« March 2012 | Main | May 2012 »
A few days ago I drove to the mountain top village, Manolates, Samos Island, on a windy road where there was a great winery. The town was beautiful and I had another Greek salad with honey sauce on chicken with fries as you can see below. The food has all been very fresh. The restaurant owner took me to the home of the wine owner but she was out. Anyway the trip to the village was worth it as you can see from the photos.
Located just aboce the port of Pythagorio on Samos Island, the Spilanis monastery is a very peaceful with a beuatiful view over the Aegan and Pythagorio. No one was around and I spent a peaceful afternoon in the garden enjoying the view. I was surrounded by tall popular trees with various flowers and shade from the hot sun while looking down at the sea. There was a gentle breeze. This is one reason why I came to Greece for quite moments like this. The large picture is where I sat.
These three villages are close to each other on the western end of the the island in the region of Marathokambos on Samos Island. I first went to Kambos on the way to nature perserve on the western end of the island (see next post). I had an excellent lunch of fried calamari, fried potatoes at The Ballad of Bill and Salome Restaurant. You can see from the link that they have a Web site. The owner spoke excellent English and gave me some tips on where to go. He said there are few Amercian vistiors on this part of the island, only Northern Europeans. Last year he had only three US families. I highly recommend this places so maybe some of you will go there. The pictures are in order of my visits.
On the way back from the west coast, I drove up to Marathokambos, which is the regional center. It has great views of the sea. It is also known for the fireworks they set off at midnight the Saturday before Easter. Other towns do it but Marathokambos is known for the biggest noise makers. While up there I saw the port of Ormous so I drove down on my way back. It is a quiet fisging village. There are a lot of harbor side tavernas but none were open yet as the season has not started. It looks like a great place to go for lunch during the May - September season.
Last Thursday I went with Geroge Mattea and his friend Paolo Christou on a three hour (each way) hike along seaside cliffs through olive groves to two isolated beaches on Samos Island, the smaller Seitani, that you reach first and the larger Seitani that you reach second. You can only reach via this hike unless youcome down from a canyon above them. You can do it is less time but we went slowly. Then we hung out on the beach for a while.
I also learned why the olive groves are terraced with store walls. It did not make since as trees can grow on the side of a hill unlike grapes vines, rice, etc. It turns these walls create a flat catchment area for the falling olives. They put nets under the trees on the flat areas to catch them so the olives do not roll down the hillside or people step on them. It makes great sense.
The canyon where we walked along the narrow path to the monastery in the cave is at the upper end of the canyon that ends at this beach (see Photos of Western Mountains of Samos Island - Interior). You can get down the canyon to the larger Seitani beach through an 8 hour technical descent but you are not able to go back up so you then take the hike out we did today. The beach and the hike were beautiful. At the beach is one climbing sight were you have to go over a significant over hang. They have tested the rock and it seems fine. Now they are getting ready to try it. The pictures are in order of our hike. You can see the overhanging cliff and the mountain that it is on in the large picture below. The cliff is in the lower part of the mountain.
Afterwards we had a great meal overlooking the ocean at sunset as you can see in the last pictures. As I mentioned before If you go to Samos, which I highly recommend, and you want to get off the beaten path and see the mountains and the interior you should contact George Matteau at: [email protected]. He is working on promoting alternative tourism on Samos and will take very good care of you. If you clikc on the smaller photos you make them larger.
On Wednesday I showed you the interior of the weatern mountains in Samos Island. Now I will show you the coats. On the mountainous west coast of Samos, there is a nature preserve and less development. I drove to the end of the road at Dhrakei and turned around. The road goes up high so there are endless vistas and benches placed along with way. I sat on one for quite some time.
I went with the same mountain climbers that I did the jeep tour that I posted on Monday. Except one of the original guys was not available so the girl friend, Myrto, Goerge Mathea, came to translate. You can see them in the first and last pictures. They invited me to their Greek Easter cook out on Sunday. People are so welcoming here. As I mentioned before If you go to Samos, which I highly recommend, and you want to get off the beaten path and see the mountains and the interior you should contact George Matteau at: [email protected]. He is working on promoting alternative tourism on Samos and will take very good care of you.
