Sunday, November 16, 2008

The other side


Samos-town has a lot of different faces. This sommer I happened to come the second time to an area most people wouldn't want to know. 50 meters away from the harbour boulevard Themistokli Sophouli. The ruin of the hotel resides directly on the boulevard.








There is a house in Samos-town,
best place to view the setting sun,
it's been a ruin for many a year,
when are they going to pull it down?




Drive-In café on Platia Pythagoras in Samos-town


Seen in October 2008: looks like a market in Samos-Town for the sale of motorcycles and motorscooters. But it isn't!
After most of the tourists have gone, there is room enough for all those fancy vehicles on the Platia Pythagoras again. Quite a challenge, the "real art" is to place your vehicle in a such way that nobody can overlook it!


To me it seems that Samians don't want to walk too much, they need instant access to the cafés on Platia Pythagoras and their scene. Not more than a couple of meters walk and then they want to sit down, take their mobile phones and "communicate". The café Iraion is one of the noisiest places I know on the island! ;-)

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Impressions: end of season 2008 on Samos


October 2008, the summer season 2008 is almost past and gone, no doubt about it. But sunny and warm October often has many nice days to offer and here are some impressions of places on Samos I went to between 9th and 14th of October:

a.) Kokkari on the north coast:
Not so much going on here anymore on the west beach!



The north wind brings waves inside the harbour. Wave meets "Wave"!



b.) Balos beach on the south coast:





c.) Samos-town. Everyday's life is going on without tourists. Café Ireon on platía Pythagoras filled with people.



d.) Ireon looks like everybody went home already:






e.) Almost empty Tsabou beach with beautiful water colours on the north coast near Avlákia:


f.) On the square (platía) in Léka:



g.) On the narrow road between Léka and Tsourlei:




h.) Taverna and houses in the small settlement of Tsourlei. We were the only people to be seen over there.



i.) Mikró Seitáni beach in the north-west of Samos. Sea was warm, but waves were a bit high and very strong on this day.


j.) On the square (platía) in Kontakéika. Late afternoon and evening atmosphere. View along the north coast line to the west over Karlovasi.




k.) Nighttime on the 10th of October in the port of Pythagorio. Some taverns and bars are already closed. Almost no people in the port and empty seats everywhere in the open taverns and bars around 11 p.m.



Some young people put a grill in front of "Karafaki", and begin to grill octopus and squid to overcome the boring situation.

Having fun in the vineyards near Pirgos


On October 13th, I accompanied the musician Dimos to the village of Pirgos to pay a visit to Dimos' friend Kostas. We met Kostas and his brother working in their vineyard east of Pirgos where they were collecting grapes.
So, for some time we joined them and had lots of fun, the sky was blue and the sun was still hot, we enjoyed the beautiful weather in the middle of October on Samos!




Here Kostas is selecting grapes:


Dimos learning how to cut the grapes:



Take care, the grapes of Samos can drive you mad and turn you into a follower of Dionysos.



That's us with a variety of different grapes:







We left Pirgos with lots of grapes and took the road to Karlóvasi, then passing Léka and Tsourlei on our way to the Seϊtáni coast in the northwest of the island. Last possibility for me during this years' stay on Samos to swim in the waters of Mikró Seϊtáni beach.