Art and Photography Blog

Photos of Fourni, Greece Day Three

This is my third trip to the Greek island of Samos. This time we took a three day trip to the islands of Fourni. This is the third of three posts on the trip. After the threat of a storm, the next day dawned very calm and the rough sea had transformed itself into a lake. Our innkeeper was up to prepare a breakfast at 6AM to allow us to eat before taking the 7AM boat back to Samos.

        

We headed over to Thymena in the bright sun. During breakfast we had watched to sun climb down the mountain behind the town. Fishermen were out in the harbor.

            

We left Thymena and rounded the rocky coast. There were fields carved out of the rough terrain and marked with stones fences and terraces. Fishermen were everywhere.

          

Next stop was Ikaria. In the bright morning light you could more easily see the upper fields and high villages, terraced olive groves, as well as small isolated shores.

            

Now headed back to Samos. It now seemed quite large compared to the Fourni group. Its rocky coast welcomed us and we arrived in Karlovasi harbor around 11. 

          

Photos of Fourni, Greece Day Two

This is my third trip to the Greek island of Samos. This time we took a three day trip to the islands of Fourni. This is the second of three posts on the trip. I woke up briefly around 4AM to see the big boat that goes to Athens making its brief stop in Fourni. Then day dawned with clouds over the mountain tops but they soon burned off. Our little boat back to Samos rested in Fourni harbor, as the crew must live here. Fisherman prepared for the day. Many had already gone out to return around 10.

            

After breakfast on the harbor front, we went up a long fight of steps to start a walk along the coast to a sand beach. Another long flight of steps went back down to the beach. There was a old round tower, likely form the pirate days, as well as a small shire. The water was incredibly clear. On our way back we went through a boat yard were many small ships were under repair.

                  

After lunch of left over on our balcony we took a long walk through town. Starting on the main street we went up through the town square. We passed a man grilling chicken and decided to perhaps have dinner with him.

            

Our walk continued past the town square on a long winding road that rose gently up the hill. There were flowers everywhere.

          

In the late afternoon a mild rain strom came up with strom winds. There was concern as to whether our small boat would sail to samos in th emorning and the ticket agent would not sell us tickets but said to come back at 6:30 the next morning. Fisherman prepared their boats for the possible strom. 

       

The night was cool and breezy with a light rain so we decided to eat inland and indoors with the grill man we saw earlier. We had both chicken and pork from the grill with fried potatoes. The potatoes on the Greek island are the best I have had anywhere. Restaurants also offer a complementary sweet after meals. This time we had bananas with halvah. Afterwards, we walked back through the main street to our harbor front room. 

          

Photos of Fourni, Greece Day One

This is my third trip to the Greek island of Samos. This time we took a three day trip to the islands of Fourni. This is the first of three posts on the trip. We took the small boat from Karlovasi on Samos island in the early afternoon. The ticket agent said the trip would take three hour but it took over four. This is not to complain as we stopped at three other interesting ports before getting to the main town in the Fourni Islands. After leaving Karlovasi harbor we travelled along the very wild west coast of Samos, including Micro Santini beach seen first after the harbor. We took the 45 minute walk to this beach last year.

    

    

Our first stop was Agios Kyrikos on Ikaria, an island known for its lack of any police or stoplights and its free spirit. The smaller town of Therma, with a swimming beach, appears before Agios Kyrikos.

      

Then we went over to a small fishing village on the north end of the main island in the Fourni group. The houses were mostly resting high above the small port.

        

Next stop was another fishing village on Thymena, the island opposite Fourni Korseon, the main town on the island and our destination.  This time most houses were near the harbor.

              

We arrived in Fourni Korseon as the sun was setting behind Thymena. The town gets its name from its past as the headquarters of the pirates, the French Corsairs. Their name got applied to all pirates in the eastern Aegean. Above Fourni is Mt. Vardia at 311 meters, the tallest spot on the island. The main street runs perpendicular to the harbor and there is a small square part way back. On our first night we had the lobster pasta, the dish for which the town is famous, right on the harbor. You can see the view from our table below. The large portion came with two whole lobsters surrounded in pasta with a light tomato sauce.  It was wonderful and we saved some for lunch the next day. You can also see the cook below. 

               

Photos of Shutters and Doors of Mytllini, Samos Greece

I spent some time in early Fall in Mytilini, a mountian village on the island of Samos, Greece. Samos is located a mile off the Turkish coast. This is the second time I have spent over four weeks there. I have a friend who has house in Mytilini and I feel fortunate to be able to live in a real house rather than tourist accommodations.  Samos is an island that Americans seem to ignore unless they have relatives here. Most visitors are from Northern Europe and they gather in the seaside towns and resorts. Mytilini is a mountian village and tends to mostly bring in visitors who are seeing family.

