Island lıfe

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th of June

We have spent the last two days on the island of Samos and it seems about a million miles from Athens. It is, in fact, one of the Greek settlements closest to Turkey but is staunchly and unequivocally Greek.

Samos is utterly gorgeous. It is everything quaint and sun-soaked that you expect from a Greek island. I know I went on about the fact that Athens was just like the pictures, but Samos is actually better than the pictures. It has a gentle, unhurried feel about it and even though it is teeming with tourists, it does not have the hard-sell feel that Athens did.

We are staying in a little village called Ireon (or Herion… bet that confuses ya, eh? It sure did me…). Ireon is named for the Greek goddess Hera (see previous brackets) and just down the road, is a temple dedicated to her. My trusty Lonely Planet tells me that the temple was once twice the size of Parthenon. Only half of one of the once 155 column remains standing but if you walk around the edge of the temple you can certainly get a sense of the size it once was.

On Sunday, we gathered our nerves, hired a car and went driving. It was moderately nerve-wracking but Marty did a sterling job of keeping us on the right side of the road. The first round-a-bout just about did him in but he recovered admirably.

About 10 minutes from Ireon is the township of Pythagoria. No points for guessing who that is named after! Actually, there seemed to be a whole raft of triangles around the town- even the jetty was triangular. We went and visited the statue of Pythagoras and Marty posed in a suitably intelligent-looking position… he was very excited J I think Pythagoria has been my favourite town to date. Not only did it have a castle for Marty, but it was small, friendly and absolutely stunning. It was exactly how I wanted a village on the edge of the Aegean to look. A highlight was for me was the ‘traditional’ Greek boats… painted in an array of colours, they fitted perfectly with the rainbow colours of the houses around Pythagoria.

Sorry to go on about the weather again (sorry Karen… feel free to skip this paragraph J) but it has been over 40 degrees each day we have been here. Even the locals think it is unseasonably warm. Consequently, people seem to make great use of that outstanding European invention- the siesta. If you are bold enough to be out and about in the after-lunch period, you find many of the shops closed and the public places almost deserted. It’s only mad dogs and Englishmen (or on this island, cats and crazy Kiwis) who venture out when the sun is high. However, if you wander through town in the late evening (ie when we are on our way to bed), it is a whole different story: the town square is teeming with people, the restaurants are full and the playgrounds are brimming with children. I’m sure our hosts think we go to bed ridiculously early… 11pm is early evening around here!

We’re off to Turkey tomorrow and unlike when we left Athens, I don’t feel quite ready to go. Samos has a real beach holiday atmosphere and you can unwind and move at a slower pace. There’s more of a generous mood here- last night we were plied with Ouzo (ug!) and people seem to love the fact that we travelled 30 hours to get here. Being next to the sea has been glorious and you can’t beat eating dinner while watching the sun go down over the Aegean. Still, hi-ho, Kusadasi here we come.