Volos is the newest of the Greek port cities, with a large proportion of modern buildings erected following catastrophic earthquakes in 1955.

Home to the University of Thessaly, the city also offers facilities for conferences, exhibitions and major sporting, cultural and scientific events.

The city spreads in the plain on the foothills of Mount Pelion, bordering the town of Agria to the east and Nea Anchialos to the southwest.

Volos is a major commercial port of mainland Greece in the Aegean sea (after Piraeus and Thessaloniki), with connection by ferry and hydrofoil to the nearby Sporades Islands, which include Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonissos.

[4] Iolcus, or Iolkos, was known in mythology as the homeland of the hero Jason, who boarded the ship Argo accompanied by the Argonauts and sailed in quest of the Golden Fleece to Colchis.

The mound of Kastro/Palaia in western Volos is the site of a Bronze Age settlement, including a Mycenaean palace complex where a couple of preserved Linear B tablets have been found.

After the latter's death in 1373, Thessaly returned under Byzantine rule for twenty years, until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Bayezid I.

[12] The Ottomans strengthened the town's fortifications against a possible Venetian attack, and installed not only a garrison, but also Muslim settlers from Anatolia.

[12] On 8 April 1827, the Greek fleet, under the command of the British philhellene Frank Abney Hastings, captured five Ottoman ships in the city's harbour and forced the local garrison to evacuate the fortress.

[12] After its incorporation into the Greek Kingdom, the town had a population of only 4,900, but grew rapidly in the next four decades as merchants, businessmen, craftsmen and sailors gravitated toward it from the surrounding area.

Abandoning Volos after Italy's capitulation in September 1943, the Italians left storerooms full of food, arms and ammunition.

Large quantities of this material was transported with the Pelion railway to the mountain village Milies and under the supervision of ELAS loaded onto mules and taken to secure hideaways.

A street in a sister city, Rostov-on-Don, bears the name Улица Греческого Города Волос (Street of the Greek City of Volos), weaving through a mix of early 20th-century buildings with characteristic inner yards, tiered balconies and open iron stairs that lend the old Rostov its characteristic Mediterranean look.

Three main rivers/mountain torrents all rise from mount Pelion (with its peak at 1,610 metres (5,280 feet)), crossing the city to create a unique urban geography, before ending in the Pagasetic Gulf flowing west.

The Anavros river, famous for Jason's pass, divides the Nea Demetriada district from the rest of the urban area.

Volos experiences a Csa hot-summer Mediterranean climate, with neither particularly high nor extremely low temperatures throughout the year.

[citation needed] Volos is one of the most industrialized provincial cities of Greece, because of its strategic location between the largest population centers of the country (Athens – Thessaloníki) and its port.

AGET Heracles, a member of the Lafarge group, operates one of the largest cement facilities in the world (with capacity exceeding 7,000,000 tn[27]) with its own private port, next to the city.

According to Greek mythology, this was where the hero Jason built his trireme, Argo, and along with his oarsmen set course for Colchis, bringing back and marrying priestess Medea.

Today, Volos has the third-largest cargo port in Greece (after Piraeus and Thessaloniki), carrying agricultural and industrial products.

Ferries and flying dolphins operate daily, connecting Volos to the Magnesia islands of the Sporades, (Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonissos).

After 1922, following the Asia Minor Catastrophe, Volos received a large number of people from the destroyed regions.

Above all, Volos forms one of the most attractive and tourist-friendly cities in Greece because of its physical setting, combining the Pagasetic Gulf with Mount Pelion.

Local specialities include: Volos, taking advantage of its physical setting by the sea, has a significant presence in Greek sporting history in the areas of rowing and sailing.

Additionally, Volos has clubs and facilities in several sports, including football, basketball, volleyball, tennis and horseriding.

Today, the city is served by direct lines to the rest of Greece, and the railway complex houses facilities for train maintenance.

Currently, the Pelion railway line operates for tourist reasons every Saturday, Sunday and public holiday from mid-April to the end of October.