At the end of World War Two Mytilini had about 7,000 inhabitants. During the four year civil war between the Communists who fought in the resistance and the exiled prior government, the population dropped to about 2,000. There was little work and people went elsewhere, often to other countries. As a result about half the houses in the town are abandoned. Those that are lived in are very well cared for but they are often located next to falling down houses. The houses are built right next to each other and often share a common wall to reduce the amount of construction.

Many of the shutters and doors on the abandoned homes are aging gracefully and becoming works of art. I enjoyed seeing them on our many walks in the town. here are some of the best. 

                
          

Photos of Mytilini, Samos Island, Greece: Part 3

This is part three of three part series on Mytilini, a mountian village in the island of Samos, Greece. Samos is located a mile off the Turkish coast. Twice I have spent over four weeks there, inlcuding this past August and September. Samos is an island that Americans seem to ignore unless they have relatives here. Most visitors are from Northern Europe and they gather in the seaside towns and resorts. Mytilini is a mountian village and tends to mostly bring in visitors who are seeing family. The first post covered some background on the village and you can get more context for these images there. Below you can see twenty one images that we saw on the many walks we took around town. 

                                  
    














 

Photos of Mytilini, Samos Island, Greece: Part 2

This is part two of three part series on Mytilini, a mountian village in the island of Samos, Greece. Samos is located a mile off the Turkish coast. Twice I have spent over four weeks there, inlcuding this past August and September. Samos is an island that Americans seem to ignore unless they have relatives here. Most visitors are from Northern Europe and they gather in the seaside towns and resorts. Mytilini is a mountian village and tends to mostly bring in visitors who are seeing family. The first post covers some background on the village and you can get more context for the pictures there. Below you can see twenty images that we saw on the many walks we took around town. 

                                      

Photos of Mytilini, Samos Island, Greece: Part 1

In August and September I spent some time in Mytilini, a mountian village on the island of Samos, Greece. Samos is located a mile off the Turkish coast. This is the second time I have spent over four weeks there. I have a friend who has house in Mytilini and I feel fortunate to be able to live in a real house rather than tourist accommodations.  Samos is an island that Americans seem to ignore unless they have relatives here. Most visitors are from Northern Europe and they gather in the seaside towns and resorts.

Mytilini is a mountian village and tends to mostly bring in visitors who are seeing family. It is in a beautiful location with friendly and helpful people. We felt very welcome there. The whole country is having a hard time economically and many people have had their salaries or pensions cut in half through no fault of their own. It is a good time to visit Greece as they can certainly use the economic input from visitors. The visit will also be rewarding as the country is beautiful, the weather excellent, the people welcoming, and the prices are reasonable. In this first post I am going to describe Mytilini a bit and then there will be two more with images from the town. 

The island of Samos has a very long history dating back before the 8th century BC with many waves of settlement. One local site mentions that: “The first settlers in the village of Mytilini on Samos originate from Lesbos. They arrived here around 1700 as immigrants and founded the village after an earthquake destroyed their houses on the island of Lesbos. Mytilini is set in a plain and is surrounded by agricultural fields where mainly grapes are grown for the making of wine and also some tobacco. Mytilini has about 2500 inhabitants, so it is quite large compared to some of the other villages on the island. Still it makes a very quiet impression and there are hardly any tourists here.” 

Below is an overview of the town from the east and from above it at sunset. The mountain in the distance in the sunset picture is in Turkey, only a mile from the eastern tip of Samos island. 

  

The town square is the main gathering place, along with the long main street that runs straight through town unlike the twisting and turning roads found in many villages. In the square there are several large screen TVs for sports events. While we there in September the European basketball and football championships were going on. It rarely rains in the summer so the TVs are safe outside. We heard live music in the square on several occasions with dancing. For big festivals people come from other smaller villages to join in the celebration, music and food. Several good restaurants serve the square.  There is also a smaller square right on the main street seen below in the early morning before it gets populated. One night we heard a rock and roll duo there. 

      

      

The local movie theater is unlike anything in the US. It has a very neighborhood feel like most things here. People chat and have drinks before hand. It is outdoors in a walled garden with tables next to the chairs. You can order food and drinks to have while watching the movie. You can also see the stars overhead. Most movies are in English with Greek subtitles and there are two intermissions. We had souvaki with fried potatoes and wine. At the last intermission we enjoyed some wonderful complementary fried beignet type pastries with honey. They are called Lukomates. I am making a painting of them. The day time picture shows the wall from the outside and you can see the top of the screen in the back. 

