the beaches near Milina and Agios Ioannis. Surfaces are generally good, but the villages are tight, with stone-paved lanes and cars parked on the corners. In autumn chestnuts fall on the road, and in winter snow can sit on the higher sections. The Pelion narrow-gauge steam train from Ano Lechonia to Milies runs on summer weekends, crossing a stone viaduct.
With a population of more than eighty thousand, Volos has fuel stations on every main road, plus supermarkets and cafés in every street. Parking a bike near the harbour is easy, and many hotels have a courtyard or garage. Ferries to the Sporades islands leave from the port, so you may meet other travellers, and it is a good place to stock up before the mountain roads.