Makrinitsa-Stagiates-Portaria (circular)

Distance: 8,8 km
Time: 4,5 hours (walking time 3h20')
Altitude: max 888 m., min 394 m.
Total elevation gain/loss: 635 m.
Signed with various signs and red paint
Start/finish: Makrinitsa (end of bus line) or Portaria (Adamena fountain) or Stagiates (square)
Drinking water on walk: yes (Makrinitsa, Stagiates, Mana spring)
Download GPS track (.gpx): from Wikiloc

Powered by Wikiloc

   UPDATE  11/2023: THE ROUTE IS IMPASSABLE  DUE TO THE TERRIBLE FLOODING OF SEPTEMBER 2023.   

  After a new path was opened in 2018, which connects Mana spring of Portaria to Makrinitsa at a level higher than the asphalt road, we now have the opportunity to create a circular walk Portaria to Makrinitsa, avoiding the asphalt as much as possible. Caution is required after heavy rain, or when the snow melts in spring, causing the stream to flow enough water to make crossing difficult (usually it is dry). The walk is best avoided in such circumstances. 

      The walk may start either from Makrinitsa (end of bus line), or Portaria (Adamena fountain), or Stagiates village square. On this occasion, we elected to start from Makrinitsa.

Makrinitsa

      Starting from the bus U-turn at the entrance of Makrinitsa, we walk down on the narrow road going to the underage refugees' Hostel (ex-Preventorium), to find in a few meters the start of a kalderimi (cobblestone path) on our left. Going steadily downhill -the view from certain points is fabulous- we come to cross the Mega rema stream over a wooden bridge, built by local volunteers of the Association of Stagiates, at a beautiful spot with running water under the shadow of plane trees. After a little while, the path opens on a sharp turn of an earth road, which we follow on a straight line. Entering the village of Stagiates, the road becomes asphalt paved and leads to the main church and to the square next to it.  

Stagiates square

             Νext to the drinking water fountain at the square, the main  kalderimi goes uphill and we follow it. We cross the asphalt and continue climbing among houses. Higher up, as we exit the village, the kalderimi becomes road paved with cement. Ιn a few meters, we leave it at an angle to the right and keep climbing on earth path. Road sections and path-kalderimi sections alternate on our way up, until we come το join the main asphalt, just under the cemetery of Portaria. Walking on the main asphalt to the right (towards Portaria), after 400 m. we reach Adamena fountain and a cafe which is nearby. Here we leave the asphalt and start climbing on a path following the course of Mana`s stream. Several wooden pedestrian bridges make crossing the streambed easier, as water is running for the most part of the year (not in summer). We can easily imagine Centaurs strolling up and down in this fabulous scenery.

The path at Mana stream

         The path opens to a small plateau, next to a building of the water system collecting the water of Mana spring and a drinking water fountain. We continue uphill, following the plain red marks (attention!) and ignoring the red-on-white marks pointing downhill, which belong to a mountain running race (Ultra Trail Pelion, UTP).

Having a short break at Mana spring

          
      The path opens to an area where a few goats and other animals are kept and a stationary caravan is on our left, and we continue uphill on an earth road, ignoring signs in Greek to ''ΞΕΝΩΝΕΣ ΠΟΡΤΑΡΙΑΣ'' (a closed summer camp). In seven hundred meters we come to an earth road junction and take the left branch uphill. After another three hundred meters, as the road takes a right turn, we leave it on a straight line (the signpost we put here has sadly been removed by an unknown person), cross a small stream and continue on a narrow path traversing a rocky slope. 

Approaching the stream Mega rema. The path runs above the cliff 

         We come to cross the stream of Mega rema, an easy task as the stream usually is dry, but can be more difficult in case of recent heavy rain or melting snow in spring.  

Crossing the Mega rema (in spring)

      On the other bank the path, cleaned by volunteer work in 2018 and again in 2022, is half decent  and long trousers are still recommended. At some point there is a balcony offering truly magnificent view to Portaria, Makrinitsa, Volos and the Pagasitic Gulf below. 

View to Portaria

         

  In a little while the path seemingly disappears, as we come to a small plateau that used to be a vineyard previously, according to its owner who came to see what we were doing on his land. The path actually continues descending on the left edge of the plateau, but this section is deserted long ago and is totally blocked by overgrown vegetation. So, for the time present, we climb down to a second small plateau and turn right, finding at the edge a narrow path into oak forest.

A section of the path (we couldn`t lift the fallen stones, too heavy)

           Eventually we come down to an earth road,  on which we walk for one hundred meters. At that point we notice a kalderimi joining in at an angle from the left. Here we have the option to walk another hundred meters on the road to visit the small and quiet monastery of Agia Paraskevi and drink water from its fountain. Otherwise, we follow the kalderimi downhill. This gets us to the parking at the end of the asphalt road, on which we walk to return back to the end of the bus line, where our walk had started.   
  

