We have left the lovely countryside of Epirus and sailed south - now we are in Aitolo-Arkania, a landscape with its very own austere charm.
We left our Vliho Bay behind us and with it Rabitt, our all-round mechanic and technician, and our favourite British pub, the Vliho Yacht Club, and headed south past the islands of Lefkas, Meganisi, Kalamos, Kastos and many smaller ones. Now we are moored at an anchor buoy in the mouth of the river Acheloos. We have a fantastic panoramic view of this strange landscape: opposite us is the rugged mountain of the island of Oxia, towering 460 metres high, on the other side is the wide semi-circular estuary, a delta that stretches far into the sea, very shallow, lots of sandbanks, that the river keeps shifting. Everything is green, trees and bushes, the shallow water is light green to turquoise, we are in 3 metres of water. And on the horizon Ithaca, Atokos, Kefallonia and Zakynthos, a fantastic panorama.
The Acheloos and the Evinos, further east, are the rivers that irrigate the very fertile plain: the largest olive-growing area in Greece, oranges, lemons, wine, vegetables - everything is grown here. It is a flat landscape with wide lagoons, where pelicans and flamingos live, eels are caught and boutarga, a very salty paste made from fish roe, is made. And, of course, salt is mined in huge evaporation pools; Messolonghi salt is famous beyond the borders for its quality.
Extremely modest huts, mostly made of corrugated iron and wood, stand directly on the water's edge; the fishermen and a few sheep and goat herders are very poor. Cotton used to be grown here, but the world market has passed it by.
The lagoon plain is bordered by steep cliffs through which rivers have carved gorges, some with vertical walls.
We stay here in this beautiful place for a few days - partly because a strong easterly wind is blowing. We don't want to head east against the wind, even though our next destination is just round the corner, so to speak: Messolonghi, where our life with Aglaya began and where we will meet friends. By then we are already in the Gulf of Patras.
