Well our attempts, or should I say Louise’s attempts to find us winter accommodation was looking dodgy. We had managed to find a house in Alindi on Leros but the roll up costs were going to be quite significant once you took water and electricity and Leros Marina charges into account, so it looked like we would winter in Samos Marina and not be able to take the boat out like I would have preferred, but that’s life, queue Esther Ranzen.
In previous years we had hired a scooter for two or three days and we had already visited quite a lot of Samos Island, Nicolas however hadn’t, so we arranged to hire a car for the day. Sara & Brian (fellow sailors) had recommended a taverna right at the western end of Samos. There were in fact two virtually side by side. One was run by a priest and the other by a wee lady.
They are in a village called Drakei you can see on the map and are at the end of the line (road).
We travelled from Pythagorio along the north road through Karlovassi . It is the second largest population of the island and the commercial centre of Western Samos. It consists of 5 districts Paleo (Old), Neo (New), Mesaio (Middle), Karlovasi and the newer Ormos (Bay) and Limani (Port) of which the 1st three were separate communities until 1950.
Paleo Karlovasi, the old town and Tambakika are were the old tannery industry was sited and now preserves elements of the local traditional architecture. Since 2002 it has been made an area of special natural beauty with many restrictions on construction and repair.
Karlovasi suffered a lot of damage in the recent 7R earthquake that hit Samos on 30th October 2020 (of that more later !)
On arriving at the village for lunch we firstly walked past the two tavernas to decide which one to visit, the Pardre was out of the 1st one like a shot to entice us in but we kept walking saying we were visiting the rest of the village (such as it was) and might return. Next door was the alternative eatery.
On balance we preferred the look of the 2nd and additionally the fact that C19 seemed to be rife in the church congregations due to the lack of protection & social distancing. “The Virgin Mary likes to see your face when you are praying” was a quote of a priest who had been recently fined for holding services, we decide on the latter.
Well the padre was livid and he stomped away muttering to himself, unfortunately we would have to pass his on the way back to the car, lol.
Just about to run the gauntlet
The eager taverna owners waiting to pounce in the distance
The padre has just stomped off out of shot . I wonder what neighbour relations are like and is she allowed in his church ?
Nicolas’s take on the proceedings
It was a long drive for lunch but enjoyable all the same.
There was an unexpected surprise when we returned the car at the end of the day.
The Dutch lady who ran the car hire office had possibly found us a winter house for rent. She arranged for us to visit her Dutch friend’s house there and then and et voila we had a winter billet arranged from November until end of March …….Eureka!
That sorted we were free to sail where we wanted for the rest of the season unencumbered with house rental searching.
Back in Pythagorio celebrations on Syeni on the eve before we set off again.
Yamas
Forgive me Father for I have sinned. I ate next door. Glad you have your winter housing sorted. Does Nicolas stay with you or does he keep sailing. I am thinking you have been sailing for a while in tandem. More great pics you are both looking fab.x
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