Villa Galini

On the coastal road of Poros, between Mikro Neorion and Aspros Gatos (White Cat), you can see a red house. Villa Galini is an elegant neoclassical villa that hosted writers and artists. The house was designed by the Olympic medalist and significant Greek architect Anastasios Metaxas. Metaxas was the architect who restored the Panathenaic Stadium. He designed the Benaki Museum, Syngrou Hospital, and other famous buildings in Athens.

The house belonged to Amaryllis Dragoumi, the sister of Maro Seferi. It was she, who had the idea to convert the mansion into “B&B”. The eight rooms of the house were decorated with family furniture. So were the public areas of the mansion. Every day, the vases were filled with whole bouquets of fresh flowers. Linen and linen towels had embroidered brands. The maids were subtle, polite, and always… in uniform. Plato Karavas, a veteran stockbroker and avid gardener, created in a short time a magnificent orchard.

Nobel Prize winner George Seferis was one of the most frequent vacationers. In the tranquillity of “Galini” clarifies his papers for Cavafy. There, he notes his thoughts on the shipwreck of ‘Kichli’ (The Thrush, 1947). Many more famous artists, poets, and writers were hosted at Villa Galini. Among them was Costas Parthenis, Karagatsis, Kosmas Politis, Tsarouhis, Hadjikyriakos – Gikas and Miltos Sahtouris. From the rest of the world personalities such as George Horton, Marc Chagall, Henry Miller, Greta Garbo, James Merrill, and Peter Gray, enjoyed the solitude and the stillness of the site.

Today Villa Galini is a private residence.