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Aetolia-Acarnania is rapidly becoming one of our favorite regions in Greece. Travel Bloggers Greece was just there in the mountains of Oreini Nafpaktia, and now we went to experience the lands and foods and culture of Greece’s largest lagoon, invited by BioEffect Greece.
Most people know Messolonghi for a powerful reason — it is called the Sacred City in honor of the heroic Exodus of Messolonghi, a defining moment of immense sacrifice and courage during the Greek War of Independence. The Exodus of Messolonghi was a mass breakout of the besieged inhabitants on April 10, 1826, who, after enduring a year-long siege marked by starvation and exhaustion, chose to risk everything for freedom rather than surrender to the Ottoman forces. This was a pivotal event in the war, and something that drew great sympathy from other nations, strengthening the Greek cause and worldwide esteem for the bravery of the Greek people in their struggle.
Historic, Sacred Messolonghi
This small city is famous all over Greece. Any visit to Missolonghi must start at the Garden of Heroes, as ours did. Here we find monuments to all of the great heroes of the revolution, the famous revolutionaries like Karaiskakis and Botsaris, Lord Byron who held the Greek cause dear, and the many heroes unnamed.
Messolonghi is also a city of the Trikoupis family. Getting to Missolonghi from Athens, we drove over the bridge that has his name, as it was he who first conceived it. Under his administration – he was prime minister of Greece seven times in the late 19th century – Greece’s infrastructure took shape, with major projects including the canal of Corinth and the railway network.
His home is a museum. There are also several other Trikoupi family members of note. After visiting the museum, we also saw the home of Kostis Palamas, the famous poet who wrote the Olympic Hymn.
A City for Biking
It is hard to find a flatter terrain than that of Messolonghi, which makes the city perfect for biking. Moreover, bikes are part of the social heritage of the city, popularized by the Greeks of Asia Minor. The city has 12,00 residents, and over 30,000 bicycles. Aris from Escape Bikes set us up with some very comfortable bicycles and Nikos took us around town- a great way to see everything. We plan to return and get a bike for a couple of days- Aris has a number of routes around the lagoons and knows all the best places to stop.
A Traditional Drink
Messolonghi is famous for seafood – which we will get to in a moment. Nothing is nicer with seafood than ouzo. “Trikene” is the bottle we see on every table, and we had the pleasure of visiting their very charming and picturesque family-owned distillery, which is right in the town center.
We sampled ouzo from the marble bar installed by their grandfather in 1905 (the date is etched into the bar in front), and also tried some delicious liqueurs, including Menta, Triantafylla (rose), and a Triple-Sec.
BioEffect Greece
Now we get to the theme of our itinerary – the organic table of southwestern Greece, an initiative for regional development under the umbrella of LEADER.
Wholesome foods, close to their natural state are at the heart of this, including fresh fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, and lean sources of protein, all organic wherever possible, are featured in our experience. We stayed at Socrates Organic Village in Agrilia, just outside of Messolonghi, amid olive groves.
A Taste of Messolonghi
Greece’s largest lagoon is a very special ecosystem, rich in wildlife in the sea and sky. The fish of the lagoon are particularly tasty, and they make excellent local use of them. The Kefali from clean waters such as this is a delicious fish.
The people of Messolonghi have made two delicacies of it. Pastó is the fish simply sliced thickly and preserved in local Messolonghi salt. The result is tender, buttery, and surprisingly not too salty- an exquisite meze we cannot get enough of. We drove over the causeway to Tourlida, out in the lagoon, to eat the delicacy drizzled with olive oil and served with pink peppercorns at Tourlida Sunset, a charming restaurant beside the pelades – the fisherman’s shacks. Naturally, with a glass of ouzo Trikene over ice on the side. The other thing they do with it is a famous delicacy worldwide.
Avgotaraho or “Bottarga”
Gourmands are familiar with the pressed caviar, cured with salt and preserved in pure beeswax, served in delicate slices. Bottarga – which we learn is adapted from the local dialect (they make words shorter here so Avgotaracho turned into Bottarga internationally.
