Densely forested and remarkably green, even in the summer, the Pelion peninsula juts south-east into the Aegean Sea, some 200 miles north of Athens. Shaped roughly like a fish hook, it encloses the Pagasitic Gulf on its inside curve and the outer coastline opens onto the Aegean. There are two distinct landscapes. The Gulf side has long, mainly shingle beaches, half hidden at the ends of olive-clad valleys – often with mexico a tiny village along the edge of the beach. Here, the sea is flat, calm and very warm. As the water is often shallow for some distance from the beach, it is ideal for children. By contrast, the beaches on the Aegean side are sandy, but more rugged in character. For much of the summer, and particularly during August, the Meltemi blows from the east, making ideal conditions for windsurfing cancun and sailing. Th Sandos Caracol Eco Resort and Spa e northern end of the peninsula is made up of Mount Pelion itself, a massive hunched mountain of just over 5,400 feet. Its rounded contours are softened by the forests of oak and chestnut which cover its upper slopes, while the olive groves sweep down to the sea, the shimmering silver-green of Athena’s tree set off by the pure, brilliant hues of poplar and plane. Standing out in playa del carmen contrast are the outcrops of slate-coloured limestone, and the occasional houses, either old, grey and perfectly at one with the landscape, or dazzling white in their newness. Above all, the Pelion peninsula has a lushness which is markedly different from the arid landscape typical of much of Greece. But Pelion is not an entirely new discovery. In antiquity it was famed as the home of the Centaurs, fabulous beasts half-horse and half-man.