This time we explored the mountains on the western side of Samos Island. In my last post I showed these mountains form the sea side. Now you can see them from the interior. We first went up a stream that people swim in during the summer. Then we drove through Nikaloudhas, a nice village and walked around. We also saw an old caste from the time that Genoa controled Samos in the 1400s. Next we drove to a monastery and hiked along this long narrow path through a very steep canyon where there was a cave that was a first a monastery and then a hiding place for the resistance during WW2. Also criminals were sent there in exile for some time. It is called the Karoperato Cave. Then we went back for a nice dinner in Karlovasi, walked around the old town there. Myrto said they build the old town up on the hillside out of sight of the sea so pirates could not see them. The pirates were mostly from Egypt. When a pirate ship was sighted the watches who light fires on the hilltops and then others would do the same warning the villages. The era of the pirates was about 1600 – 1800. These pictures will appear in my upcoming post on Karlovasi.
Then we had coffee at the port where we met the cousin of the male climber, David Mathea who is a very serious climber and knew about Alpinist Magazine where my daughter Katie is the editor. The four of us talked for hours, mostly about mountain climbing in Greece and the US but also other adventures. George and David are going to set up a Web site to promote adventure tourist on Samos. I said when they have it ready I would promote it on this blog as it deserves attention. The large picture is of the canyon with the cave. The rest are in order of the trip. You can click on any picture to enlarge it.
Two Greek guys in their 20s, George Mathea and Perciles Stonailos, (see below wiht their truck) took me up into the mountains for an mostly all day four wheel drive trip on back roads on Samos Island. George drove and Perciles did most of the talking as his English was excellent and George also spoke English. If you go to Samos, whch I highly recommend, and you want to get off the beaten path and see the mountains and the interior you should contact George Matteau at: [email protected]. He is working on promoting alternative tourism on Samos and will take very good care of you. On Wednesday you will see a description of the second trip we did together.
We did some hiking and went to the top of one mountain. There was a small Greek church on the summit. George is a rock climber and on our walk he checked out a cliff for a possible route. We also visited the highest village, Platanos, and saw a lot of the islands mountainous interior and vineyards. There are vineyards everywhere. The large picture is from the summit of Mt. Ambelos (3,780 ft.). The day was in and out of clouds with some rain. You can click on any picture to enlarge it.
Pythagorio in Samos Island, was named after the famous mathetician, Pythagoras, who lived here. It is also a center for tourist with its pleasant port lined with cafes. Many had not yet openned so you see stacked chairs but there were enough to provide we with some excellent meals. Live music happens later in the season. So the night life in the port will be more in force the second half of my trip just in time for my birthday. It is ten minutes from my April home in Mytilinili. On my second trip I went to the port and had a great lunch of Greek salad and fried squid. They do their squid differently here. Not so greasy - I like it much better. I sat at dockside and watched the harbor.
I am spending the month of April in Mitlilni, Samos Island so there will be many more photos from here and the rest of the island. This is a small village in the mountains away from the main tourist areas and tourist season has not begun. The people are very friendly and I have some local contacts through the friend' whose home I am staying it. The seventh small picture is the town square where they play local music every Sunday. The sixth picture is great bakery. Many of the streets are both steep and narrow. The steep part is good to walk some off the excellent fresh food I am eating here. I am starting to get to know the village and the shopkeepers. I think I am the only visitor here. The tourists stay on the water but I am only a ten-minute drive from it and it is a nice it be in a Greek village without tourists.
Here are my photos of the second of two lake cruises with BAMM.tv duringSXSW 2012. In this case the bands are Lee Kock and Hollis Brown. BAMM.tv is a service that connects emerging artists with audiences through video. I wrote about BAMM.tv in an earlier post.
Lee Kock is an excellent solo singer songwriter. Both his voice and lyrics convey an experience beyond his apparent age. He is from the San Diego area and was a recent contestant on the TV show: the Voice. He was one his way to Nashville when he got this gig and now plans to try New Orleans and a few other places. I gave him some suggestions on where his sound might appeal in NOLA on Frenchman Street. He did all his own songs, including “Same as Blood” about supporting a close friend. The one exception was an excellent cover of Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love.” He dedicated this to his wife who was on board and is a photographer who also mangers his web Site.
Hollis Brown was up next. They started with the singer and added a guitar player and finally the whole band joined in as they could on the boat format so there were no drums. They played great rock and as some one said, it is “music made for the road.” They are a popular band with over 8 gigs at SXSW 2012. The singer commented on how you can hear the lyrics more with the reduced band. However, I got a CD and also enjoyed the full sound. They are from Queens. They did a lot of their own work with a few things like the Velvet Underground thrown in. Their next CD, Nothing & the Famous No One has a release date of April 3, 2012. I think we will hear a lot more from them. In the last group photo Lee Kock joined them for a final number.
