Greece: Travel Guide: Central Greece: Fokida

Greece: Central Greece: Fokida

Phocis (Greek, Modern: Φωκίδα/Fokída, Ancient/Katharevousa: Φωκίς/Phokis; named after the Greek mythological personage Phocus) is an ancient district of central Greece and a prefecture of modern Greece located in Sterea Hellas, one of the thirteen peripheries of Greece.Ancient Phocis was about 1,619 km² (625 mi²) in area, bounded on the west by Ozolian Locris and Doris, on the north by Opuntian Locris, on the east by Boeotia, and on the south by the Gulf of Corinth. The massive ridge of Parnassus (2,459 m/8,068 ft), which traverses the heart of the country, divides it into two distinct portions.

Modern Phocis has an area of 2120 km² (819 mi²), of which 560 km² (216 mi²) are forested, 36 km² (14 mi²) are plains, and the remainder is mountainous.[1]

Being neither rich in material resources nor well placed for commercial enterprise, Phocis was mainly pastoral. No large cities grew up within its territory, and its chief places were mainly of strategic importance.Phocis is today a prefecture and the capital is at Amfissa, formely called Salona. With a population of less than 48,526 (2001), it is one of the Greece's least populated prefectures, having a population density of less than 23 persons per km² (59/mi²).[2] In the summer months, the population nearly doubles due to the influx of toursists.[1] The neighboring prefectures are Aetolia-Acarnania to the west, Phthiotis to the north and Boeotia to the east.

The communities include in the present-day Phocis are Amfissa, Delphi (near Boeotia), Galaxidi, Itea.Most of the villages are founded in the south, the southwest and the west, especially in areas from Amfissa to Itea. The north and the east are leastly populated.Much of the south and east are deforested and rocky and mountainous while the valley runs from Itea up to Amfissa. Forests and greenspaces are to the west, the central part and the north.Its reservoir is the Mornos Dam on the Mornos river. It covers nearly 1 km to 3 km². It was completed in the 1960s and GR-48 is passed through the dam.