I can't believe that this is our last post for the trip. It's been a truly wonderful experience. I'm sorry family and friends but I don't want to come home!
We left our apartment on the north side of the island of Samos and headed to the airport to pick Courtney up. Courtney had been in Portugal talking at a conference (I never thought I'd be writing those words!) and took some time off afterwards to do some travelling. Samos airport was tiny. We just parked near the front door and walked into the small arrivals room. I wish all airports were this easy!
It was so wonderful to see Courtney after all this time.
We stayed in Pythagorio, a pretty town on the south of the island. We went there to give us the best chance of getting some beach time in for Courtney as it was late autumn.
The town is named after Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician and philosopher, who was born here. We thought this was an appropriate place to bring Courtney the philosopher! On the port was a tribute to Pythagoras and his famous triangle.
Two Aussies enjoying the port area.
The port was lined with restaurants but most of them were closed as it was so late in the season. We were looking for somewhere to park the car and a local guy told us to park it in a closed restaurant! It was covered and was as good as a garage. We did that and the next day realised that the restaurants both sides of it were still open so the patrons all had a lovely view of our car. Whoops!
One night we were sitting in one of these restaurants and John got talking to an Albanian waiter. There are many Albanians working in Greece and we've always found them to be wonderful people. Somehow, the waiter soon changed the topic and launched into a tirade telling us that the Jews had a plan to take over the world! He was deadly serious and I was alarmed at the conviction he had about this. He was clearly obsessed with the idea. He would walk away to clean a table then come back and launch into it again. To his credit, he didn't get ruffled when John didn't agree with him. He then went on to declare that Hitler hadn't been killed in the war and that he had been cloned. After a while he settled down and was quiet but suddenly he turned to us and asked, "Now tell me, what do you think of the flat earth theory?" Needless to say, we didn't go back.
The site that Pythagorio sits on used to be the main city of Samos 2,500 years ago. This town was a very important town in the whole region. There was plenty of evidence left of the town's glory times. Ruins were everywhere - in vacant lots, along the shoreline and further afield. We realised that the entire modern town is built over different cities from different eras.
About six kilometres to the west lay the ancient religious complex of Heraion, a huge area dedicated to the goddess Hera. Incredibly, it was built in the 6th century BC. Being so late in the season, we had the entire place to ourselves.
The 'sacred way' road led the whole way from Pythagorio to Heraion and was originally lined with statues. It must have been such an amazing sight.
Exploration is still ongoing here and buildings haven't been restored so most of the ruins are only a metre or two high.
One exception was a solitary column that was still standing. The amazing thing was that there used to be 155 of these columns and this one is only half of its original height!
There was a gorgeous tree to catch some shade under.
I soon realised that there were more ruins here than I think I've ever seen in any modern town. We would be walking through the town and between houses would be a random pile of ancient ruins on an ordinary houseblock.
Courtney and I explored a Roman bathhouse. It was fenced off but people had formed a small track through a gap in the fence. Just as we left, a police car drove past! For a moment I thought we might be in trouble but they continued on their way.
Further along the coast we walked through low-key resorts that were closed up for the season. We continued to be mystified by the short and intense tourist season in Greece. People could come a month or two earlier or later than just July and August and get great weather and less crowds. Those hotels could all stay open and not be wasted.
The three of us did a short walk along the coast from the town one evening. It took us past a section of ancient foundations right beside the port, a whole paddock of ruins that included these rose-coloured columns.......
...... past a 200 year-old tower (it was only a baby!) near much older ruins of a castle ........
..... and along "Blue Street" where many things are painted blue. The back walls of local houses were the side wall of the old castle.
My walks continued to take me to amazing places. I'm so grateful for the passionate hikers who put together a map and book detailing walks all over the island.
Around 400-300 BC, the town was fortified by a huge stone wall. It ran for 6,340 metres! One of my walks took me past some remaining parts. They have never been restored. These walls have stood like this for over 2,000 years!
There used to be 40 lookout towers along the wall. This one is still standing.
To top it off, there was even a cool cave to explore!
Between these amazing sights were leftovers from the army - bunkers, lookout posts, barbed wire fences and places where big guns used to be anchored. It had all just been left there, which is a shame.
