Samos 2011: exploring the island!

In 2010 I spent quite some time on the island of Samos taking photos of parts of the island, where most of the tourist will not go to. So here is my new photo-presentation, 23 minutes long, mainly about the natural beauty of this east aegean island and about the local people celebrating their panigiria.

The music that accompanies this presentation I recorded in the village of Leka on July 16th, 2010. There I happened to come to in the evening without knowing in advance of the event in this night. So I decided to stay there. And to have another late night trip on the motor scooter back to Pythagorio!

Four local musicians forming one of the best groups of Samos were playing there on the village square during this event organized by the voluntary fire brigade. I had met these musicians before on other occasions, e.g. in August 2008 in Kallithea (panigyri) and Kastaneá (charity event).

The musicians are:
Mavrikis, Kyriakos: main vocals, guitar, bouzouki
Liapis, Giorgos: laouto, bouzouki, vocals
Sarantou, Vasilis: violin, vocals
Mytilinos, Giannis: keyboards, vocals


I added some copyright watermarks to my presentation. ;-) Despite that, I hope you will like the photos and the music from the beautiful island of Samos in Greece.

The presentation is intended to be non-commercial. No embedding allowed on websites with primarily commercial focus!

Samos Bouzouki School / Yannis Loulourgas

Tired of wasting too much life time on the beach?
Having the wish to come to lovely island of Samos to spend a different type of vacation, an active holiday?

Are you interested in music, in understanding greek music, and would you like to learn how to play bouzouki ....


... or how to build a greek instrument, e.g. a baglamas?


In addition, experience parts of Samos you never knew or heard of?

The instrument maker, bouzouki player and singer Yannis Loulourgas in the village of Pythagorion has started his "Samos Bouzouki School". With many years of experience as a singer/bouzouki player and instrument maker, he offers first hand knowledge!





"Samos Bouzouki School offers two workshops: ‘Build Your Own Instrument’ and ‘Learn To Play Greek Music'. Depending on your choice, in one week you will learn the process of how to build an instrument or you will learn to understand and play Greek music."

"Meeting people who can convey peace and quietness from within is rare … and can only be achieved when what you do, it isn’t a job, it’s a passion…
Born in Pythagoreio there is only one word that can describe the way Yiannis Loulourgas views life: Music!"

If you want to know what type of music Yannis Loulourgas plays, here is an example with songs from his CD "Rebetika Tragoudia":

Changing for better?

A comparison of two photos taken of Ano Vathy from the road going down to Samos town. Click on the photos for larger size!

Ano Vathy in May 2004:


Ano Vathy in October 2008:


The long white front without any windows of this new house spoils every photo taken of picturesque Ano Vathy from the west!
With regards to size, in my opinion this building is like a "tank" in comparison to the old buildings.

Here are 4 photos of Samos town and Ano Vathy, taken in lovely May of 2004, with an IXUS 430, a 4 Megapixel camera:

Halcyon Hills: reality check on planned building site

Warning: footage and pictures taken are no computer simulations! You are confronted with reality!


These are some phrases from advertisings over the last 2-3 years for the 'Halcyon Hills' project on the island of Samos:

".....It's rare to find a developer who has taken so much research and consideration into account before embarking on a project. .....
.... The complex is scheduled for completion two years from the commencement of building works. Completion is estimated to be in the first quarter of 2011.
....Construction will start in early 2009, and completion is scheduled for 2011."

Well, alright, lots of announcements and really nice virtual reality videos and pictures ....
Since I didn't have the time in 2009 to visit the area on the south-east coast of Samos, I called several people o Samos and asked them: "did they start the building activities there?" Answer: we didn't hear or read anything, so most probably they didn't start.

So what about a reality check visiting the area? In spring, summer and autumn 2010 I went to the area in the south-east of Samos on a motor scooter to see what was the status of the project on the site planned for the 'Halcyon Hills" resort, between Klima Bay and Akra Merziki.
I couldn't detect any building activities on the planned site!

What I already knew from visits there many years ago and what I found again on these several visits in 2010 was a beautiful and calm, almost silent natural area between Klima bay and Akra Merziki/Mertziki, where normally almost no tourist will go to because only really bad dirt roads lead there. The place looks like a big lake with the high mountains rising above the coast of Asia Minor giving it a perfect frame.

On the narrow shores (large pebbles) in this area you will find the remainders of boats, inflatable dinghies and life jackets of illegal migrants who crossed the strait between Turkey and Samos trying to enter the European Union.



