Up the hill to Kontakeika!

Most of the tourists coming to Samos like the coast, the easy life on the beaches, and the leisure time in the harbours or in the squares of the villages. A few others like to be as far away as possible from the „normal“ tourist streams and want to stay in remote places in the mountains.

But there is something „in-between“. Halfway in-between! Some clever business men have also discovered this „in-between“ sphere and use it as advertising & promotional phrase to sell real estate.

Above the north coast of Samos, there are several well known villages and touristic destinations like Vourliotes, Manolates and Ambelos overlooking the aegean sea with tremendeous views. Stavrinides too, but this is already a bit too high up the hill, and more for individualists.
And then, further to the west ... ?
Wait, before we reach Karlóvasi on the coastal road, isn’t there a road leading up to another village? Well, yes, it’s called Kontakeika!


Kontakeika? "Where on Samos is Kontakeika (Kondakeika)?" most tourists will ask! Either they have never heard this name, don’t know how to pronounce it, have never been there or most probably will confuse it with Skoureika, Koumaradei, Koumeika or Kondeika. But maybe some of them - by walking, or in their cars/jeeps - already have passed through this village on the way to Petaloudes or to Ydroussa.

Well, what about a stop there, getting out of the car and paying a visit to this place?
With a couple of photos I will try to convince you that it might be really worthwhile to do so! (click on the photos to enlarge them!) A place, flooded with sun almost all day, in a beautiful hilly landscape surrounded by lots of gardens and vineyards. With a breathtaking panoramic view to the west to the Kerkis mountain range and down to the coast and the town of Karlóvasi. Those spectacular sunsets and colourful evening skies need to be experienced!
The picturesque small platia is a nice play to make a stop over! And in addition, as a teaser: since the end of 2007, there is a very good restaurant, open all year!

Here is a comparison: in the first photo, this small square of Kontakeika is shown in October 2008; and in the second photo as I came to know it end of August 2007.

The massive church is looking almost like a fortress!


And for those, who want a bit of excitment up in even higher places: a dirt road leads from Kontakeika all the way up to the range of Ambelos mountains and then again down to either Stavrinides or Vourliotes. It will be a fascinating adventure, but it is necessary to have a four-wheel drive and the detailed „Road Editions“ map of Samos. And please don’t smoke or drop empty bottles on the ground, we all want those beautiful forests with lots of green trees up there to remain as they are!

Said the straight man to the late man
Where have you been?
I've been here and I've been there
And I've been in between

I talk to the wind
My words are all carried away
I talk to the wind
The wind does not hear
The wind cannot hear

(I talk to the wind, King Crimson)

Port of Pythagorion

Two short videos that were taken in the middle of July 2007, almost exactly two years ago.

First one shows the port on a sunny day with quite a good breeze. I heard that the bar "Varka" is not anymore existing.

Port of Pythagorion from Peter Molz on Vimeo.

The second one is about captain Jiannis: he knows, he is a tourist attraction when he is on his boat Agia Irini. You can see him in the harbour after he comes back with his boat from the daily tourist trips, usually after 5:30 pm. Then the anchored boat is his stage and he "performs" free of charge. And he enjoys very much being in the center of "his show". With the additional two young goats on the boat, who wouldn't stop there to take a look and a picture!

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

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!

Samos Photos

Those of my Samos photos that are for sale as digital foto files you can find at "Alamy", the web’s largest stock photography site.
Samos photos of Peter Molz

Looking back: Samos 2004

Personal memories of Samos 2004. A collage of photos taken on Samos in 2004 with my first digital camera, a 4-Megapixel Canon IXUS 430. Looking back, a small but very good digital camera for a start! A solid metal housing, after all these years almost no scratches on the surface! Built for eternity?
And lovely small jpg-files on the hard disc of the computer. Nowadays I'm used to 15 MB files for one RAW photo of my Nikon D700.


But, nowadays, who would buy a 4 Megapixel camera? The 4 megapixel photos are still much more than is needed for HD (1280 x 720 pixel). O.k., if you want to zoom in to some extent, you might need 6 Megapixel photos. On the other hand, the video mode with 320x240 Pixels and 15 fps was pretty limited then, nowadays this is much better with HD becoming a standard rapidly!

This was a unique feeling then, because it was my first time on Samos during the month of May. There I was, middle of May and I was fascinated by the green and blossoming environment and by taking my first really colourful photos with the new digital camera.

I'm preparing a presentation with many of those 2004 photos, but this will take a couple more rainy days in Germany. ;-)