WE FEEL HAPPY AND ALIVE IN NATURE

OUR STORY

We got to know Pelion in the mid-nineteen-eighties. Then, after studying Economics, I was doing my military service training with the Air Force at the air base in Nea Anchialos. Whenever I was off duty, I would go out in Volos and the surrounding area. On the weekends when I had leave, Marianna would come and we’d go on trips to Pelion. One evening we slept in sleeping bags on Papa Nero beach. We were alone on the beach, with a few house lights twinkling on the mountain behind us. Above us, the stars shone in the night sky. A gentle breeze was blowing and suddenly a shooting star formed a bright arc across the sky and then died. I can’t remember if I made a wish or not, but that bright arc has carved itself into my memory. After that we continued visiting Pelion regularly as tourists. It was our love of the area, and in particular Tsagarada, that led us, almost magically, to buy the plot of land in 1992 on which stands AMANITA today. We had no clear idea what we wanted to do with it, except perhaps build a small country house for holidays and relaxation. It was not until a decade later that we decided to breathe new life into the ruins of the manor house, and share it with friends by turning it into a guesthouse. During the four years it took to rebuild the house, we really started to get to know the mountain, which the Ancient Greeks had shrouded in legend, the most famous of which is that of the centaurs.