Qualla: Galaxidi https://qualla.com/galaxidi en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/z/f/galaxidi-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Galaxidi https://qualla.com/galaxidi Galaxidi: Introduction https://qualla.com/galaxidi/ Photo credit Odysses, CC BY-SA 4.0. Every year on Clean Monday — the first day of Greek Orthodox Lent — something remarkable happens in Galaxidi. The town divides itself into a war zone and a neutral zone. Locals and visitors, dressed in old clothes, faces darkened with charcoal, march to the harbour with large quantities of coloured flour. Then they throw it at each other. And at bystanders. Until everyone runs out. The custom is called Alevromoutzouroma — Flour Smudging — and it has been happening, in its current form, since the mid-nineteenth century, origin unclear. By noon the harbour of one of the most architecturally handsome towns on the Gulf of Corinth is submerged in coloured clouds.

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Image: Odysses | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/z/f/galaxidi-wp/sqzf-galaxidi-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Galaxidi: A Double Harbour on the Gulf https://qualla.com/galaxidi/ Photo credit C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0. Galaxidi occupies a peninsula on the west coast of the Gulf of Itea — a northward indentation of the wider Gulf of Corinth — and the town's defining geographic feature is its natural double harbour. Two separate bays face different directions, sheltering boats from almost any win...

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Image: C messier | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/z/f/galaxidi-wp/sqzf-galaxidi-a-double-harbour-on-the-gulf.mp3 0:06 2 full Galaxidi: Captains and Caiques https://qualla.com/galaxidi/ Photo credit MartinVMtl, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Galaxidi that visitors see today — the neoclassical sea-captains' mansions, the church of the Dormition of Mary, the stone-paved lanes — is largely the product of the nineteenth century, when the town was a significant maritime power. Its shipowners and captains operated a me...

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Image: MartinVMtl | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/z/f/galaxidi-wp/sqzf-galaxidi-captains-and-caiques.mp3 0:06 3 full Galaxidi: Raided, Destroyed, Rebuilt https://qualla.com/galaxidi/ Photo credit Public domain. Galaxidi has been destroyed more than once. The Bulgarian raid of 981 or 996 was followed by Norman invasions in 1081 and 1147, each time scattering the inhabitants and leaving the town to rebuild itself. This pattern — disaster, abandonment, return — recurs across Galaxidi's lon...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/z/f/galaxidi-wp/sqzf-galaxidi-raided-destroyed-rebuilt.mp3 0:06 4 full Galaxidi: The Town the Gulf Made https://qualla.com/galaxidi/ Photo credit Jean Housen, CC BY-SA 3.0. Galaxidi today is a popular weekend retreat from Athens, about two and a half to three hours by road. The neoclassical architecture survives in unusually good condition — the captains who built these houses did so with the profits of a successful trade, and the town never underwe...

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Image: Jean Housen | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/z/f/galaxidi-wp/sqzf-galaxidi-the-town-the-gulf-made.mp3 0:06 5 full