After our long stay in wonderful Ioannina, we bid goodbye to Dimitri and took a bus down to Mesolongi, the home of Apostolos and Loula, whom we had met at the panayiri in Pirsogianni. They had kindly invited us to visit and we took them up on it. It was 108 degrees in the shade, so we spent most of our time drinking water and talking. Mesolongi has an important place in Greek history re: the modern creation of the country, and Byron died here while attempting to organize the Greek troops.
Apostolos had danced for Dora Stratou and was now teaching kids in the public school. He and Loula showed us their amazing collection of costumes, some old, some recreated, that the used for the dance performances. We also looked at some videos, both of Apostolis dancing, and some public music performances he helped organize for the town. He knows a lot of famous musicians, so it was great to talk with him.
They took us to see the sunset, fed us, of course, and took us to the Garden of Heroes, where statues of friends of Greece and heroes of the Revolution are placed every few meters. It’s a very European kind of place.
Our time with them and their family was a continuation of our good contacts at the hotel in Ioannina in terms of intelligent, kind, out-of-the-mainstream people. And they don’t even smoke…
