Train and Rail Travel in Thessaly (see Greece train map)
Thessaly Railway / Volos, Kalambaka, Pilio
This entire meter gauge railway is 251km/155miles long. The stretch going west from Volos through the plain of Thessaly to the Pindos foothills in Kalambaka, is 164km/101miles long. Going southeast from Volos to Milies on the Pilio/Pelion peninsula is a 26km long, 60cm gauge line, the latter closed in 1971, but reopened again in 1996. This line is the only regularly operating steam-powered railway in Greece today. It links the huge agricultural plain with the sea, providing transport for its produce. It also gives access (via Kardhitsa) to the Agrafa mountains in western central Greece, and through Kalambaka to the high Pindos mountains, both areas with considerable mountain wilderness and opportunities for hiking, rock climbing, canoeing and white-water rafting.
The standard gauge line to Larissa links Volos as well with the major metropolitan areas of Athens and Thessaloniki. Volos. The train station here is two storey, and quite architecturally interesting; the loft area below its roof has been converted into a museum for historical railway artifacts. Contact the office of the OSE regional Chief Engineer if you want to see it: Tel-24210 23 424; Mon-Fri 8:30am-3pm).
It is a little known fact that the cars of the Greek royal train, are also stored in Volos, and can be visited via persuasion of local officials. There is a local associated dedicated to the promotion and preservation of rail service in Volos, as well.
The Larissa line (standard gauge): 60km in length, this line is served by all the IC trains to Volos and daily diesel rail car shuttles. Most rail travellers begin their trips to Volos from Larissa.
Larissa
The population of Larissa is about 125,000; the largest city in central Thessaly, an important road and rail junction, government and religious administrative seat. This city has various monuments from the 3rd century BC through the Turkish era, and its lively Platia Sapka, shaded by canopied orange trees, has many cafes, sweet shops and cinemas; the Alkazar Park, on the other side of the Pinios River, is a pleasant place to stop and rest from travelling.
Larissa to Volos
After getting beyond the industrial zone, the line offers views of Mt Ossa and of the plain of Thessaly on either side of the train as it heads southeast towards Volos, passing through the villages of Halki, Melia, Kypseli, Armenio, Stefanovikio, and Rizomylos, before reaching the rail junction of Velestino.
Armenio is the approximate site of Homer's Armenion; Stefanovikio the site of ancient Kerkinion. A large, marshy lake was drained in the early 1960s to widen the standard gauge rail line. This was Lake Karla, its waters now used for irrigation and cultivation, some of its experimental. Vestinio was ancient Pherai. From here to Volos there are three rails, which accommodate trains of two different gauges. From Velestino, trains that come from Larissa cointinue to Volos over the defile of Pilav-Tepe. At Volos some old steam locomotives are stored in the station.
Volos to Pilio on the 60cm line
The line was built originally in 1903, and its 1971 closure during the colonels' dictatorship had one positive factor-the original equipment was never changed, but were merely restored for service when the line reopened. Interestingly, the railway penetrated this magical area long before paved roads came, in the 1970s. See Pilion for details on this unique and beautiful region. The line began for years at Ano Lechonia, though by now this may have changed. This single track railway was the idea of a Greek banker based in Constantinople named Mavrokordatos, who saw the potential of a railway link between Volos and the peninsula for transport of the latter's abundant produce. Before the train, people and goods both travelled by donkey on the old kalderimia (cobbled paths).
An Italian civil engineer, Evaristo de Kiriko, searched out the least difficult route in the 1890s, travelling on horseback around the rugged countryside. The line was built by a French construction firm, and in three phases: first the section between Volos and Ano Lechonia 1892-96; then through the mountains above the coast from Ano Gatzea and Ogla to Milies from 1896-1903; and finally, in 1904 running steam powered trains up through the mountains to Milies.
Stone arched viaducts and tunnel fascades were all done by local craftsmen. Only financial difficulties prevented the line from continuing on to Tsangardha. When 'the tiny train' began running again in 1995, it filled up right away with locals who remembered the train from their youth, when it got them to school in villages bigger than their own smaller ones.
The journey down to the Pagasitic gulf affords views all the way down the peninsula along the way, and, together with those arched bridges and tunnels and the general beauty of the landscape, is a delightful short journey. The old wooden coaches are pulled by a little steam locomotive; two of the three Belgian built locomotives completely restored.
The original tracks and right-of-way structures were built so well that it took little to ready them for re-use. Tunnel fascades have also been restored by stone masons, and a picnic area has been built near the brook at the Milies station. The Ano Gatzea station has also been restored, including its late 19th century herbal pharmacy, which overlooks the gulf. A trail leads down from the station here to the beach at Kato Gatzea, where there are two campsites. One of the finest of the stone bridges is the five-arched curved stone bridge which is on the first big curve after Ano Lechonia. The Taxiarchos steel bridge is also notable, due to the single track which is laid directly on the surface of the bridge without an embankment. Trails lead off to the north from the railway at the south end of this bridge, where there is a picnic area.
Millies
Milies is a very small village, founded during the 16th century, which flourished under the large degree of autonomy granted Pilio during the Turkish era, establishing itself as a packing center for the peninsula's olive oil, nuts, fruit, and silk products. A native of this village-one Stathis Gouliotis-has restored the old 8-room station guesthouse, making it into an inn and restaurant; he has also co-authored books about this exceptional little railway line. Milies is also proud of the contribution of its 18th century schools to the intellectual/cultural climate that nurtured the independence struggles to come in the early years of the following century. There's a folk museum here with exhibits of local crafts. An sandouri-maker lives in Milies, whose work and workshop were featured in a documentary on instrument-making shown at the wonderful folk instruments museum in Plaka (in Athens). The sandouri is an Anatolian instrument that resembles the 'hammer dulcimer' of western Europe, basically a zither-like instrument with two bridges and many courses (pairs) of strings which are struck with cotton-tipped wooden wands.
