When Stathis was a boy, he used to run to the station every time the train arrived from Volos.

It was the only connection the villages of Pelion had to the outside world — and for a boy from a poor family of seven, carrying bags for arriving passengers was how you earned money. He grew up watching people step off that train, into the mountain air, into Milies. And he made himself a promise: one day, this place will be mine.

To keep that promise, he left. He and his Italian wife worked for years as immigrants in Germany, saving everything they could. When they came back, they bought the old station — the same building where he once ran as a child — and restored it themselves. It opened in 1986.

Palios Stathmos is now carried forward by the family he left behind — Greek, Italian, Albanian — three cultures, one place, the same warmth he would have wanted every guest to feel.

Every carved detail you see at Palios Stathmos — the furniture, the woodwork, the stone features — was made by hand by Gjok Marku.

Gjok is a wood and stone artist who created everything inside the hotel from scratch. He also takes commissions for private clients and other projects.

To contact Gjok directly: gjo82@gmail.com