One day Courtney and I walked between two hilltop villages in the north while John generously drove between the two to pick us up. From Manolates we climbed down, down, down through vineyards. along stone-lined paths and under trees that formed tunnels over our heads.
We saw hundreds of tiny cyclamen popping up through the autumn leaves....
.... and cool, gnarly roots exposed on the track wall.
We crossed a creek in a gorgeous lush setting then climbed up, up, up past orchards of oranges, apples and mandarins and past ancient olive groves.
I had read that it's ok to eat olives straight from the tree. John had disagreed with this at the time so Courtney tested it out. Judging by Courtney's expression I'd say John must have been right!
My trusty walking book was right about something else though. At one place, carob pods fell freely to the ground. Our book said we could eat them so we gave it a go. They were quite chocolatey although the outside was a bit bark-like. I've never eaten fresh carob before.
We reached the beautiful village of Vourliotes with its colourful houses interspersed with gorgeous old decaying buildings.
We had another delicious lunch at the wonderful taverna that we ate at last week. I saw this car outside! The family lived in Sydney for 10 years so I assume this car belonged to one of them.
Cats continued to be very much a part of Greek life. One time, I looked around me and counted 10 cats just hanging out. On a walk through the beautiful village of Paleokastro, I spied these two cuties.
In the next street down from our apartment, someone had built a cat house, just in case they weren't already comfortable enough!
Our search for a warm beach took us to Kokkari. The hills and sky looked spectacular but the weather was just a bit too cool for swimming.
Courtney found a very friendly dog though!
We had read about a beach in the far north that sounded good so we headed there one day. We made our way along a long dirt road and when we arrived at the beach we found a completely closed down cafe area but, amazingly, the facilities were all still there. There were seats protected by palm-frond rooves and this very cool swing set in the water!
The sun came out and we had a blast!
We found another beach not far from Pythagorio that had shelters set up on the sand. Again, there was nobody there and we loved hanging out here. I was the only one brave enough to swim but we all played beach cricket with a red plastic lid as a ball and a stick as a bat. It was fun!
There was a small island in front of the beach with a Greek flag on it. Not far behind was the Turkish mainland where a huge Turkish flag hung, just so we were all clear what belonged to whom!
Courtney had I had a brief swim near the town one morning. It was amazing lying on our backs in the water looking at a ruined castle, an old tower, ruins of a Roman athletics area and other Greek ruins nearby!
On the same day the three of us went for a drive around the beautiful southern part of the island. One destination was an olive tree. But this was no ordinary olive tree - it was 2,500 years old! We have no information about how they dated the tree but it certainly was ancient. If the age is correct then this tree was planted at around the same time as the ancient ruins we've been seeing everywhere were being built!
The tree had an enormous girth but was completely hollow inside. Amazingly, it still bore plenty of olives!
The dried wood inside formed very cool patterns.
We headed to a very long beach just to have a look but it was so tempting that we went for another swim! John went for a huge swim waaaayyyy out to sea.
The water was crystal clear and there were more fish there than I've seen anywhere else in Greece.
On the way back, Courtney had a go at driving on the 'wrong' side of the road and did really well!
We pulled up at a high point beside the road to watch the sun set. We seemed to be on some sort of area where tailings from a nearby quarry were disposed. The tailings formed cool shapes and gullies.
There was a lot of fun and silliness going on. Courtney danced while the sun set behind.
On our last day we visited the local museum. It was amazing! The museum was located on an archaeological site right in town. You can see the houses around the site.
One of the ancient roads just disappeared under the current road. It made us realise how many ancient ruins are buried under the current town.
Inside, there were many findings from the area. There was lots of pottery. The details on some items were incredible.
Even more astonishing were the huge statues that were found nearby.
And sadly, that was the end of our Greek journey for 2023.
I don't know what it is about Greece that enchants us so much. I think it has a lot to do with the laid back attitude of the Greeks. Nobody's in a hurry. If you want to park your car in the middle of the road while you duck into a shop, people will generally just wait for you to come back and move your car so they can continue their journey. Apart from restaurant owners in summer, there seem to be very few people that are stressed.
