Samos videos and presentations in high quality

Some time ago I came across the video platform "Vimeo" in the internet.
Since I had - and still have - almost no influence on the quality of my media that I want to publish on YouTube, I decided to open an account at Vimeo.The quality is very good.
The link to my new channel:
"Experience Samos!"

I have already rendered some of my presentations in HD (720p) quality and published them on this channel.
Since the video files now have large sizes, anything between one hundred and several hundreds of megabytes, I recommend to start the download of the stream and wait until at least two thirds of the stream have been downloaded before starting to watch the video. Of course, it all depends on the speed of your internet access and your computer.

On the Vimeo site, there is another channel on Samos with several contributions named "Samos Island" by a user called "PolykratisP" which I recommend too.

Souma, Souma

If there is something, people on Samos are looking forward to after the end of the summer season, it is of course the calmness that comes back to the island. But there are other things too: e.g., the fresh mushrooms after the first rain falls and the distillation of Souma, using the pomace from the pressing of the grapes! Always a good opportunity to gather with friends and celebrate with eating, drinking and music!

The drink Souma is made purely out of pomace through a straight-forward distillation process. Sometimes people like to add herbs to the cauldron to add flavour to the taste of the Souma.

The production of homebrewn Souma/tsipouro is allowed in Greece with the only restriction being that the cauldrons used must be licensed. The making of Souma/Tsipouro usually doesn't start before end of October.

In October 2008 I had the opportunity to watch this distillation procedure in a pot still in Stavrinides. Stavrinides is a small village surrounded by vineyards and forests, high above the north coast, located next to the village of Ambelos.

The apparatus used for the distillation was - compared to many other pot stills on the island - relatively new, almost high-tech. But they have such a beautifull copper cauldron there (Cauldron = Kasáni = Brennkessel)! All the process steps, from chopping the wood needed for the fire in the oven under the cauldron, the filling, assembly, dissasembly and cleaning of the apparatus to the measuring of the alcohol content of the Souma flowing out of a tube in the condenser tank are depicted in the presentation "Souma distillation on Samos":



To see the full resolution, click on the player window and the YouTube site will open. Please watch in high quality mode!

Music is performed by musicians from Samos and was recorded live in Pythagorio. The first song is about "Fouma, Fouma", not Souma, Souma! ;-)

The other side

Samos-town has a lot of different faces. This sommer I happened to come the second time to an area most people wouldn't want to know. 50 meters away from the harbour boulevard Themistokli Sophouli. The ruin of the hotel resides directly on the boulevard.








There is a house in Samos-town,
best place to view the setting sun,
it's been a ruin for many a year,
when are they going to pull it down?

Drive-In café on Platia Pythagoras in Samos-town

Seen in October 2008: looks like a market in Samos-Town for the sale of motorcycles and motorscooters. But it isn't!
After most of the tourists have gone, there is room enough for all those fancy vehicles on the Platia Pythagoras again. Quite a challenge, the "real art" is to place your vehicle in a such way that nobody can overlook it!


To me it seems that Samians don't want to walk too much, they need instant access to the cafés on Platia Pythagoras and their scene. Not more than a couple of meters walk and then they want to sit down, take their mobile phones and "communicate". The café Iraion is one of the noisiest places I know on the island! ;-)

Impressions: end of season 2008 on Samos

October 2008, the summer season 2008 is almost past and gone, no doubt about it. But sunny and warm October often has many nice days to offer and here are some impressions of places on Samos I went to between 9th and 14th of October:

a.) Kokkari on the north coast:
Not so much going on here anymore on the west beach!



The north wind brings waves inside the harbour. Wave meets "Wave"!



b.) Balos beach on the south coast:





c.) Samos-town. Everyday's life is going on without tourists. Café Ireon on platía Pythagoras filled with people.



d.) Ireon looks like everybody went home already:






e.) Almost empty Tsabou beach with beautiful water colours on the north coast near Avlákia:


f.) On the square (platía) in Léka:



g.) On the narrow road between Léka and Tsourlei:




h.) Taverna and houses in the small settlement of Tsourlei. We were the only people to be seen over there.



i.) Mikró Seitáni beach in the north-west of Samos. Sea was warm, but waves were a bit high and very strong on this day.


j.) On the square (platía) in Kontakéika. Late afternoon and evening atmosphere. View along the north coast line to the west over Karlovasi.




k.) Nighttime on the 10th of October in the port of Pythagorio. Some taverns and bars are already closed. Almost no people in the port and empty seats everywhere in the open taverns and bars around 11 p.m.



Some young people put a grill in front of "Karafaki", and begin to grill octopus and squid to overcome the boring situation.

Having fun in the vineyards near Pirgos

On October 13th, I accompanied the musician Dimos to the village of Pirgos to pay a visit to Dimos' friend Kostas. We met Kostas and his brother working in their vineyard east of Pirgos where they were collecting grapes.
So, for some time we joined them and had lots of fun, the sky was blue and the sun was still hot, we enjoyed the beautiful weather in the middle of October on Samos!




Here Kostas is selecting grapes:


Dimos learning how to cut the grapes:



Take care, the grapes of Samos can drive you mad and turn you into a follower of Dionysos.



That's us with a variety of different grapes:







We left Pirgos with lots of grapes and took the road to Karlóvasi, then passing Léka and Tsourlei on our way to the Seϊtáni coast in the northwest of the island. Last possibility for me during this years' stay on Samos to swim in the waters of Mikró Seϊtáni beach.