The Papa Nero beach on the east coast of Pelion peninsula, where nearby mountains are said to have once been ruled by centaurs. — Photos: YANNIS SKOULAS/GNTO/dpa
It's mesmerising to watch Anita Cota roll out the dough in front of her. With just a thin wooden rolling pin, she flattens the dough from the inside to the outside, rolling it exactly twice, over and over again.
The filo pastry is getting thinner and thinner, which is just how the young Albanian woman wants it. Does she have a recipe? Yes – flour, water and salt, but she doesn’t weigh anything. You have to have a feel for the dough. Another secret of cooking with filo are the many layers. And a lot of olive oil, as we learn in this cooking class in Greece.
On the menu today is a savoury Greek pie. The participants of the class have collected fresh vegetables and herbs at Karaiskos farm in Portaris, high above Volos and the Pagasetic Gulf, in the east of the Greek mainland. Roughly halfway between Athens and Thessaloniki, the farm is nestled in the mountains at around 700m.
Fresh vegetables thrive in the farm’s garden, even when it’s not summer: broccoli, leafy greens, spring onions, as well as fresh herbs like dill, parsley, rosemary and lavender.
While chef George Kandilas heats up the wood-fired oven and the filo pastry rests, the ingredients for the filling are chopped, mixed and seasoned. The chef also reveals the secret to a good tzatziki, which is as important to the green pie as salt is to a boiled egg. It’s all about getting the right mix: Greek yogurt, olive oil, strained cucumbers and garlic. Don’t forget the herbs!
The area around the mountain village of Milies is a hiking paradise.
Traditions kept alive
Traditional Greek cuisine can be found in every restaurant in the Pelion region. Even though it is a good four-hour drive from Athens and three from Thessaloniki, it doesn’t stop people coming here to the mountains for the weekend or for the holidays. Life here is simple and city dwellers are drawn to the peace and quiet.
Around 800 people live in Portaria year round, with the population multiplying at the weekend, even in winter. It’s not just the good food and peace and quiet that are draws, the surrounding area is also great for hiking, including mountain villages such as Kala Nera, Pinakates, Vizitsa and Milies.
Manos Manou, a botanist in Portaria, offers tours, leading over steep paths and through narrow alleys covered in vegetation – there is even rosemary and other herbs growing along the side of the road. Olive trees are a rare sight, it’s too cold for them here.
“Not everything that grows further south can survive up here,” says Manou.
Living from and with nature is something people here are used to. And a way of life that’s still maintained, with old traditions and craftsmanship, and that visitors can learn about in workshops. For example in Estia Pelion, a cultural space founded by Angeliki Vogdanou. Antigoni Tsirogianni is a fixture here, working on two looms to make fine fabrics and coarse carpets adorned with stripes, patterns, pompoms and more.
Angeliki’s husband Christos Gianakopoulos is a pottery maker. He doesn’t just make vases and bowls from cool clay, he is also enthusiastic about the history of pottery in Greece. Old pottery shards can be found near the small town and all over the country.
Like Antigoni, he also introduces people to his art, which is like therapy for some. “It’s not easy for inexperienced fingers to form a port that’s uniform and the right shape,” he says.
Moving the wooden weaving shuttles though the threads of the loom and at the same time determining the direction of the threads with your feet is also not easy. Antigoni also shows visitors how the materials she uses are created, which she then uses to make clothes and bags.
Home of the centaurs
But it wouldn’t be Greece without a few myths, especially a mountain. This also applies to the three mountains around Pelion, which lie at the back of Mount Olympus. The centaurs – half human, half horse – are said to have once ruled in Pelion. The wisest of them was Chiron, who taught medicine and was a tutor to heroes such as Achilles and Asclepius.
The region above Volos and the Gulf can be explored not only on foot or by car, but also by train. Hidden in the forest are 60cm-wide tracks, leading from Ano Lechonia to Milies. The train takes around an hour and a half to cover the relatively short distance, as it winds up and down the mountains, including over some impressively high bridges.
Makrinitsa is a cobblestone village with its own Byzantine museum. — VERENA WOLFF/dpa
In Makrinitsa, which is an equally adventurous car ride along narrow mountain roads, it’s worth not only taking a relaxed stroll through the cobbled town, which seems to have been carved into the rock, but also visiting the modern Byzantine museum with its icons and church treasures.
A monastery was founded here in the 13th century, and numerous manors were built during the Ottoman rule. They are well preserved, as are numerous churches and a painting by the Greek folk painter Theophilos Hatzimihail. Some are even listed buildings.
With all the history and the stories, one thing is certain every evening: Portaria will be nice and quiet. In the village’s restaurants there will be good food and good conversations with locals and guests alike. And the green pie with the crispy filo pastry will taste extra great now that you know the secrets of the dough and the filling – and the effort that goes into making it. – VERENA WOLFF/dpa
