A city of heroes and an enchanting lagoon. An ideal weekend destination, all year round.
Built on a peninsula between its namesake lagoon and that of Kleisova, at the mouths of the Evinos and Acheloos rivers, the Mesolongi is a destination that offers visitors unique experiences through a blend of simplicity, natural beauty, and history. The prevailing version holds that the citys name comes from the combination of the Italian words mezzo and langhi (Mezzolanghi), meaning «in the midst of lakes», or messo langhi (Messolanghi), that is, «a place amid lakes».
Its famed lagoon, with its picturesque «pelades» - the small wooden houses that seem to float on the water - and its countless bird species, is an environmental park and ecosystem. A stroll through this enchanting corner of Western Greece will carry you through history and offer scenes of unique beauty in every season.
The City of Heroes
Mesolongi is also called the Sacred City, as it is identified like no other with the War of 1821. The most important page of its history was written with the heroic Exodus (10 April 1826) of the people of Mesolongi after a months-long siege by the Turks, an event that sealed modern Greek history.
Your walk in the city can begin at the Garden of the Heroes, a 14-stremma expanse at the entrance to the northern side of the city, where the monuments of the heroes of the historic Exodus of 1826 and of the philhellenes who envisioned the city’s liberation stand out. Among others, you will see the monument of Markos Botsaris, with the Daughter of Greece or Paidoula, a faithful copy by Georgios Bonakos from the original by the French sculptor David d’Angers (the original is exhibited at the National Historical Museum), and the statue of the English philhellene Lord Byron, a work by Georgios Vitalis.
It is worth stepping into the Mesolongi Museum of History & Art, housed in a building constructed in 1937. In its two ground-floor rooms you will find memorabilia, personal items and the statue of the philhellene poet Lord Byron, as well as paintings and lithographs depicting the poet’s life and actions during the revolution of 1821.
It is worth noting that Mesolongi was the birthplace of the literary figures Kostis Palamas, Miltiadis Malakasis and Antonis Travlantonis, as well as important personalities of political life, including the prime ministers Spyridon and Charilaos Trikoupis, Dimitris and Zinovios Valvis and Epameinondas Deligiorgis. In the city you will also find, among others, the residence of the Trikoupis family, that of the poet Palamas, the Valveios Library, which also serves as the city’s public municipal library with rare books and documents, as well as the Christos and Sofia Moschandreou Gallery of Contemporary Art of Aetolia-Acarnania with a wealth of works by important Greek creators.
Distinctive and very interesting is the Salt Museum near the settlement of Tourlida, next to the salt pans. Here you will have the chance to learn everything related to salt from its first appearance on the planet to the present day.
The Mesolongi Lagoon
The Mesolongi Lagoon is one of the largest wetlands in the Mediterranean. It spreads where the Gulf of Patras meets the Ionian Sea and the Evinos and Acheloos rivers empty, and it extends from the foothills of Varasova to the Gulf of Astakos, along a 50 km shoreline. It is one of Greece’s most important wetlands, protected under the Ramsar Convention. More than 200 bird species find refuge here.
You can go boating and discover the islets that adorn the lagoon, see the fishermen’s fish weirs and enjoy the sunset. Activities also include canoe-kayak and, of course, birdwatching.
A stroll through «Little Venice»
Ten kilometers from Mesolongi, a small islet in the middle of the tranquil lagoon is home to picturesque Aitoliko, otherwise known as Greece’s «Little Venice», as it is often called. This small town in Aetolia-Acarnania is built on an islet roughly in the middle of the Aitoliko-Mesolongi lagoon, which is connected to the mainland to the east and west by two 300-meter-long stone arched bridges. Stroll along the seafront road lined with palm trees and through Aitoliko’s narrow lanes, visit churches that hide treasures of inestimable value, such as the Dormition of the Theotokos (here, in April 1824, the famous trial of Georgios Karaiskakis took place) and the Church of the Taxiarchs, and take a walk around Aitoliko’s little harbor.
Flavors from the lagoon
You can’t go to Mesolongi without tasting the world-famous Mesolongi bottarga, otherwise known as «Greek caviar», which has been designated a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product. It is an exquisite delicacy with a distinctive savor. The product comes from the ovaries of the bafa (the female grey mullet), which locals cure with salt, then subject to light drying and subsequently immerse in wax to preserve them unchanged. Besides bottarga, in the area’s tavernas you’ll also have the chance to try ultra-fresh fish from the lagoon: gilt-head bream, sea bass, mullet and eels.