Here are some video sequences I took over there:



So, if you like Samos, the beautiful natural landscapes of this island and the sounds of nature, e.g. waves rolling on the shores of remote small pebbly beaches, you better go there before the british consortium will start the project. Because when they will start, the building activities will change irreversibly and forever this peaceful and calm area, the silence will be gone for sure! The size of the project is like implanting a completely new village in the remote south-east of Samos!

If you don't know about the 'Halcyon Hills' project, look for the site of Barrasford and Bird, e.g. this one. They think and are convinced:
"Samos has a blossoming tourism market but is in need of a truly luxurious five star development to satisfy the demand of the high-end traveller."

Reality check: due to several factors, tourism steadily - and in total significantly - declined on Samos island over recent years. While there is no doubt that almost nobody likes this situation and everybody wants tourism to rise again, so far, I haven't met anyone on the island who would agree or is convinced, that Samos needs a "truly luxurious five star development" for "high-end travellers".

Btw., thinking of a building project at all over there, why not build a much smaller "5 star" (lol!) monastery there, without a marina, where (rich) people can spend some time contemplating in silence trying to get rid of their circling thoughts on how to increase profit and what others (or they themselves?) really need? ;-) ;-)

If I needed you

The Avlakia Session on Samos island in Greece, part 2.

The dutch musicians Ad Vanderveen & Kersten de Ligny and greek musician Dimos Kassapidis performing together, playing & singing the beautiful song " If I needed you".

This song was written and originally performed by american singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt.

Recorded 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.
The outro part of the video was taken on a remote beach below Kallithea in the west of Samos island.
Link to part 1 of the Avlakia session: "Cloud of Unknowing"

Forests gone: Kakoperato / Samos 2010

In August 2010 a fire broke out in the Kakoperato region on the greek east aegean island of Samos and - driven by heavy winds - raged through the Kakoperato region east of the Kerkis mountain range, starting 150 meters south of the monastery Panagias Kakoperato and burning its way through a valley destroying a unique natural green forest region with lots of tall trees.

In addition, about 300 beehives were lost in that area due to the wildfire.

After the fire could cross the top of the mountains at the southern end of the valley, it went down the southern slopes of the mountains until it reached the outskirts of the tourist resort Votsalakia near the seaside.
Thanks to combined efforts by many firefighters, the fire could be stopped and none of the village houses was destroyed.

In October 2010 I visited the area, it looked almost like indian summer over there with the brown leaves/needles on the (dead?) trees.


The remote Kakoperato area - far away from the beaches - might not be known to most of the tourists coming to Samos for a beach holiday. But to all those tourists who came early or late in the season to experience and enjoy the beautiful landscapes away from the beaches it is a big loss!
And it is a big loss for the beekeepers too!





While it will be green again pretty soon on the grounds - fern already is present again - it will take quite some time (approx. 80-100 years) until new trees will have grown to the same size again there.

Many trees gone here ....


some remaining here:


What was the cause of this fire? Maybe another lesson to be learned! The fire originated in an area not far away from the monastery Kakoperato where many beehives are located:


With regards to my generation and the next one the result obtained is obvious: another forest area gone on Samos island!

Other greek aegean islands don't face this kind of problem anymore in the hot summer month with strong winds - mainly July and August - because these islands are bare and/or there are no more forests remaining.

Already in August I had a post in my blog about the Kakoperato region.
Kosmadiki posted 2008 a video about the Kakoperato canyon on YouTube.

More consultants than tourists coming to Samos? ;-)

Good gracious, hopefully not!

Maybe better name the change: "from ego to eco"! :-)

But ....

What do you do when you don't know what to do?
In a situation like the one described by Carl von Clausewitz: "Nothing is more difficult than withdrawing from an untenable position".

The island of Samos faces a steady decline in tourists coming to the island over the last years. On top of that, in 2010 5,8 percent less travellers as compared to the season 2009 came with international flights to the Island.

This might be interpreted as an indication that the administration - due to whatever reason - has neglected the development of skills to handle the requirements of nowadays tourism management.

Now, as the administration responsible for this situation too, what you're going to do?
Well, you might find yourself forced into hiring consultants from other islands and/or foreign countries who will design a "strategic concept" for the next 5-10 years.
This seems to be part of the Xenophilia idea of the greek people I think! ;-)

Because consultants are expected to take an independant position and focus on tourism from a perspective other than from within the island to clearly see things the administration didn't want to notice or didn't want to be confronted with!
Well, after all, some Samians might say: all of a sudden tourism went down!

