Samos worldwide!

Some of my Samos videos/presentations on YouTube have reached quite a respectable number of views since they were launched:

15.700 views for Samos 2007, greek & green
17.500 views for "Samos 2007, greek & green" (10 min)
19.140 views for Samos/Greece 2008 presentation "greek & green"
22.900 views for Samos 2009, a fascinating experience!

And the winner is:

25.300 views for "Rebetika Tragoudia / Rebetika (Rebetic) Songs"
A video about the music of Jiannis Loulourgas, a luthier, singer and bouzouki player from Pythagorio on Samos island.



Sort of a rising star is the video about the visit of the mega-yacht "Al Mirqab" in Pythagorio (2.900 views since it was published on June 19th, 2010:



On the Vimeo platform I have established a channel called "Experience Samos" with many videos and presentations of Samos.

The strait of Samos / Mycale Strait / Στενό της Μυκάλης

The strait of Samos or Mycale Strait (in greek: Stenó Sámou, in turkish: Dar Bogaz). Where Greece with the island of Samos is at its closest distance to Turkey in the aegean sea!



Along the south-eastern coast line of Samos, there are several bays. Three of them are easily accessible via asphalt roads. Besides the well known Psili Ammos Bay with fine sandy beach and several taverns and the picturesque bay of Posidonio, a less known place is Klima bay with a nice beach and two taverns (watch video below too!).

The Samos strait near Psili Ammos:



The Samos strait near Klima:



The Samos strait near Posidonio:



Only bad and dusty (or muddy after rain) dirt roads lead through the area between Psili Ammos and Klima on the south-east coast of Samos. Driving along there is rather adventureous, and it always feels like looking down on a lake, with the high mountains of the turkish coast on the opposite side.




Photos of the Metziki area (Akra Metziki):




The western end of the strait of Samos. The small island (with a lighthouse) belongs to Turkey and is opposite of Psili Ammos beach.



Sunset trip on Friday evening, captain Jiannis from Pythagorio with his boat Agia Irini is on his way through the strait of Samos heading towards a nice night with lots of eating, drinking and dancing in a fish tavern in Posidonio.



Some videoclips I took this year in the south-east of Samos:







Well, how narrow is this channel between Europe (Greece) and Asia Minor (Turkey) at its closest distance?

I’ve done some searches in the internet and obtained differing data. A range from 1,2 kilometers to approx. 2 kilometers is offered for the closest distance!

meandertravel says:
The island Samos lies in the heart of Central Aegean, 1200 meters from the shore of Asia Minor.

Many people with german websites just copy the text from the german Wikipedia site, which states 1,3 km. The english version of Wikipedia interestingly allows 1,6 kilometers for the closest distance!

As does the EUROPÄISCHES SEGEL-INFORMATIONSSYSTEM which states 1,68 kilometer! (in german):
„Die Straße ist an der engsten Stelle 0,9 nm (=1,68km) breit und 2,99 nm (=5,64km) lang.“

The World Cruising Wiki says:
The Mycale channel, which is 1 nM wide, separates the two countries, ...

Partsafas K. Stillianos, head of the Samos port authority, is cited to have said:
“Samos is very close to Turkey. This is why we deal with so many illegal immigrants. At its closest point in the Samos Strait, Greece and Turkey have just 0.6 nautical miles between them,” ....

Samosin.gr site says:
„To the East of Samos is Turkey and Asia Minor, from which Samos is separated by the “Eptastadio” channel, (called Dar Bogaz in Turkish) whish is only 1650 meters wide at its narrowest point.“

I even found a statement saying this:
„In fact, Samos is only 2km from Turkey at its closest point, but to be honest, as far as I could see, Samos could be 2km of the coast of France for all the Turkish influence in evidence!“

Nowadays, Google helps us to find out ourselves what is the closest distance between Samos and the turkish coast.
And I remembered the sunset trip to Posidonio with captain Jiannis from Pythagorio where he always shows people in his boat this point on the south-east coast of Samos.

So, I marked two points on Google Earth in the area of the Samos strait which I think could represent the closest distance between the two countries Greece and Turkey.



The coordinates are:

For Samos:
37°42'17.15"N
27° 1'47.01"E

Decimal degrees notation: 37.704764 27.029725

For Turkey:
37°41'23.04"N
27° 1'51.98"E

Decimal degrees notation: 37.689733 27.031106

With these data I went to two different websites to calculate the distance.

rechneronline.de/geo-koordinaten
I obtained 1676 meters !

with geo-tools/distance-calculator
I obtained 1675 meters.

Well, that perfectly fits the data given on that sailing site (1,68 kilometers)!

Maybe others regard the smaller distance between those two islets/rocks in the sea (the oval one in front of the turkish mainland belonging to Turkey, and the other, rectangular one, just in front of Psili Ammos beach on Samos belonging to Greece) as the shortest distance between Greece and Turkey and use this distance.
I'm refering here to the closest distance between the mainland of Turkey and the shores of Samos.

Kako Perato region

Well, the dense green with many trees in this view to the south-east might be gone now for many years!

The remote area of Kako Perato, a beautiful part of Samos between Kastanea, Kosmadei and the eastern slopes of the Kerkis mountain range, suffered extremely from the devastating fire this week.

