The harbour
Fishing boats, quayside tavernas and a pine wood down to the water.
MartinVMtl โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท C messier โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท C messier โ CC BY-SA 4.0
**A quiet seafaring town on the Gulf of Corinth**, about 35 km from Delphi โ the place you come down to after a day on dry stone up the mountain. In the **19th century** it was one of the richest ports in Greece: its fleet of sailing ships worked the Mediterranean, and their owners built themselves **large stone houses** with iron balconies and carved doorways that still line its lanes. Then **steam** ended the sailing trade, the town stopped growing โ and that is why it stayed as it is. Its harbour today is **small and quiet**, with fishing boats and small yachts and fish tavernas along the quay, and a pine wood behind coming down to the water. There is a small **maritime museum** telling the fleet's story. โ You do not come here for a single sight โ you come **to sit**: a fish lunch on the water, a walk along the quay, and sunset over the gulf with the mountains opposite.
Fishing boats, quayside tavernas and a pine wood down to the water.
Stone fronts and iron balconies from the age of sail.
Late light on the water with the Peloponnese mountains opposite.
Galaxidi, 33052 Fokida, Greece
**Ask the weight and the price per kilo before agreeing โ that is the only rule you need.** โ **How the problem happens**: fresh fish is priced **by the kilogram**, not by the plate, and you are shown a chiller or a tray to pick one. You point, it is grilled, it arrives โ and it turns out to have been **900 grams at โฌ60 a kilo**. That is not necessarily a trick, but visitors mostly do not ask. โ **The fix is two sentences**: "how much does it weigh?" and "what is the price per kilo?" โ then do the arithmetic. A decent waiter will weigh it in front of you if you ask. โ **And there are excellent cheaper options**: grilled **sardines and anchovies**, **calamari** and **octopus**, which are priced per plate rather than per kilo and cost a fraction. โ **Note too**: "fresh" and "frozen" must be distinguished on the menu with a mark โ ask if you cannot see one.
**Yes if you have two nights or are heading west; no if you only have one day.** โ **With one day at Delphi**: do not go. 35 km each way on mountain road means an hour and a half of travel, and you have more important things โ the site, the museum, Marmaria, perhaps Hosios Loukas. โ **With two nights**: make it **the second afternoon**. You drop from the mountain to the sea, have a fish lunch on the quay, walk among the captains' houses and come back at sunset โ a contrast that makes the trip feel complete: dry stone in the morning, water in the evening. โ **And if you are travelling west** towards Patras, Messolonghi or on to the Ionian islands, **Galaxidi is directly on your road** and costs you no detour at all โ at which point it is the obvious lunch stop.
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