Opposite the Ionian islands of Kefallonia and Ithaca, on the southern part of the western Greek mainland coast, a peculiar landscape begins, just before the entrance to the Gulf of Patras. It does not correspond at all to the cliché of the lovely Greek islands or the Mediterranean landscape at all. In the background, high barren karst mountains, in front of them, towards the sea, huge alluvial plains of the rivers Acheloos and Evinos. These are very fertile plains, wine, olives, vegetables, fruits are intensively cultivated here - in former times also cotton, by the way. Between the plains and the sea stretches a huge lagoon landscape, inhabited only by a few fishermen in corrugated iron huts. The small huts stand directly on the water, and some of their inhabitants move around only by boat. Land and sea can hardly be distinguished here from a distance.
The lagoon landscape is partly under nature protection, flamingos, pelicans and many rare animal species live here. The brackish water is sometimes only a few centimeters deep. Therefore, further east in Messolonghi (Italian: Mezza Laguna), salt is extracted on a large scale in huge shallow water basins, the best in Greece.
Already in ancient times the area was densely populated and prosperous, ships and soldiers for the Trojan War were provided here, you can still visit an ancient shipyard in Oinadeon. Above Messolonghi the ancient city of Plevrona with 20.000 inhabitants at that time is excavated.
Cultural and natural landscape, land and sea flow impressively into each other here.
