The ongoing war in Sudan has forced Thanasis Pagulatos, owner of the famous Acropolis Hotel in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, to leave and close the hotel, which has been open for 71 years despite all the coups, wars and uprisings that Sudan has endured.
The Acropolis is one of the oldest hotels in the city and was opened in 1952 by Thanasis' father, Panagis, who arrived in Khartoum from Greece in 1944, in the final days of World War II.
Acropolis Hotel in Khartoum Zubair Pasha Street
It was founded in 1952 by Panagiotis Pagolatos of Cephalonia, who emigrated from Greece during World War II with his wife Flora, who was from the Greek community in Egypt, specifically from Alexandria#السودان_زمان pic.twitter.com/lr0CIJJ2MP
— Sudan Zaman (@PastSudans) August 9, 2021
The sand-coloured building in central Khartoum has hosted foreign journalists, aid workers, diplomats and businessmen throughout its 71-year history.
In 1988, the Acropolis Hotel was bombed by the Palestinian Abu Nidal group, resulting in 7 deaths and injuries.
Thanasis and his younger brothers George and Makis, who were born on the Acropolis, have been run by the hotel for decades, and in July 2022 George, who was living at the hotel with his wife Eleonora, died.
He died before George Pagoulatos a few days ago, the owner of the Acropolis Hotel, and in one of the pictures shows his wife (Eleonora).
Until recently they lived in Khartoum in the same Acropolis hotel.
The hotel was one of the most famous hotels in the capital Khartoum in the seventies until the nineties. #السودان_زمان pic.twitter.com/W7l0Yfebrx
— Sudan Zaman (@PastSudans) July 4, 2022
The 79-year-old Greek, who now lives in his home in Athens, said: "It's as if part of my being was taken from me. I am about 80 years old. I've lived my whole life there, so Khartoum, or Sudan, is part of my life."
Speaking to media after arriving in Athens, Pagolatos said: "It was horrible. It's been more than 10 days without electricity and water, and almost 5 days without meals."
After fighting between the army and the RSF raged in Khartoum recently, Thanasis and a woman from his family barricaded themselves inside the hotel with 4 guests and 3 staff for 10 days without electricity or water.
When RSF fighters forced them to leave the hotel, they fled on foot through streets that Pagulatos said were full of corpses, taking only their passports, laptop, and clothes.
Pagulatos, who arrived in Athens this week as part of a wider mass exodus of foreign nationals, said: "We have seen many coups and changes but nothing like this has happened before. This was something really out of this world."
"It never occurred to me to leave Sudan. Even my last-minute movements were to find a safe place to stay until the situation calmed down, and then to continue my work. But leaving Sudan? Nope."
"I still want to visit Sudan again, at least maybe for the last time. This must be achieved. Because everything, everything, our work, our belongings, everything, is there. We left with nothing, absolutely nothing."
Since April 15, Sudan has been witnessing large-scale clashes between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo "Hemedti", in which hundreds of people were killed and wounded, most of them civilians.