Milies ( el, Μηλιές) is a village and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in Magnesia,

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

South Pelion South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 63.754 km². It is a traditional Greek mountain village, at a height of 400 m on Mount

Pelion Pelion or Pelium (Modern el, Πήλιο, ''Pílio''; Ancient Greek/ Katharevousa: Πήλιον, ''Pēlion'') is a mountain at the southeastern part of Thessaly in northern Greece, forming a hook-like peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the ...

. It is 28 km from

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

, the capital city of Magnesia. Milies is connected with the GR-34A (Volos - Promyri) It has traditional stone houses, cobbled roads, good restaurants and accommodation in abundance. Milies is also notable for being the terminus of the narrow gauge (60 cm) Pelion Railway, built between 1895 and 1903 by the Italian engineer,

Evaristo de Chirico Evaristo is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name: * Evaristo Avalos (born 1933), Mexican equestrian * Evaristo Barrera (1911–1982), Argentine football striker * Evaristo Baschenis (1617–1677), Ital ...

, father of the famous artist

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...

. This proved to be of considerable economic advantage to the region. The recently railway runs between Ano Lechonia and Milies twice a week at the weekend. The village commands striking views across the Pagasetic Gulf and benefits from the many streams and water sources for which Mt. Pelion is renowned. These result in rich vegetation and cool, forested mountain slopes.

Subdivisions

The municipal unit Milies is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): Palios Stathmos hotel 1

Agios Georgios Nileias Agios Georgios Nileias ( el, Άγιος Γεώργιος Νηλείας) is a village and a community in the municipal unit of Milies, Magnesia, Greece. It is situated on the slopes of mount Pelion, at about 700 m elevation. Its population in 20 ...

(Agios Georgios Nileias, Agia Triada, Ano Gatzea, Dyo Revmata, Kato Gatzea) *

Kala Nera Kala Nera ( el, Καλά Νερά meaning "good waters") is a village in the municipal unit of Milies, Magnesia, Greece. It is situated in the western part of the mountainous Pelion peninsula, on the Pagasetic Gulf coast. It is 3 km southwest of M ...

*Milies (Milies,

Koropi Koropi ( el, Κορωπί, ) is a suburban town in East Attica, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality Kropia. It has been home to the new training facilities of Panathinaikos football club since the summer of 2013. Geography Koropi is sit ...

, Stavrodromi) *

Pinakates Pinakates ( el, Πινακάτες) is a mountain village in the Magnesia regional unit, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Milies. Geography Pinakates is on the southwestern slopes of the Pelion mountain range. It is 3 km west of Milies ...

(Pinakates, Agios Athanasios) * Vyzitsa (Vyzitsa, Argyreika)

Nearest places

, southwest * Ano Lechonia, northwest *Stavrodromoi

Population

Geography

The

mountains dominate the area, the valley covers the central part. Farmlands are adjacent to the village, which produces fruits, olives and vegetables.

History

The town was founded by people fleeing pirate attacks on Milies on the island of

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

. The town was constructed inland and while the sea can be seen from the village, the community cannot be seen from the sea. Anthimos Gazis and

Grigorios Konstantas Grigorios Konstantas ( el, Γρηγόριος Κωνσταντάς; 1753–1844) was a Greek scholar and figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment. He was actively involved in various educational issues as well as participated in the Greek War of In ...

opened the school "Psychis Akos" in 1814 which is now a library with books and historic features. Milies was the first community of Pelion which saw the Greek War of Independence of 1821. Magnesia lost the battle and did not join the

Greek Kingdom The Kingdom of Greece ( grc, label=Greek, Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος ) was established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally recognised by the Treaty of Constantinople, where ...

until 1881. When Milies and the area became part of Greece in 1881, the Ottomans left the area. During the

German Occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

nearly the whole village was burnt down by German occupation troops on October 4, 1943. According to the official report of the municipality the Germans executed 25 men and three inhabitants died in their houses by the flames. This was after the resistance had killed a German officer and a soldier nearby eight days before on September 26.Helen F. Stamati: Milies: A Village on Mount Pelion, Athens 1989, p. 58.

Landmarks

The towns feature's a church known as Agios Taxiarchos (built in 1741).

Notable people

* Anthimos Gazis (1758–1828), scholar of the Greek Enlightenment *

(1753–1844) * Daniel Philippidis (ca. 1750-1832) *

Konstantinos Garefis Konstantinos Garefis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Γαρέφης) was a Greek chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle. Biography Garefis was born in 1874 in Milies of Magnesia. His grandfather, who was from Souli, was prosecuted by Ali Pash ...

(1874-1906), chieftain of the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle ( bg, Македонска борба; el, Μακεδονικός Αγώνας; mk, Борба за Македонија; sr, Борба за Македонију; tr, Makedonya Mücadelesi) was a series of social, po ...

Sister cities

Lapithos Lapithos or Lapethos ( el, Λάπηθος; tr, Lapta) is a town in Cyprus. ''De facto'', it is under the control of Northern Cyprus. Archeologists claim that Lapithos was founded by the Achean brothers Praxandros and Cepheus. According to Stra ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

* Bălţi,

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

Sources

* Helen F. Stamati: ''Milies: A Village on Mount Pelion.'' Athenian Press, Athens 1989.

References

External links

{{Authority control Populated places in Pelion