  

  

Shops on the long main street include the super market with both food and household items. Next to it is an excellent produce store with fresh fruits and vegetables of all types, as well as a large variety of nuts. There are many other shops covering a wide variety of goods and music club primarily for young people.

Commerce also occurs form the backs of trucks that drive through town. We bought fresh fish several times from a man who comes through right in front of our house every morning but Sunday with a loud speaker announcing his catch. He serves as an alarm clock. The village church bells also chime on the hour and half hour. Below you can see a cheese seller in the town square. There is also an excellent bakery just around the corner from where we stayed. It was easy to run out for a crossiant or other breakfast pastry. Below you can see their bread just out of the oven as well as the store front. Near the bakery is another small square served by a single tavern that has three sitting places that always seems to have some people regardless of the time of day.

You can also see a fish that we purchased from the man in the truck ready to be cleaned. We grilled it and the fish was delicious. We also cleaned and grilled calamari we obtained from the truck along with fresh eggplant. We found a YouTube video on how to clean calamari as this was a new experience for us. 

  

  

       

  

At the end of World War Two Mytilini had about 7,000 inhabitants. During the four year civil war between the Communists who fought in the resistance and the exiled prior government, the population dropped to about 2,000. There was little work and people went elsewhere, often to other countries. As a result about half the houses in the town are abandoned. Those that are lived in are very well cared for but they are often located next to falling down houses. The houses are built right next to each other and often share a common wall to reduce the amount of construction.

The house we lived in was abandoned but then restored by my friend and his wife. It was built by his wife's grandparents. The houses on either side were abandoned. They purchased one and tore it down to create a parking space and enlarge their garden. You can see examples of houses in great shape and abandoned ones below. The streets are painted with flowers to celebrate Easter and these paintings stay throughout the year. There is some renovation being done on abandoned houses despite the bad economy. It should pick up when the economy turns. There are many more examples of homes in the next two blog posts. 

      

  

Above the town, it is very rural with goats, olives groves, and a few donkeys. We often went for walks there, either in the early morning or at sunset. You can also see the town football field which is on the western side of the town. The local football season runs from the end of September to May as it is too hot in the summer. The teams from towns on the island play each other. The champion of the island then plays the champions from other islands. 

      

 

 

Photos of Samiopoula, Samos Island, Grrece

I spent a number of weeks in Mytilini, on Samos Island last month. During our stay, we went to Samiopoula with Captain Vasilis and his wife and son. Samiopoula (Greek: Σαμιοπούλα) is a small island a km south of Samos Island. The name Samiopoula is a derivative of Samos (in Greek Σάμος) and literally means "small Samos". According to the Wikipedia, the island is 2.15 km (1.34 mi) in length and .7 km (0.43 mi) in width. There are a few buildings on Samiopoula, the small parish churches of Agia Pelagia (in Greek Αγία Πελαγία) and of theAscension of Christ (in Greek: Αναλήψεως του Σωτήρος) There is also a small tavern and few small houses owned by Vassilis Kappos and his family. Τhe only beach on the island, Psalida (in Greek Ψαλίδα), provides one of the few sand beaches in the Samos area along with very clear turquoise waters. The Samos beaches site rates it “one of the best beaches you will find on Samos, fine sand and crystal clear water.”

Samiopoula can be visited by boat from Pythagoria daily with Captain Vasilis Kappos starting at 9:45 AM. Below is Pythagora harbor and our departure. The voyage from Pythagorio to Samiopoula takes a bit over one hour. On this voyage the captain, his wife, and son were our hosts. You can see the old castle as you pass Pythagora, as well as the sun over the nearby Turkish coast.

        

The Vasilis Kappos family maintains an excellent Samiopoula Island Facebook page with many photos of trips to the island. The history section states that “Katina Kappou, the mother of Vassilis, lived on the island for more than 60 years. She was known as Jaja (grandmother) Katina or Kira (Mrs) Katina. She came on the island with her husband Tasos Kappos, his mother, her father, her sister and her brother-in-law after the World War 2. All together started to plant the rocky island with olive-trees, fig-trees, almond-trees and build walls to protect their goats. The tradition of the family is carried on by her son Vassilis, who has still more than 50 goats on the island.”

After Pythagora, the trip passes the south coast of Samos with its rocky cliffs. The quality of light on the rocks reminded me of some Monet paintings. We received some Samos sweet wine and oranges with cinnamon as a gift on the way. When we arrived at the island, the Captain maneuvered his boat along with rocky edge of Samiopoula. Then he circled around to dock at the small landing. As we landed you could see the small church on a hill top next to the Kappos family's tavern. 

