Tuesday, June 16, 2009

A visit to the Seϊtáni coast on Samos island

An excursion to the breathtaking beauty of the northwest coast of Samos island in Greece.

Walking under dark pine trees or silvergreen olive trees on that stoney and dusty footpath that leads up and down along the coast to the remote Seϊtáni beaches with their crystal-clear waters.

Spending the afternoon on the beautiful Mikró Seϊtáni Beach, listening to the sound of the wind and the waves. And to the message Dimos wants to offer you!

The Seϊtáni coast with the two main beaches "Megálo Seϊtáni" and "Mikró Seϊtáni" is an example for parts of Samos island, where most of the normal tourists will never go to, because it is not organized and easy to get there.

Don't forget to bring along with you good shoes, enough drinking water and fresh fruits.
No taverns over there! ;-)

A visit to Mikró Seϊtáni beach / Samos, Greece from Peter Molz on Vimeo.

An extended version, approx. 20 minutes long, with more footage from the walk along the footpath, I have posted on Vimeo too! So take your time, maybe on a rainy weekend!
All along the footpath to Mikró Seϊtáni beach

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Music is in the air!

Here I present two videos of musicans I know very well for many years now. Completely different music styles and ways of living, but they all add to make Samos a nice place to remember after the holidays are over!

Dimos singing at Pefkos beach

How to bring a performance after hours to an end? Well, here you can see how:
Jiannis Loulourgas und Jiannis Karavasilis "live" at restaurant Poseidon in Pythagorio.

Experience Samos 2009

This years tourism season started almost 1 month ago. During the past years many tourists from all over Europe came back to Samos again and again every year.
But Samos needs newcomers too, young tourists, who will come alone, together as couples or in groups for the first time to the island of Samos to spend their holidays there. And who will like what they experience on Samos and maybe even fall in love with the island too, like so many others already did in the past.

To give them some good ideas of what to expect, here is my presentation "Samos 2009, a unique experience" that I designed for the young ones :-) It is sort of a high speed random walk all over Samos island.

Samos 2009, a fascinating experience from vimeo-minstrel on Vimeo.

Samos, a green emerald in the blue aegean sea, is located just a few kilometers away from the coast of Asia Minor. It is loaded with natural beauties and archeological sites and - in contrast to many other greek islands - Samos is gifted with large water reservoirs, partly due to forests and high mountains.
In addition, Samos is famous e.g. for its wines and the mathematician/philosopher Pythagoras, who was born on Samos and lived there for many years.

Many different kinds of landscapes can be experienced on this island, e.g. large forests, deep valleys and canyons, herbs with incredible smells, unbelievable fresh and crystal clear water springs, brooks, cascades and even small waterfalls (e.g. in Potami & Imvrasos vallley and near Ampelos village).
High mountains reaching up to 1150 meters (Karvounis, Ambelos) and 1443 meters (Vigla, Kerkis). With many caves and ancient quarries.

Lots of beautiful beaches all around the coasts of this island. Mostly with small pebbles, but some of them, especially in the south, are fine sanded, named psili ammos.

And many small villages, not only along the coast line. The more you get away from the coast, the more you will find the natural and rural life on Samos. Don't forget to visit one of the many panijiria during the summer season, the celebrations of the patron saints of the respective churches or chapels.

Samos has different wines. Not only the famous sweet wine! Besides the red, white and rosé Samos wines and the local Ouzo, try the Souma of Samos (in other places in Greece this spirit - containing about 40 % alcohol - is called Tsipouro!)

Come to beautiful Samos in 2009 for holidays!

All photos were taken by me between 2005 and 2008.

The music that accompanies the presentation is sung and played by various groups/musicians living on Samos and Ikaria. Several of them I know personally.

Music starts with two lively Nisiotika songs. Singers are Evi Morphou and Kyriakos Mavrikis.
Then follows an example for the energetic dance "Ikariotikos", played on violin by Leonidas Tsantiris. This dance "Ikariotikos" is unique and the music is very often heard on the panijiria on Samos too!
This is followed by calm and soulfull Rembetika-Songs, sung by Jiannis Loulourgas and his daugther Maria.
Near the end, there are 2 live recordings I made in taverns in Pythagorio, the musicians Makis & Jiannis Karavasilis accompany Jiannis Loulourgas.

Please note: as far as I know, CD's of these musicians are only available on the islands. Please support the local musicians and their music by visiting their live appearances and buying their CDs when you will visit the three islands Samos, Ikaria and Fourni!