Mt. Pilion (Pilio, Pelio) Magnesia Prefecture Page 6

The Southeast Coast

Accessible from the west coast roads to the south of Kala Nera and Milies.

Milies has plenty of mansions (right) , a folk museum (June-Sept Tues-Sun 10am-2pm and 6:30-9:30pm; Oct-May Tues-Fri 10am-2pm; Sat and Sun 10am to 5pm; free) and a frescoed church (the Taxiarkhis). Three miles to the north is Vyzitsa village, which has streams and aqueducts and trailheads to the coast. Pinakates on the coast is set in a thick wooded ravine, and is a place that has been gentrified (by Greeks who restored mansions there). It boasts a taverna that offers free-range local poultry and meat-Taverna tou Papa by name.

Other villages reachable on foot are Aghios Yeorgious Nilias, Dhrakia, and Lavrendios. The west coast itself is drier and more Mediterranean than the east, being in the rain shadow of the Pilio mountain range. To the south of Milies and Kala Nera there were serious fires during the 1990s, the area least damaged being near Neohori. Along the coast, Afetes is nice, with a huge square and several plane trees, interesting church. Argalasti, close to the Pagasitic Gulf, is the biggest town in the south. The coast in this area is touristic, and there are few good beaches, but Paralia Paou is decent. The resort of Horto, to the south 7km (23miles) is low-key, but lacks nice beaches. At Milina there is one end of a kalderimi linking the coast with the village of Lafkhos inland, a walk which takes about an hour. Lafkhos is a village built on a ridge with another nice platia with plane trees, and a wood-fired bakery (one of the last in the area).

stone roofs are common The south east coast has nicer beaches with less tourism, and also views over to the Sporades islands-to Skiathos and Skopelos mainly. It also has more caravans, mostly those of German tourists. From Argalasti it is only 10km (6.2 miles0 over to Potistika, past the village of Xynovrisi. Potistika is beautiful, if wind-swept, and is separated from Melani to the south by rocky promontories. Paltsi/Aghios Konstandinos, further to the south, has a sandy beach, with a reef in the middle and islets to swim to and some tavernas and rooms.

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