Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

With these photos of the panijiri at chapel Panagia Makrini in a cave high above Kallithea in the west of Samos, I would like to wish all the people on Samos, all my friends on Samos and all the friends of the island of Samos a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Panagia Makrini is a very special place! For me the panijiri on August 14th left the deepest impression of my 2007 stay on Samos. I spent a whole evening and night up there in the cave with many nice and interesting people from Marathokampos and Kallithea who were singing and dancing.

Please do like this little girl and light a candle, bring warmth to the hearts of all people!


Hope many of you from all over the world will be healthy and wealthy enough to visit (again) Samos in 2008.

The truth is bitter but it must be told

This year the influx of migrants coming to the island of Samos has increased significantly if not dramatically. Samos is located on the eagean borderline of the EU.
In their desperate attempt to reach the EU, many migrants now focus on taking the route across the narrow straits between Turkey and Samos.

Almost every night there is sort of a "battle" going on, with the greek coast guard trying to prevent the migrants from reaching the realm of the EU. Those who manage to reach the islands of Samos, sometimes under life-threatening circumstances, are facing bad conditions in an overcrowded detention camp in Samos-Town.

If you are interested in this topic and want to know more, please follow the link given below (to a list of ten links with information dating from September to November 2007).

List of Links

Two videos have been published on YouTube and are included in the list of links, one from France24 and one from AlJazeera:

film report: „Samos, door to Europe“
Report-EN-FRANCE24, 2:37 min



film report: „Greek Immigration Center“
von AlJazeera English 5.10.2007, 2:48 min