Pilio is blessed with many trails, including old cobbled kalderimia that invite long walks between villages, or to outlying beaches. Just 2km from Milies is Vyzitsa, where one can find rooms, but there are much longer walks as well.
The Kalambaka Line to Meteora Monasteries
This railway, partly of the meter-gauge type (at one time, completely) covers a distance of 164km/101miles, and contributed to the early 20th century agricultural development of the area it traversed, as well as providing transport to villages along the way and access to the Agrafa and Pindos mountain ranges. The 80km stretch from Palaiofarsalo to Kalambaka was rebuilt to main line standard gauge capacity, allowing for through Athens/Thessaloniki-Kalambaka service.
Volos-Karditsa
This lines follows the route of the line to Velestino but heads south to cross round the east and south of Mt. Khalkodonion. There are stops at Aerino , Khalkodonio, Rigeo, Dasolfo, Sitohor and Farsalo, the last town off in the distance in the foothills of Mt. Othrys; then Enotiki.
Some of this section may by now be used only for steam trains, however. Between Palaiofarsalo and Trikala there are some 80 bridges over the many water courses that cut through the plain, with big ones across the Pamisos, Pinios, Koumerkis and Aghia Moni rivers. This is an intensely agricultural region, with cotton, tobacco and soy beans among the many crops grown.
Ta Agrafa
Kardhitsa has a population of around 40,000, and very much of a market town, though there are some lodgings there for travellers. The Agrafa means 'The Unwritten Places', its name coming from the fact of its not having been put on the Ottoman tax rolls, perhaps due to its inaccessibility. Other stories have it that the name dates back to early Christian times, when it was an area that couldn't be controlled by the dominant theologians. There are still villages in this area which are very remote, and reachable only by foot or donkey/mule, where the few residents are there only in summer (though perhaps a few diehards weather all the seasons there) maintaining the land and houses for the relatives who left the harsh mountain life for the cities.
There is a fascinating book by an Englishman fascinated with this area in the southern Pindos range, published by Lykavittos Press in the late 1990s: The Unwritten Places by Tim Salmon. As this author explains very beautifully, the mountains have always been the refuge for Greeks striving to maintain independence (and also their own culture) from the incursions of the outsider-the invader. The Agrafa mountains in particular, with all fertile land cultivated, once produced as much olive oil and wheat as the entire Peloponnese (just as the upper Pindos, as Salmon points out in his book) once had a flourishing trade in textiles, furs, and other goods, with huge annual fairs where those goods were dealt).
During the Greek Civil War that followed the horrific destruction perpetrated by the Nazi occupiers during WWII, the Greek right-wing army forced villagers out of the mountains (which were controlled by the Greek andartes or guerillas who depended on those villages for food and other supplies as well as for refuge). They were forced into towns on the plains, and their painstakingly nourished mountain land reverted to wilderness, while their villages crumbled. In recent times the area has attracted trekkers and now there are guide books, maps and organized groups exploring this area.
Agrafa continued: Peaks in this region include Mt Bolero (2,032meters), Mt. Plaka (2013meters), and Mt. Flindzai (2,018meters) with high mountain valleys, old kalderimia (cobbled paths), and small villages are to be enjoyed by trekkers.
Kardhitsa to Trikala
The railway passes a Byzantine fortress which can be easily seen from the train windows, with tall walls and towers; stops are made at Fanari (which means 'torch' or 'beacon', and is also the name of the hill on which the fortress is built) and at Fanari Xorio, and continues on through Magoula, Kalivia and Drosero to Trikala, which town has the third largest population of cities in Thessaly (around 50,000) and which straddles the Lethaios River.
There are old churches in Trikala, mostly in the old quarter of Varousa. To the south of this city is the village of Pili (which means 'gate'), known for its 13th century church of Porta Panaghia, located at the head of the Stena tis Portas gorge where the Portaikos River flows from the Pindos range. There are mosaic icons in this church; farther up the gorge an arched medieval bridge, and the Monastery of Dousiko (1515), which is locally known as Ai Vessaris, with wonderful views and fine frescoes by a Mt. Athos painter. Women aren't allowed here, and the monks are said to be rather closed to visitors in general.
Trikala to Kalambaka
Heading northwest from Trikala, the railway passes through the narrowing Pinios River valley through the 'flag-stop shelters' of Kefalovrisso, Vasiliki (where there is a 15th century cemetery and church), and Theopetra. As the train pulls into Kalambaka, the famous towering, spire-like rocks are visible with the monasteries of Meteora (atop them. The population of the resort town on Kalambaka is around 6,500 and is built on the slopes below the basalt pinnacles, close to the point where the Pinios emerges from the Pindos mountain gorges.
There was an ancient settlement here called Aiginion, which was supposedly impregnable. During WWII it was one of the many Greek villages destroyed by the Nazis. The two main reasons people come here is to see the monasteries and to take the bus to Ipiros region, which lies on the other side of the Pindos mountains. There is a campsite here, as well as rooms and two campgrounds in Kastraki.