  

      

Other boats will take you to the island but since Captain Vassilis and his family are the only residents and own the only tavern, his trip provides the longest stay and a wonderful lunch at the tavern on a ridge next to one of the churches. While we were on the beach another group descended on the beach but fortunately they only stayed for about an hour. On the Monday we visited, except for this brief intrusion, we had the beach and tavern almost to ourselves from 11 AM to 4 PM with only one other passenger, a woman on holiday from Germany. For a while she went up to the tavern for a beer so we had the beach to ourselves.

    
  

The lunch was delicious and freshly made. It started with grilled bread and Tzatziki, a dip of garlic, yogurt, cucumber and herbs. It was the best version of this dish I have tasted.  There was also a large Greek salad with very fresh ingredients. The Captain grilled two fish and some pork, while his wife prepared the rest of our lunch. A potato salad came with the meat and fish. The meal was completed with watermelon. We had white wine from their tavern to go with the meal. The Captain’s wife said that she hosted twenty for lunch on Sunday. This seems close to the capacity for their boat and is good to hear. We want their business to prosper and continue so others can enjoy what we experienced.

                

The wild, but friendly, goats far out-number the inhabitants. They were there to greet us in the morning and gave us a group send-off when we left around 4PM.

    

The light on the way back was also excellent. This time we were offered some Ouzo and thin sliced cucumbers. It was a nice way to end our voyage. We saw a fisherman and some windsurfers, arriving in the harbor of Pythgora a bit after 5PM. Samos is a great place to experience the Greek Islands with a diverse set of things to do: beaches, good food, historic sites, museums, mountains, vineyards, and the sea. I highly recommend this trip and be sure to take the Vasilis Kappos family boat when you go to Samiopoula.

   

  

Post Script. Today we went for a drive in the mountians and small villages on the southern tip of Samos Island, just across from Samiopoula. Rounding a bend on the curving mountian road between the towns of Paghonhas and Spatharaioi we saw Samipoula far below us. You can see the actual view in the first photo below. Then I zoomed in to capture the area we visited on Monday with the church and tavern on the hill top to the left and the beach below it on the right. Zooming in further you can see more details of the church and tavern on the left and the beach on the right. In the beach photo you can also see the small dock and Captain Vasilis's bost at anchor off from the dock to the right. 

      

Photos of South Central Samos Island, Greece

I spent some time in Mytilini, a mountian village on the island of Samos, Greece last month. Samos is located a mile off the Turkish coast. During our visit we explored the south central part of Samos island beginning with the ruins of the temple of Hera. It was built in stages beginning in the 8th cneturt BC. The temple was much larger than the Parthenon but subsequent builders saw it as a good supply of ready cut stones for building new things. Only one column is still standing and it is half its original size that must have been over 60 feet. You can see the Scared Way that led from the temple to old city of Pythagora. It was paved in the 7^th century BC and ran almost 5 km.

      

Next we walked around the seaside town of Ireo. There were a number of waterfront restaurants and one advertised live music on Monday and Friday. We came back for dinner and to hear the music on Friday. You can see the results at the bottom of this post.

  
Next we stopped at the Tower of Sarakinis built in the 16^th century AD. It was a left to a monastery on the island by the boatswain of the Ottoman Captian Kilic Ali Pasha who encouraged the re-population of the Samos in 1562. Beside it is a small, unusually shaped church.

  

We also drove through some remote mountain villages with peaceful shaded town squares. We are trying to do as many secondary paved roads as we can. Below is the town square in Myloi and the town from the hills above it. The green spot in the center is the town square with a very large old tree. This is usual situation in Greek inland villages, a central square with a large shade tree or several trees, and at least one taverna or cafe. The seaside villages, like Ireo above, run the central street and tavernas along the sea and are less likely to have a central square.

  

Next stop was Paghondas shown below. The second picture below shows the view from our table at Paghondas where we had foamy ice coffee, the Greeks call a frappe. Inside the cafe was a very large black and white photograph taken in New Jersey of a 1925 reunion of Greeks who immigrated to the US from Samos. The owner gave us permission to photograph the pictures. We have met a number of people here with American cousins. Next you see the familiar sight of laundry hanging out to dry. In this case it is across from the town square. Clothes dryers are rare on the island with its wind and sun. We did not take the steep ramp shown below to the parking lot but parked on the upper street. 

  
  

  

The road from Paghondas to Spatharaioi went along a ridge offering sweeping views to the sea and Mount Kerkas. You could also see the effects of large wild fires that swept sections of the back country several years ago.

