The little Pelion train, the Moutzouris, makes its last stop at Milies. From the station you walk up to the square, under plane trees and past houses with stone roofs. It is a good way to arrive in a village: slowly, the way people arrived a century ago.
The station
The Pelion railway was built in the early 20th century to link the mountain villages with Volos. It is a narrow-gauge line, with bridges, tunnels and bends that only a small train can take. Today it runs as a tourist line, and the route from Ano Lechonia to Milies is one of the most beautiful railway journeys in Greece. The Milies station, with its stone building and plane trees, is the end of the line. We tell the story of the train in our piece on the Pelion railway.
Anthimos Gazis
Milies is the birthplace of Anthimos Gazis, scholar and cleric of the Modern Greek Enlightenment and one of the important figures of the years before the Revolution of 1821. He founded a school and a library in the village, because he believed knowledge was the road to freedom.
The Library of Milies still exists. It holds old books, manuscripts and printed works collected by Gazis and those who followed him. It is rare to find such a collection in a mountain village, and it says a lot about what Pelion meant at the time: a place of schools, trade and people who read.
The village
The square of Milies has the church of the Taxiarches, coffee houses under the plane trees and a view towards the Pagasetic Gulf. The village also has a local museum with objects from everyday life on Pelion. Cobbled paths lead from the square to the neighbouring villages, such as Vyzitsa, which is very close.
Practical notes
If you want to go by train, check the timetable: the Moutzouris does not run all year round or every day. By car, Milies is about 45 minutes from Volos. For the Library and the museum, ask about opening hours.
Take your time. Milies is not a village for a quick stop, it is a village for an afternoon.
