Prefecture of Fokida / Basic

Basic

At the foot of Kirfis mountain and at an altitude of 600m. is lying amphitheatrically the small picturesque town of Desphina. Having a population of about 2,500 inhabitants, nowadays Desphina is an independent Municipality, near the site of the ancient city of Echedameia (there still are ruins-curved graves, etc.), which was destroyed by Phillip II of Macedonia (355-346 BC), native town of the 1821 hero Isaiah bishop of Salona Isaiah and of the painter Spiros Papaloukas.

Noteworthy monuments of Desphina and of the region are: the historic monastery of Ag. Ioannis Prodromos related to the 1821 Liberation struggle, the chapel of Taxiarches (in the yard of the Agios Charalambos church) which is a Basilica built during the 12th century with notable but partely damaged wall paintings. At the site Syro-Kastro there are still ruins of the ancient town of Medeon, ruined together with Echedameia by Phillip II (Third Sacred War).

There still is the house where Isaiah, bishop of Salona, was born as well as the house of Spiros Papaloukas. The picturesque square and the traditional small tavernes characterise modern Desphina.