It's also the vast array and beauty of the landscapes. Those stunning bays of turquoise water that are flanked by rugged rocks and (sometimes) golden beaches are like something out of a magazine. They just make you want to dive into them. It's the dry, arid mountains where I accidentally step on wild thyme growing between the rocks and the aroma rises up like a wand-swish of happiness. It's the lush green mountain forests where blackberries, figs and sweet red berries grow wild while oranges, mandarins, apples and pomegranates grow bountifully in orchards and gardens. And of course, there are the olive groves, some of them very old, which must cover a huge percentage of Greek land.
From all this bounty of home-grown produce comes Greek food - usually home-made and often organic in the village restaurants. Although the food is sometimes cheese-heavy and/or fried, it still feels healthy somehow. Greek menus are generally extensive but they all have pretty much the same things. The focus is on salads, small plates, cheeses, seafood and meat. It's simple food, not over-processed.
And maybe it's the sunshine too. It was only a few weeks off winter when we finished but the sun was still shining and the skies were still that stunning blue. There had been a bit of rain recently but the temperatures barely dropped and the sun came back out again soon afterwards.
I think too it's the outdoor lifestyle. Places that serve food generally have most of their tables set up outside. Even in towns and villages where houses battle for space in tiny laneways, families set up tables to have coffee outside. And speaking of coffee, I think the Greeks might drink more coffee than the Aussies, which is saying something! And their coffee culture is all about catching up with friends - and having a smoke at the same time.....
It's a magical place. We'll be back.
On our last morning we all headed to the tiny Samos airport. As instructed, we left our rental car in a certain parking area, unlocked, with the keys under the mat. Only in Greece.....
Our flight on a small plane to Athens was fine with beautiful views over the Aegean and its islands. We waited five or six hours at Athens airport then boarded our Scoot flight to Singapore. We took off in a thunderstorm which was exciting! We only got one meal on the 10.5 hour flight though. I got my arrival time confused - I thought we would arrive at 9pm so I didn't sleep during the flight as I knew that John wouldn't, however the arrival time was 9am! At Singapore, Courtney connected to another flight and flew home while John and I took a break in Singapore.
I felt strangely ok after such a lack of sleep and had a lovely catchup with my friend Jelissa over lunch.
I mustn't have really been ok though as I managed to spill my soup all down the front of me!
Finally, at 4.30 in the afternoon, John and I could stay awake no longer. We had been awake for well over 28 hours. We went to bed and slept (on and off) for 16 hours! Ok, so John was awake for about 4 hours of that but I wasn't. I don't recall either of us ever staying in bed for that long.
The next day was Diwali, a big Hindu celebration. There are many Indian Hindus in Singapore. While John hit the exercise bike in the hotel gym, I hit the streets and headed to Little India. The main street was adorned with overhead decorations.
I was hoping for music and dancing but what I got was crowds. There were so many people, mostly Indian men. I headed for a temple that I thought would be in the thick of everything, and it was, but all I could really see were sooooo many people.
There were market stalls selling colourful garlands of flowers that people had to duck under to walk through.
There were ladies doing henna painting. I would love to have had the time to get this done!
Away from the busy Little India area, I loved the effect of these two guys in white sitting in a recess in a wall.
It was strange to hear everyone speaking English around us after we had spent so long in countries where English isn't the first language. Some Singaporean English (Singlish) wording wouldn't work at home though. This is the name of a Chinese restaurant.
We then caught up with some old friends for a wonderful lunch, which turned into drinks back at their place. It was a big day! I felt good all day and was feeling pretty clever about my sleeping patterns. Then we went to bed and I barely slept the whole night. John didn't fare much better. Arrgghh!
With that strange spacy feeling of lack of sleep and changing time zones, we headed to the airport for our last flight home. The strange use of English struck us again at the check-in counter. (The other check in option was Scoot Plus.)
Cara picked us up from the airport and we were soon home! Our bed was so comfortable!
Thanks to those of you who tagged along on our journey. It wasn't always wonderful and it was sometimes difficult or even boring but overall we felt it was an incredible trip. We still have a strong connection to Greece, particularly the islands, but the Balkans part of our trip was really interesting too.
We are extremely grateful to be able to do this.
See you on the next trip!
Heather and John