  

We later had lunch in Mavratezi, an even more remote mountain village known for its ceramics.  We had a very traditonal lunch: souvaki (grilled pork on skewers), Greek salad, the best bread we have had on the island (from a bakery in Hora), and Tzatziki for 11 Euros. The weather has consistency cooled to the mid-80s so it is pleasant to do things during the day. After lunch we walked around the steep streets of the village. 

  

          

Post Script 1: Below is our view from dinner in Ireo as we sat at a corner table in the restaurant shown in first photo. There is Turkey across the water and the Straits of Mikali separating Greece and Turkey. We had dry and sweet white wine with grilled bread, fried mussels, fried calamari, and grilled shrimp. Then we were served a complementary desert of a sweet cake at the end. The view from our table looking the other way follows the dinner pictures. Next we went to a fish tavern to hear some excellent traditional Greek music. Dancers got going part way through. 

              

Post Script 2: Near the temple of Hera is a stretch of beach where you can drive on the back side of the beach. On several of our first nights on the island we watched the sunset over the mountains of Samos behind us and then saw the moon rise over the mountains in Turkey in front of us. We shared the view with a lone surf fisherman on two nights and had it to ourselves on the other. 

      

Photos of Paleo Karlovasi and Potami on Samos Island, Greece

Last year I spend the month of April in Samos, a Greek island just a mile off the Turkish coast. I participated in three excellent day-long experiences with Giorgos Matthaiou (Γιώργος Ματθαίου) and Samos Outdoors. Here is a link to a post on each of them: Central Mountains,Interior of Western Mountains, and Hike to Seitani Beaches. Now that I am back in Samos again, I reconnected with Giorgos and his new partner, Dimitris Dermanis (Δημήτρης Δερμάνης)  for more outdoor experiences and to learn more about the island, its people, and culture. The first day included exploring Paleo Karlovasi and the falls at Potami with a nice hike in between.

We met Dimitris in the port of Karlovasi and made our first stop at a fish shop. Giorgos was in Athens for the week but we will see him on our next trip. You pick your fish and then they cook it so it is still fresh and warm at the arranged pick up time. The next stop was at the traditional settlement (the old part of the town) of Karlovasi or Paleo. It was set back from the sea and up in the hills to offer protection from the pirates. The town climbed several hills with a church at the top of the highest one, as you can see below. As with most of the towns there were a number of churches, mostly small. You can usually see several in any direction you look. We stopped at two on the way up the hill out of town. People would offer small metal tokens with an image of their wishes, such as a repaired leg or a new baby as you see in the first of the second set of pictures. 

    
          

Then we hiked to the Agios Antonios cave, to go to the little church built inside. We needed headlights as the cave goes deep into the hillside and the church is in total darkness. There were many stalactites. Dimitris said they can take hundreds of years to form. The cave was used by the resistance during World War Two.

        

After the cave, we hiked on down the hill to the more modern church at Potami and the wide beach.  This trail was the only way to get to Potami until the built the auto road thirty years ago.  The trail is likely thousands of years old and it had a very ancient feel. The walls that created the terraces beside the olive trees are also ancient as are many of the trees themselves. Every few years they cut the top branches so that new shoots arise from the trunk and trees does not get too tall to make harvesting the olives difficult. You can see the beach below the pictures of the trail and the intense clarity of the water.

    

  

Next we went to the Byzantine church of Metamorfosi and then to the waterfalls of Potami for a swim. Along ther stream are some very large and hollow Maple trees. Dimtris said that there are three things that are required for a Greek villages: a church, a large Maple tree in the middle of the village sqaure (or sometimes a Plane tree) and a taverna or cafe under the tree. The walls of the narrow canyon close in on the stream before the falls and you have to wade through the water to get to falls. Getting into the steam was a cool refreshment after our hike. There are a series of three falls.

        

We stopped at the Karlovasi winery for a tasting and picked up a few bottles before getting our fish. We ate the fresh cooked and still warm fish in a small park over looking the old town completing our circular journey. We had the view shown in the very first picture at the top of this post. 

        

On the way back to our friend’s house in Mytilini we stopped at the pastry shop in Aghios Konstantions recommended by Dimtris for some immediate ice cream and pastries for later. There is a statue of a large ice cream cone eating another smaller ice cream cone. We had melon and vanilla on one and pistachio and cherry vanilla on the other. It was a great day and we look forward to our next experience with Dimtris and Giorgos at Samos Outdoors. This time we plan to hike between two mountain villages and Giorgos will join us also.  I highly recommend a visit to Samos Island and engaging Samos Outdoors when you go there.