Aidonofolies (Volos)-Portaria-Stagiates

Looking down to Volos 

Distance: 9 km (+1 km to visit Mana spring)
Duration: 4 hours with stops (+0,5 h to Mana spring)
Altitude: from 95 m. (Aidonofolies) to 630 m. (Portaria)
Total ascent/descent: 625 m.
Signed with red paint marks and some signs
Drinking water on walk: yes
Download GPS track:  from Everytrail   from Wikiloc

          In this nice circular walk, starting from the outskirts of Volos, we climb through the kalderimis of Anakasia up to the village of Portaria and then come back through Stagiates. Aidonofolies is located in Upper Volos, at the end of Iolkou street next to the Mega Rema stream. We can go there by taxi or by city bus nr.4 (end of line). In case we want to make it easier avoiding climbing up, we can still go to Portaria by bus and walk down to Aidonofolies in less than 2 hours.

              Starting from the parking lot at Aidonofolies, we walk up the stone paved track, which soon becomes concrete paved. On our left we go past the church of Timiou Prodromou (St. John the Baptist) and the local primary school. At two junctions we go right, keeping close to the main asphalt. Eventually, we reach the square of Anakasia, featuring a bronze statue of naive folk painter Theofilos who lived and worked there about a century ago (a visit to the Theofilos` museum that is nearby is recommended-open Mo-Fri 08.00-15.00, tel. 2421047340).
            We continue on the stone paved track next to the drinking water fountain and head east, enjoying excellent view over the city of Volos and the sea down below. For some twenty metres the old cobblestone appears under our feet, but then gets covered again by the flat stone paving. Keeping an eye for the red paint marks, a little further up we take the uphill kalderimi to the left. Reaching a wooden sign pointing to the right, we elect to go left instead, up the stairs opening to the small square with the church of Agia Triada (Holy Trinity).

Agia Triada church

              Above the church we cross the asphalt and after an initial stretch of kalderimi, walk on a road to an easterly direction. After 200 m., we take the wide uphill  kalderimi to the left. We pass under the main asphalt road, then next to Profitis Elias chapel and then join the asphalt road to Stagiates village, which we follow to the left uphill. After crossing a stream, we take the uphill earth road to the right. As we climb, we notice stretches of kalderimi in the road. Further up, it becomes stone paved and we go past a drinking water fountain. We cross the main asphalt and continue uphill on a track, entering the village of Portaria.

On the stone paved tracks of Portaria

          We cross the asphalt yet twice, walking now on stone paved track. At the corner of restaurant ''Geusokratoras'' we take the narrower kalderimi to the left, which opens to the main asphalt again, just above Naoumidi old mansion-guesthouse. We go downhill on the asphalt for a few metres and through the parking lot, then on the stone paved track opposite, which gets at the upper side of  the village square, next to the old hotel ''Theoxenia''. So far, we have walked 4,5 km in about one hour and 50 minutes, including stops.

Portaria village square

               After a refreshing stop at the quiet square of Portaria, under the shade of the plane trees, we go down on the asphalt and turn right to Makrinitsa. In a short while, as we reach the stream of Mana, a short deviation from our course is recommended, a 15-minute climb following the course of the overgrown ravine to the homonymous spring of Mana, In our course we pass over 9 small wooden bridges. Pelion`s nature is at its best here.

Walking into the ravine to Mana spring

        Coming back to the asphalt, we continue walking towards Makrinitsa and pass by the drinking water fountain of Adamena. As we reach the cemetery and a shrine on the right side of the road, we find a path ot the left side (there is a walking sign on a tree) that goes downhill and opens to a narrow asphalt road, which we follow for fifty metres. Then, seeing a basketball pitch on the right, we find the path again to the left on a southwesterly direction. It soon becomes a kalderimi, having a fence on the left side. Further down it opens to a concrete track and we keep on the same direction. We pass next to a tank of the water system, walking now through olive groves. At a junction we go left.

View over Makrinitsa

        In a while, our path opens to a concrete road at an angle as we come across the first houses of Stagiates. Soon it becomes a kalderimi again, descending through the village. Crossing the asphalt, we immediately reach the square. A stop is mandatory here, under the shade of the two big plane trees, to quench our thirst with the cool water running from the fountain of the square, as we try to read the old inscription in arabic letters, dating from the Ottoman era.

Stagiates village square

         The kalderimi continues downhill on the left side of the square. Reaching an earth road junction we go right, pass by the small chapel of Agios Serafim, and further down there is a sign on the left, which indicates the continuity of the kalderimi.

View over Volos 

           Enjoying great views over Makrinitsa and Volos, we pass by the quiet small chapel of Agios Panteleimon and then the path opens to an earth road. At the sharp right bend we go straight ahead to find a short final section of the kalderimi, opening to an earth road parallel to the Mega Rema stream on our right. Further down, we pass to the right bank of the stream over a concrete bridge and soon return to the starting point of our walk.