Monday, September 29, 2008

Live music in the harbour of Pythagorio



If you are staying in lovely Pythagorio and want to listen to live greek music, it might not be that easy to find a place to do so in the harbour! Most of the tavernas belong to the so called "comfort zone", that means you will get easy listening music or 50th to 70th music according to the age of the mostly grey-haired tourists visiting the island.

In July and August there is live rock music and greek songs in "Varka". After 1 o'clock in the night, the bouzouki club "Amadeus" offers live and loud music played by a band of 5 musicians till early in the morning.
The restaurants Faros and Poseidon on Remataki beach offer live greek music on 3 days a week (Wednesday, Friday & Saturday) to enhance digestion and enable loud speaking at the table.
But if you really want to listen to acoustic greek music in a more traditional way, you better go to places like "Karafaki" or "Notos".

Here are some photos from these two locations.
In "Karafaki", musicians play in changing formations on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, mostly as a group of two or three.


In "Notos", Jiannis Loulourgas together with a guitarist plays once a week, usually on Wednesday nights.



Here is one music example: Jiannis Loulourgas performing solo at "Karafaki" on a rare occasion. The photos used for this presentation show him playing (together with Jiannis Karavasilis on guitar) at "Notos":

Friday, September 26, 2008

Vintage of grapes still continues on Samos


The vintage of grapes still continues on Samos. Near Karlovasi, a man is showing proudly his sweet grapes. There is a wine press where people go to and process and press their grapes for private use.









Oldtimers on Samos


For several days we had rain, dark clouds, grey skies, relatively low temperatures. But on Wednesday the weather was nice and the air clear with good visibility. On my way to Samos-town I stopped and took this photo!
These people from Holland had just arrived on Samos the day before and they sat down on this new "retired people" bench above Ano Vathi to enjoy the breathtaking view over the gulf of Samos with Samos-town and its harbour in a distance and the old houses of Ano Vathi on the slopes of the hill in the front.

Since Wednesday night, a lot of old cars came to Samos. They gathered in Samos-Town for the "Loumidis Archontikos-Philpa" Rally. During their stay on Samos they will have tours starting from Samos-town to Karlovassi, Platanos, Ormos Marathokampos. Today, Friday, they will arrive in Pythagorion in the evening. And there will be a party on the Platia Irini with rock'n'roll dances and music.


Here some photos I took yesterday in Karlovasi, I found the old cars in the harbour.



Weather is not so good, lots of clouds and: no gasoline on Samos! It's fun to ride over empty roads along the north coast.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Agricultural festival in Pirgos

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A 2-day long agricultural festival was held in September 2008 in Pirgos right in the center of the island of Samos in Greece.

First day, September 5th: "Kyvelocooking" with traditional food, wine and sweets and traditional dances in the evening on the crowded platia of Pirgos.

Second day, September 6th 2008: an experience of rural life during the period of vine harvest in the vast vineyards north of Pirgos on the slopes of the Ambelos mountains.

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A full day of going to the vineyards, having a religious ceremony in a chapel, cutting grapes, having traditional meal in the vineyards and coming back to Pirgos to press the vine and to eat Tiganites and a special pudding made from the freshly pressed grape juice.

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Musicians of Samos are depicted here playing the song "Samiotissa"in the yard of Tasos taverna in Pirgos while people are having a good time dancing, eating, drinking.





Come to Pirgos in the heart of Samos! For sure Samos has a lot more to offer than beaches and touristic centres along the coastline. Come and find out with all your senses: Samos is much more than just the coastline!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Kali Orexi!


Sometimes I like to take photographs of things I am eating a minute or so later.
Whenever possible, I try to catch the atmosphere of all the good greek dishes that I happen to order in a taverna or that I get in private households.

Here are a couple of photos of the good greek "stuff".





Alyki wetlands: a salty experience



Driving on the road along Mykali beach to Psili Ammos beach in the south-east of the island, you will pass by a shallow lake with salty water for most of the time of the year, sort of a lagoon, the Alyki wetlands. Well known for flamingos who stay there for a while for their "Samos holidays" in winter/spring.

But now the wetlands are completely dried out, a layer of salt covers the ground and the salt crystals shimmer in the sun.
Here are some impressions of how it looked like in the late afternoon of September 1st.