ZAGORA - Behind the Mountain Zagora is a beautiful and “vibrant” village (“4-in-1”), with wonderful Pelion mansions, beautiful 18th-century churches, picturesque cobblestone streets, shady squares, and amazing views of the Aegean Sea. It is the largest village in Pelion, with 2,000 permanent residents. It is also one of the richest and most historical. From afar, its four neighborhoods -Agia Paraskevi (or "Perachora"), Agia Kyriaki, Agios Georgios, and Sotira- are clearly separated from each other, resembling four different villages that just... happened to be very close.The initial nucleus of the village must have been formed around the 12th century, near the monastery of Metamorphosis tou Sotira, which no longer exists, somewhere in today's Sotira district. For many years it had a double name, "Sotira-Zagora", but soon only the second component remained, which comes from a Slavic word that means "place behind the mountain."The administrative center has always been a pole of attraction for persecuted Greeks from areas where the Turkish yoke was more unbearable, especially from the 17th - 18th century onwards, when Zagora experienced economic prosperity, due to the production and trade of silk and skoutia (woolen fabrics). Most of them came from Epirus and Macedonia and brought with them this special northern Greek architecture, which today characterizes most of the villages of Pelion. Image The Zagorian Ships and the EgyptiansTo overcome the obstacles posed by the mountain regarding the movement of goods, they turned their gaze to the sea, built the much-sung Zagorian ships, and through Horefto expanded their operations to the Central and Eastern Mediterranean, while where they really flourished was in the 19th century in Egypt. Those who prospered abroad did not forget their village and benefited it with various bequests. Image Others built beautiful churches, others proud mansions, one a cobblestone path, and another a road, and many together helped to build the two "cornerstones" of the village. The Ellinomouseio (early 18th century), the first important school in all of Pelion, where, among others, Rigas Feraios studied. In 1762, the famous Library of Zagora was founded, mainly thanks to the effort and contribution of the Zagorian Ecumenical Patriarch Kallinikos III and the merchant Ioannis Prigos, who had been a refugee since the age of 16, but excelled in business in Amsterdam, after previously having made the route Alexandria-Venice-Smyrna. Image Apples of GoldFrom the beginning of the 20th century, they turned to agriculture and especially to their red "gold," the famous apples of Zagora. They even proceeded to found an Agricultural Cooperative as early as 1916 to better promote the delicious firikia (which were subsequently neglected) and starking delicious - today known as "Zagorin."The fact that Zagora does not link its economic prosperity with tourism perhaps explains why it is not among the top destinations of Pelion, although it has a very remarkable infrastructure. In recent years, however, and with the contribution of the beautiful beach of Horefto (the largest in Pelion), it is entering the tourist map more and more dynamically!