We visited the family business Stefos, now run chiefly by Petros Paragios, who married into the family. He tells us how the eggs of the mature kefali (grey mullet) are carefully extracted in their double-lobed sack, then inspected. For example if there’s a lot of fluid in the sack, they are discarded. Then he shows us how they are massaged in sea salt from the lagoon. The eggs cure and dry, becoming a deep orange color. Then, they are dipped repeatedly in pure beeswax – many times so they are never in the wax long enough to heat up.
A beautiful table introduced their products- thin slices of avgotaraho need nothing to adorn them. There is also smoked avgotaraho – very delicious. Additionally, they sell grated avgotaraho both plain and smoked, for pasta, for instance, or other meze. They also have smoked octopus and smoked shrimp. A delicious line of products.
Paragios spoke to us about the suppliers- he works very closely with the same fishermen because the kefali must only be caught in the purest waters for the best result. We could see that avgotaraho is more than a food and more than a business: it is a part of local heritage and community.
Organic Olives and Zero-Waste Deliciousness
The Kousoulas Family not only makes fantastic cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil and superb table olives of all kinds, they are specialists in innovative olive-based products. Using as much of the olive as possible, such as the pulp leftover from the oil extraction process, they have created a tasty plant-based burger. They also make dried olives as a delicious snack, plus various tapenades and olives with pickles. It was very inspiring to see these initiatives supporting health and sustainability.
Two Wonderful Museums
The Lagoons are very special places, which have their own culture and history based on their unusual biotope. Two museums dive deeply into the unique culture created by a unique environment: The Salt Museum of Messolonghi and the Fishing Museum of Aitoliko.
The Salt Museum
History buffs, poets, and gourmands can all believe that an entire museum has been created about salt. Mr. Nikos Kordosis and Ms. Despina Kanelli did extensive research into the worldwide history of salt and the role that it plays in cultures all over the world. This most essential product – for thousands of years the only way to preserve many foods without refrigerators – has at times in history been worth more than gold. We see salts from all over the world and learn about the history and production of salt. The museum itself is in the middle of the salt pans of the lagoon, and hearing about the difficult toil of the salt workers is very moving indeed. Salt has been central to the fortunes of the community and to the fortunes of Greece.
This excellent museum is informative but also very moving, with beautiful exhibits. The museum, which is a private initiative under the umbrella of Diexodos – the non-profit organization of Mr. Kordosis has been the recipient of several awards, including the European Museum of the Year. Ms. Kanelli’s tour was a great highlight for us.
The Fishing Museum of Aitoliko
Aitoliko is a very unusual place- a natural island that has slowly expanded to become a perfect oval in the middle of another lagoon, not 15 minutes from Messolonghi. For the people of the Aitoliko Lagoon, fishing is central to their lives- their culture, their economy, and their diet.
For Ms. Evgenia Plexida of Aitoliko, the culture of the lagoon is very important. She comes from a fishing family and feels it is important to preserve the craft and all aspects of the lives of fishing families. This small museum contains every detail of that world, a wonderful way to learn about the ecosystem and the lives of those who nurture it.
This is a very fragile ecosystem, and the true fishing families that see it as a craft and their heritage fish in very specific ways so as not to disturb the ecosystem, using a gentle flat net that takes only the fish that have grown enough – they want to protect the populations of fish and keep the ecosystem healthy. Whole families are involved in this work, and in the past the women of Aitoliko were essential for the effort. They worked very hard and had a great sense of independence financially. The artist Vaso Katraki, a very important Greek engraver, was from Aitoliko, and the fishing community were some of her most beloved subjects to depict.
Visiting Aetolia-Acarnania
This fantastic destination offers so much. For culture and history, it is not to be missed. For ecotourism, there is biking and bird watching. And for gastronomy, we have the wealth of the seas and land, with a great emphasis on organic living. The slogan of the area is now “The Mediterranean of the Mediterranean”: we found this to be true in every way, from the quality of the natural environment to the warmth of the people.
What do you think?