Useful information about the Port of Volos

Volos is a city situated at the centre of the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia Prefecture. With a population of around 83,000 it is an important industrial centre, while its port provides a bridge between Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Built at the innermost point of the Pagasetic Gulf and at the foot of Mount Pilio or Pelion, the land of the Centaurs, Volos is the only outlet towards the sea from Thessaly, the country's largest agricultural region. Volos is the third of the major commercial ports of Greece, but also has much traffic because it is connected by ferries as well as by hydrofoils with the nearby Sporades Islands, which include Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonissos. There are also connections to Limnos, Lesvos, Chios and Skyros.

According to a Byzantine historian of the 14th century Volos was called Golos. The most widely accepted theory for the derivation of the city's name is that Volos is a corruption of the Mycenaean Iolkos, which was distorted through the ages to Golkos, then Golos and subsequently Volos. Others claim that it originates from Folos, who according to mythology was a wealthy landlord of the region.

Volos is the most recent of the Greek port cities, with a remarkably large proportion of modern buildings, erected in the wake of the catastrophic earthquakes of 1955. The economy of the city is based on manufacturing, trade, services and tourism. It is a city full of energy, equipped with contemporary infrastructures. Home to the University of Thessaly, one of the most important of the country, it also has all the necessary facilities in terms of accommodation for organization of conferences, exhibitions, major cultural and scientific events as well as its international level sporting amenities.

Volos participated in the Olympic Games and as an Olympic City it acquired international experience and together with the other Olympic Cities it defined worldwide the new face of contemporary Greece. Noteworthy are the continuous athletic events that the city held as the European Gymnastics Championship in 2006 and the World Pool Championship. Volos represents Greece as the candidate city for the Mediterranean Games of 2013.