View to the north:



As I heard from friends, not much is left of the former beautiful green over there.
Fortunately, the outlet of the canyon towards the sea, the area of the beautiful Megalo Seitani beach, and the villages threatened by the fire, Marathokampos, Kastanea, Kosmadei and Votsalakia, were not hurt by the fire.

For those who haven't been to the area of Kako Perato, in my gallery "Along the abyss to the cave in Kako Perato canyon" are some photos I took in 2007 on my way along the footpath leading to this cave.

In addition, I highly recommend to pay a visit to the well presented website of Rainer Kastl, samos-wandern (hiking on Samos) to accompany him on his tour 24 through this area.

The following photos I took in June of the year 2005:

Hiking, starting from the monument on this saddle in the mountains above Marathokampos, in the direction of Kerkis mountain:









In the light of the setting sun on the dirt road leading through the Kako Perato area towards Kosmadei:



MyWorld Tuesday

Firefighting with helicopters on Samos island in Greece. July 2010

The months of July and August with high temperatures, dried-out nature and strong Meltemi winds are potentially dangerous with regards to fires on Samos island with its many forests and vegetation.

This year there have been fires already , e.g. the one of July 21st. Then, 4 helicopters and 6 planes were involved in the firefighting from the air helping many firefighters on the ground doing their job.







And just now, July 29th 2010, official and voluntary firefighters are struggling again against the long firefront of a big fire between the hills above Kokkari on the north coast and Mytilinii and Mavratzei in the centre of the island.

Here are some videos I took last week on the day after the fire of Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 :

Firefighting on Samos island in Greece. Helicopter coming down to the sea in the gulf of Samos near Malagari opposite the capital Samos-town to refill with seawater.







In the hills on the north coast close to Samos-town, above the road leading to the rubbish damp: helicopters are still flying and dropping water to control the area.



While it can be a life threatening experience to those whose properties or lives are on the risk and for those who fight the fires, it is always a pity too that more green spots will disappear from the map of Samos for quite some years. So, tourists planning to come to Samos should be aware that
- a lot of efforts have been undertaken to improve the firefighting considerably over the last ten years, especially on Samos island.
- the tourist resorts near or on the beaches in most cases are not endangered.

But looking at all those photos and pictures of forest fires on this beautiful island should bring immediately to each tourists mind too the responsibility to behave in a way to prevent any possible cause for a fire on Samos.

Driving along country roads on Samos

Driving on the road on Samos island can be a lot of fun, especially in spring, when the countryside is full of blooming flowers and bushes. Here are three examples from end of May 2010:

a.) Going downhill from Ambelos to Ag. Konstantinos on the north coast (Parts 1 & 2 of 4):





The village of Ambelos high on the north coast of Samos and the road leading up there have already inspired many others to take videos. Here are two examples produced by samian "Youtubers":

Video of LowerdNJuiced: Road from Ambelos village down to main street Samos island Greece October 2008



Video of Nick Tsoulontino from February/March 2010: national samographic-Ambelos village and its Waterfalls:




b.) Driving along the road on the north coast of Samos in the Svala/Kampos region (part 1 of 2)



c.) On the road from Balos to Pirgos in the south of Samos (parts 1 & 4 of 4)





The other parts you can find easily in my videochannel on YouTube

The Avlakia session: Cloud of Unknowing

The dutch musicians Ad Vanderveen & Kersten de Ligny and greek musician Dimos Kassapidis performing together, playing the song " Cloud of Unknowing".
Recorded "live", 10 meters away from the lovely blue waters of the aegean sea, in the small village of Avlakia on the north coast of the island of Samos, Greece, July 2010.

Despite wind jammer used, some wind noises due to strong Meltemi winds blowing.



http://www.advanderveen.com
http://www.myspace.com/kerstendeligny
http://www.dimosol1.blogspot.com

Ad Vanderveen and Kersten de Ligny visiting Samos

The two dutch professional musicians Ad Vanderveen and Kersten de Ligny came to Samos for the third time for a holiday. They fell in love with the island and became friends with the greek musician Dimos Kassapidis. Dimos came to know the music of Ad some years ago via dutch visitors on Samos island and is playing some of the songs composed by Ad.

Ad and Kersten have recorded several CDs and you can find videoclips of them on YouTube and Vimeo, e.g. this one:



This year, I met them on Samos for the first time during last week when they were playing at the Hotel "Doryssa Seaside Resort" together with Dimos.

Two days ago, on Friday night, they gave a concert with two sets in the restaurant "Archontóspito" on the square in Kontakeika. Unfortunately, a cool Meltemi wind was blowing strong. But nevertheless, all tables were occupied. And the greek audience liked the music.







Besides Ad and Kersten, a young local greek singer was playing, the first set alone, then later in the night accompanied by two fellow musicians:



On Saturday we did some recording of a more or less spontaneous jam session in Avlakia on the north coast. Ad, Kersten and Dimos performed several songs, e.g. "This fleeting life", "Cloud of unknowing" and "If I needed you".
To get a first impression, please watch the following videoclip:



I will post some more material in a while.