Fishing shacks on stilts - the next tourist attraction in Thessaloniki's bay area

The 30 shacks were set up in 2000 with joint EU-Greece funding. The stilts allow local mussel farmers and fishermen to tie their boats under the houses and store their equipment and fishnets inside. Some fishermen have transformed the upper floors into makeshift living rooms with couches, portable cookers and even curtains on the windows.

Made of wood, the shacks are not insulated. They were distributed for use by 120 mussel farmers and fishermen in 2000, but have become more popular with time. The shacks are divided into two partitions vertically, and each is used by four professionals who pay an annual rent of 600 euros to the Delta municipality, at the delta of the Axios River that flows into the bay. 

"When these were set up 20 years ago," Axios president Vangelis Koutroutsios says, "some people didn't want a share, because they had their own self-made shacks. Now, though, with high unemployment, a lot of young men flock to the profession and want their own space as well."

The municipality will equip the shacks with electricity meters in the next three months and landscape the area around for tourism reasons, Delta mayor Yiannis Ioannidis says. They will also add larger refuse containers for the fishermen's use, and the region of Central Macedonia will look into additional support for the homes from erosion issues.

"We want to be ready by summer, have operational toilets and turn the grounds into a visitor-friendly area," Ioannidis explains. Koutroutsios concurs, saying that the area was partly inaccessible and will be now improved for the professionals as well.