An outing to Messolonghi:  In your mind’s eye, I’d like you to see lagoons, reeds with thistles throwing off vibrant splashes of purple, marshes with sparkling salt crystals and red grasses, and enormous white mountains of salt against a blue sky with dramatic clouds, salt mountains so big they can provide 80 % of the salt used by the Greeks. I want you to imagine seeing one thousand flamingos feeding on marshy flats.

Imagine an area rich in plankton and an ecosystem so healthy and balanced, that it provides one of the largest bird watching areas in Greece. Imagine a place where the estuaries of two rivers meet and provide a perfect habitat for over 200 species of birds.

But don’t stop there.  Once your get your imagination revved up and sort out the three Yannis in your company (Yannis the Driver, Yannis the Ornithologist, and Young Yannis the Guide, you’ll focus your eyes on the horizon.  There!  You’ll get lucky and see a rare sight: two endangered Dalmation pelicans swooping past you, so large you may think you just dreamed up this image (which you just did,of course, and which I actually saw yesterday):

The endangered Dalmatian pelican is the most massive member of the pelican family, and perhaps the world’s largest freshwater bird in the Northern hemisphere. They are elegant soaring birds, with wingspans that rival that of the great albatrosses, and their flocks fly in graceful synchrony.

Yannis the Ornithologist identified birds for us and we observed them through his large telescope. We walked around in 90+ degree weather.  After the salt pans and the birding site, my group split up in two. Half of the group went to the Monastery of St Symeon and the other half went to walk around Messolonghi city with Young Yannis the Guide.  The city is proud of its sea salt industry and its olive and lemon groves.  The area’s birding site boasts the best birding in all of Greece and perhaps in all of Europe! The inhabitants are proud of their poets, their artists, their history, their fight for freedom from the Ottoman Empire’s rule, and proud of the fact that five presidents were born in this city. The city is clean, quiet, vibrant, and progressive.

The big surprise of the day was a late lunch at a fisherman’s home! The fisherman’s house in this area is called a pelada, a traditional stilt-house of unique beauty, built on pilings above the water surface.  We ate a variety of fish caught that morning by the fishermen of the house.

After our meal, we walked over to the area of the mud baths.  This is an area where you walk along the edge of the lagoon, walk into the water over small stones (hard on the feet and those who had flip-flops were glad to have them on), dig up black mud and cover your body with it. When it dries, you rinse it off using a beach-side shower and your skin is soft as silk.  Only a few people did the mud skin treatment and, as a result, the front area of the bus, where our soft-skinned friends sat,  smelled like sulfur (which as we know from hot springs is so GOOD for your skin). Luckily, within five minutes no one noticed the sulfur and egg smell anymore.

Enjoy the photos from yesterday!

Mountains of SALT:

A drink or two? Our guide brought these liquors made by his mother.  One is made from roses and the other is made from mint. These are popular liquors from this area.

Viewing pelicans, stilts, and flamingos in the best bird viewing area in all of Greece with over 200 species of  birds feeding here:

Thistles: 

Lagoon and Salt Flat Landscape:

Traditional Fisherman’s stilt-house where we had a fabulous lunch experience!

I peeked into the kitchen, where some 4 varieties of fish were prepared, cooked, and grilled.  Amazing! The family also served us eel.  It all was served with plenty of vegetables for those who don’t eat fish.  Ouzo and homemade white wine accompanied the feast.  The seasonal organic fruit consisted of cherries and apricots.

Salt cured fish (really delicious…if you like fish):

This is extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil for bread dipping.  The finest local salt (fleur de sel) is on the edge of the plate.  Olive oil doesn’t get any better than this!

This fellow had just covered himself with black mud, part of the therapeutic mud bath treatment in the lagoon.  I don’t know him but asked for his permission to take his photo.  I am not sure where he was from and he didn’t speak English.  I pointed to my camera and he nodded in such a way that I took his head movement for a resounding NO. I started to put my camera away, in respect to his wishes, but apparently I had misunderstood.  He DID want his photo taken after all! I mean, if you looked like this, wouldn’t you want your photo taken, too? So here he is, mon inconnu (my unknown guy), in all his muddied glory.  This photo cracks me up!

Oh, but wait! There’s more. Here are some photos from the ouzo distillery we went to.  Ouzo is Greece’s national drink. It is made from anise. We spoke to the second- and third–generation distillers at a local ouzo production plant. Father and son were so wonderfully proud of their work.  The son has an MA in Psychology from Edinburgh and is happy and proud to work in this 100+ year-old family-run business. Too bad I don’t drink ouzo (my body can’t tolerate it): the smell of anise is so nice and papa (photographed below) told me in earnest that when you drink ouzo, all your problems go away.

Rose Liquor (red) and Mint Liquor (green):