“It’s as if a part of my being was taken away from me,” said in a voice full of emotion, the 79-year-old Greek, who now lives at his home in Athens. “I’m around 80. I’ve lived there all my life, so Khartoum, or Sudan, is part of my life.” .
historic hotel
The Acropolis Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in the city and was opened in 1952 by Panagis, the father of Pagolatos, who came to Khartoum from Greece in 1944, in the final days of World War II.
The sand-colored building in central Khartoum has hosted foreign journalists, aid workers, diplomats and businessmen throughout its 71-year history.
“It has always been, from the beginning, a family business,” says Pagolatos.
Pagolatos and his two younger brothers, George and Makis, born in Acropolis, have run the hotel for decades, and their presence and dedication to service have earned it a commendable reputation among foreign guests.
forced exit
After fighting raged between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum this week, Bagolatos and an extended family woman barricaded themselves inside the hotel with 4 guests and three staff for 10 days without electricity or running water.
When the RSF fighters forced them out of the hotel, they fled on foot through streets Bagolatos said were littered with corpses, taking only their passports, laptop and clothes.
“We have seen many upheavals and changes, but nothing like this has happened,” said Pagolatos, a tall, soft-spoken man who arrived in Athens this week as part of a wider exodus from Foreign nationals.
“It was really out of this world,” he added.
We will be back for the last time
In recent years, as the number of protests increased in Khartoum, the owners of the hotel decided to move there. Even then, Pagolatos says, he never thought of leaving Sudan.
And he went on to say, “Even my last-minute moves were to find a safe place to stay…until the situation calms down, then I continue my work…but leave Sudan? No. ”
The hotel is now closed and it is not safe for friends in Khartoum to visit. But Bagolatus still clings to the hope of returning.
He said he still wanted to visit “Sudan, at least maybe for the last time…and it has to happen. Because everything, everything, our work, our baggage, everything, is there. We left nothing, nothing at all.”
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