Island of Greeks, Ouzo and Goat Tracks
Trip Start
Aug 27, 2010
1
12
13
Trip End
Oct 04, 2010
Samos , Northeast Aegean Islands, Greece
Friday, September 17, 2010
So we got a tiny little Kia (you can laugh but thats all they had) and off we went to find some where to stay. We only drove for about 20 mins and came across this little village with lots of little hotels, cafes and shops. Fortunatly we found a lovely hotel with a room on the beach front with a huge balcony. It was so nice lying in bed and listening to the oceon and the waves crashing, just magic, so much better than waking up to traffic, donkeys, or calls to prayer which is pretty much what we had come used to since leaving home.
We set off the next day to explore the island, it was very picturesque with lots of mountains, pine trees and beautiful bays. Samos is a rather large Greek island and there is lots of villages there also. Well I can say that Darren's driving skills had improved imensely but my navigational expertise has slumped to an all time low. I somehow became temporarily disoriented (lost) and we took a wrong turn and ended up winding our way up this cliff side on a bloody goat track! It was so scrary, I was absolutely panicking the whole way, we couldn't turn back the track was too narrow all we could do was continue. Beare in mind we were in the little kia, the road was winding and we were literaly hugging a cliff edge, (so glad we learnt to pray in Middle East as it came in handy here) Finally we found a town and I saw these 5 old men sitting drinking Ouzo on the pub verandah, so we decided to stop and ask for directions. Only one spoke limited English and when i explained we got lost and was on the dirt track he pointed to it, and I said yes thats where we came from, he turned to the others spoke in Greek and they all cracked up laughing, then I pointed to the Kia they all turned took one look and by this tme they were in histerics. Umm to much Ouzo I think!! One of them put his hand on his heart and and made a gesture to indicate that must have been been scary, obviously even the locals don't use that track! Oh well they had a good laugh.
The streets are so narrow in some villages that when you need to pass another car they stop put their hands out the window, pull the side mirror in and then pass one another, we saw that a bit in Turkey also.
The island is full of cats and even when you are at a cafe or restaurant they are running around and now one seems to care. Check the photos of one cat sitting in my handbag at a cafe and Darren juggling the other one!! I don't know if I mentioned it before but when we were in Jerusalum the place was crawling with cats, apparenlty many many years ago they had a rat plague and the British brought the cats in to get rid of the rats. Sound familier!!
We didn't swim here as it was a pebble beach and I wasn't going to repeat my last episode. Anyway we enjoyed the island and spent3 days there and decided to head for Mykonos
Comments
Hi Guys,
You are making me so jealous! Well, maybe not about the goat track! It must be nice to think what the hell, lets go to the Greek Islands since we are over this way. Love the pics and stories.
Take care.