What is the first thing to come to your mind when you think about Greece or Greek islands?
I’d think about beautiful blue beaches with crystal water, lots of seafoods, Greek salads, Zeus.
1 week before my 1 day trip, I was choosing which greek island to go to. Honestly, I didn’t have many choices. As I live in Izmir, I could go to Lesbos (Mytilini), Chios, Samos (Vathy) and Samos (Karlovassi) where boats go from Ayvalık, Ceşme, Kuşadası and Seferihisar to, respectively. However, there are also boats going from different port-cities of the Aegean coast, but they are a bit far from Izmir, around 3-4 hours by bus. So, after doing a little research about the islands, and skipping Chios island, as I visited it 2 years ago, I chose Samos. Samos is only 27 km away from Kuşadası port, it takes 1.5 hours to reach Vathy (Capital of Samos) port by ferry, and is located in the Aegean Sea. It is the birthplace of many great figures of ancient culture: Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, the philosopher Epicurus, and the astronomer Aristarchus of Samos, who first suggested that the Earth revolves around the sun. How awesome this is! Samos is also known by its wine and vineyards. Being in the ferry before arrival, I made a plan for myself to sit in a good Greek restaurant by the seaside for the lunch, order shrimps, calamari, greek salad and enjoy the sound of Aegean waves. After arrival, I spent few hours in Vathy then took a taxi to go to Pythagorio. Taxi driver charged me 20 euro one way, however reviews on internet told me it’s usually 15 euro. But as I am a tourist, and taxi drivers see tourists as euros, I had to pay 20 euro. I asked the drivers to stop near the shops and restaurants, but most probably he just burst out laughing after hearing this. I’ll tell you why! Only one advice!
I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND YOU come to Samos in … winter season. Because all my dreams about spending the day as real Greek fell apart in one second after learning THIS HORRIBLE SAMOS TRADITIONS. After speaking with a few Turkish passengers, I learned that Samos is summer island, and nearly 99% of the shops, restaurants, cafes are usually closed in winter!
In Pythagorio, there were hundreds of restaurants and cafés throughout the coastline, but I could not find one single open restaurant! Shops were closed! ‘Rent a car’s were closed! Touristic agencies were closed! And there were almost no one on the streets whom I could ask for the direction, it was like after the apocalypse: empty streets. The only food place I was able to find was Gyros shop, something similar to Döner. But trust me, i haven’t eaten such a delicious food before! I ordered one with chicken becons: they serve it with chips, tomatoes, onion, special sauce and bread under all of this.
In sum, my trip was full of frustration, I didn’t expect it to be like this, because I was in Chios in winter season as well, and I loved it: there were lots of tourists, street foods everywhere, Christmas trees in every store, everything was so bright and with full of life, in other word it was lively island!
At least I could bring lots of chocolates and local wines from the island :D
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| The entrance of the (closed) restaurant. |
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