One thing we have to keep in mind though, well, what could we do, if we would find ourselves on the border of the European Union, as far as possible away from Athens, in a political situation that cuts us off from almost all resources and travel connections coming from the near Asia Minor coast and that would help Samos to become a cheaper destiny. Why do most of the goods have to be shipped via Athens or Thessaloniki to Samos? What about e.g. direct flights from Izmir or other turkish destinations to Samos or Ikaria island?
current situation here!

Isn't it strange? As a tourist, you can buy organized (daily) excursions by ship from Samos to the holy island of Patmos or to ancient Ephesus in Turkey. But try to do this while you are on Samos with excursions to Ikaria and Fourni, the two other destinations covered by the prefecture of Samos. And btw., Ikaria has an airport since quite a couple of years!

In this situation, for sure, the Samians need the best consultants, e.g. "The World Centre of Excellence for Destinations" (CED) in Canada.

First the prefecture called for Euroxenia from Rhodos, then - in addition - the prefecture last year in November teamed up with CED and their SMED process!
See here:
Agreement with CED, middle of November 2009
Report presented to Samos by CED, November 2010
and
Agreement with Euroxenia

If you study these announcements thoroughly, you will notice that they are filled with a collection of Buzzword Bingo words I know well enough from presentations of american consultants. Enthusiasm bubbles created by speech foam.
But lets be serious: announcements are one thing and what will be achieved - despite these types of announcements - within a reasonable time frame is another thing.

I try to do my best to use some of these well known "buzzwords" to create a bubble of excellence. Let's see what I can do, I tried hard, what about this one here:
Process to foster "Real World Measurements for Excellence in Xenophilia Performance" (RWMEXP) to excel in total Philoxenia. Lol!

The Canadair planes CL-215 help(ed) Samos a lot in fighting many forest fires during the summer seasons. So let's hope, that - with regards to tourism matters - the SMED process by the canadian based CED will indeed allow Samos to "walk upright" again. And let it not be another set of costly crutches offered to the aching administration.

Sort of a short insight in the SMED process can be found in the presentation of Manolis Psarros

And, as someone who likes good photos, I can only beg the prefecture: please send a good photo to CED to present the island of Samos as destination on CEDs website. The actual photo that I can see (Dec 3rd-8th, 2010) showing Samos-town and the gulf of Samos is imho the worst photo of all current SMED destinations presented and imho doesn't serve the island of Samos as a really beautiful touristic destination ......


..... with friendly and original local people, like, for example, some of the musicians I met on Samos .....


and lots of good things to eat and drink!


Btw., maybe this is another reason, why consultants (and investors) like to come to Samos! ;-)

But, what about the (N)Ikarians? As I see it, due to their painful experience over quite a few years, they gave a damn ;-) on what the prefecture administration in Samos-town on Samos island is/was not doing for them.

And now, indeed, in a way, Ikarians can be proud, because during the last years, Ikaria was successful in positioning itself as a unique destination and especially in attracting lots of young people as visitors to the island!
If you travel on a ferry during the summer season from Piraeus to Samos, it might appear that Ikaria acts like an age filter for international tourism: almost all who are below the age of thirtyfive will leave the ship in Ikaria, most of those aged 45 or more will stay and proceed to Samos.

I come to the island of Samos by plane via direct charter flights from Frankfurt, many, many times since 1999. And of course, I'm way beyond 45! :-)

-----------

With regards to tourism in that region, e.g. from Greece via Samos to Turkey, there is an interesting report with personal impressions, travelling from Samos, Greece, to Kusadasi, Turkey (by canadian Duke_schewe on Tripadvisor):

I must admit Turkey has never been high on my places to visit for whatever preconceived notions I held and after our experiences in Egypt we were a bit trepidatious about another sojourn into a Muslim country. I have been absolutely blown away by this country on so many fronts - the people are amazing, it is unbelievably clean and there are so many diverse things to see. ......
So what'd we do....landed in Kusadasi from the Greek Island of Samos. Considering that no one in Greece seems to have any information on getting to Turkey, I was beginning to wonder if there were any boat services to this country. It turns out there's plenty, but just don't ask anyone from Greece to help you....there is NO love lost between these countries and apparently the newfound popularity of Turkey has hurt Greek tourism so everyone in Greece seems to be ensuring they are not contributing to that statistic. We were immediately struck with the incredible cleanliness everywhere...

full report here!