Mesolongi Attractions

Mesolóngi (Italian Missolunghi), chief town of the nomos of Aetolia and Acarnania, lies - as its name indicates - "amid the lagoons" on the north side of the Gulf of Patras. The poet Kostis Palamas (1843-1943), who grew up here, depicts the character and history of the town in his poem "Lament of the Lagoon".

Mesolóngi's main claim to fame is its heroic defense against the Turks during the war of liberation. The town, in which Alexander Mavrokordatos, President elect of Greece, had set up his headquarters in 1821, was defended by the Souliot leader Markos Botsaris. On January fifth 1824 Byron landed at Mesolóngi, but died of fever on April 19th. The Greek defenders tried to break through the Turkish lines in April 1826, but only 1800 out of 9000 were successful in doing so; those left in the town thereupon set fire to the powder magazines and blew themselves up.