"Believe" - Ad Vanderveen's song inspired by Samos island

"Believe"

A song by singer/songwriter Ad Vanderveen from The Netherlands.  It's about his feelings of the timelessness of the landscapes found and experienced on Samos and the thought, that the old philosophers, writers and astronomers, the wise men of Samos, saw these same landscapes more than two thousand years ago too.

"Written on the island of Samos, Greece, thinking of the wise men who once lived there and devoted their lives to first-hand knowledge and proof of things we may believe, and build on in daily life today" (liner notes by Ad Vanderveen).

Here is the video for the song:

Song taken from his album "BEAT THE RECORD", released in March 2014.

Why not learn a bit about some of the wise men who were born on the island of Samos in ancient greek times? E.g.:

-> Aristarchus

-> Epicurus
-> Pythagoras

Samian Dreamscapes: landscapes in the southernmost part of Samos

What about those remote areas in the southern tip of the island of Samos in Greece? A hot and dry region in summer and autumn, which most tourists on Samos will not visit due to bad accessability only via dusty dirt roads. And an inclined world full of steep slopes below the mountain range of Bournias and the village of Spatharei.

Small settlements along the coast, up to 780 meters below the top of the mountain. Breathtaking views on land- and seascapes along the southern coast of Samos towards Mount Kerkis, and out on the aegean sea with the nearby islet of Samiopoula and further islands like Agathonisi, Arki, Lipsi, Patmos, Fourni and Ikaria in the far distance.

As an "appetizer", here is a short photo presentation with a couple of my impressions from adventurous journeys on a motorscooter through these landscapes on the southern and southwest slopes of Mount Bournias, mainly between Tsopela bay and the hamlet Kalogera. 

Τι γίνεται με αυτές τις απομακρυσμένες περιοχές, στο νότιο άκρο του νησιού της Σάμου στην Ελλάδα; Ένα ζεστό και ξηρό περιοχή το καλοκαίρι και το φθινόπωρο, που οι περισσότεροι τουρίστες στη Σάμο δεν θα επισκεφθεί οφείλεται σε κακή προσβασιμότητα μόνο μέσω σκονισμένο χωματόδρομους. Και μια κλίση κόσμο γεμάτο από απότομες πλαγιές κάτω από την οροσειρά του Μπουρνιά και το χωριό Σπαθαραίοι.

Μικρούς οικισμούς κατά μήκος της ακτής, μέχρι 780 μέτρα κάτω από την κορυφή του βουνού. Εκπληκτική θέα στη γη και τα θαλάσσια τοπία κατά μήκος της νότιας ακτής της Σάμου προς το όρος Κέρκης, και έξω στο Αιγαίο με το κοντινό νησάκι Σαμιοπούλα και την περαιτέρω νησιά όπως το Αγαθονήσι, Αρκοί, Λειψοί, Πάτμος, Ικαρία και Φούρνοι στη μακρινή απόσταση.

Ως «ορεκτικό», εδώ είναι μια σύντομη παρουσίαση φωτογραφιών με ένα ζευγάρι από τις εντυπώσεις μου από περιπετειώδη ταξίδια σε motorscooter μέσω αυτών των τοπίων στις πλαγιές νότια και νοτιοδυτικά από Mount Μπουρνιά, κυρίως μεταξύ Τσόπελα κόλπο και τον οικισμό Καλογερά.

If you want to see more, please follow this link here for a 14 min long photo presentation.

A visit to the valley of the river Imvrasos

A couple of impressions from visits to the valley of the river (brook) of Imvrasos. Starting the trip from the road between Koumaradei and Pirgos and following the river valley down to Myli, visiting/crossing the river at several locations.



In addition some photos too:

"Always" Pythagorion

A sunny morning in early May in the picturesque harbour of Pythagorion. A couple of impressions from a relaxed walk - with many stops to enjoy the picturesque views - through parts of the harbour on that beautiful early morning with clear blue skies. Song "Always" by dutch singer/songwriter Ad Vanderveen. Played and sung by Ad Vanderveen together with Kersten de Ligny and Dimos Kasapidis, in a spontaneous acoustic guitar session after a nice meal we had together in a tavern on Balos beach, Samos.

Alyki Wetlands

First snow on Samos for this year after the end of August?
No, not really, though it looks like it at first sight. It's salt!

Driving on the road along Mykali beach to Psili Ammos beach in the south-east of the island, you will pass by a shallow lake with salty water, sort of a lagoon, the Alyki wetlands. Well known for flamingos who stay there for a while in winter/spring.

But now the wetlands are completely dried out, a layer of salt covers the ground and the salt crystals shimmer in the sun.
Here are some impressions of how it looked like in the late afternoon of September 1st.

Fight of the egos

Living on a small island has its advantages and disadvantages. Some roads are really narrow and special encounters need special agreements. The depicted situation took place in Paleokastro way back in September 2005. I was on my way from Samos-Town to Posidonio and drove right into this tense situation. The drivers of both heavy vehicles were not sure if they would allow themselves to drive back first. So they just got stuck up on the road in the middle of Paleokastro staring at each other! Expecting the other one to take action first.
I watched this "frozen" situation for some time, but nothig happened and so I decided to move on. I was lucky, because I was on a motor scooter, so like this other guy in front of me, I could pass the "fight of the egos" on the right hand side.
btw: for sure you don't have to be in a narrow street but for sure you need a big ego to build up any comparable situation anywhere and find yourself in such a "stuck state"!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

With these photos of the panijiri at chapel Panagia Makrini in a cave high above Kallithea in the west of Samos, Mike and I would like to wish all the people on Samos, all the friends of the island of Samos and all of our friends a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Light a candle and bring warmth to the hearts of all people!

Hope many of you from all over the world will visit (again) Samos in 2008.

Samos for sale! / Fence me in!

Driving around on Samos island, I noticed almost everywhere the signs "poleitai" - for sale, in most cases with telefon numbers on it! Seems everbody wants to sell their grounds or old and/or dilapidated houses and leave the island?!





Another thing that struck my attention: fences! Seems to be one of the fastest growing markets on Samos: buy some property and shelter your territory immediately by building a big fence around it! And of course, typical for Samians, your neighbor will start to build some fence too, at least as impressive as yours!
Maybe the revival of a good tradition on Samos? Because already Polykratos built some very impressive walls around the ancient town of Samos.

Avlakia

In this hot summer 2007 on Samos, I paid many, many visits to the north coast of Samos. And several times I stopped in the small village of Avlakia. This place is not so much recognised by tourists who come to Samos. Most tourists and locals are passing this village at high speed on their way on the main road along the north coast.
You really need to slow down, stop your vehicle and walk down the stairs that lead to the sea to discover the beauties of this place.
Avlakia is located west of Kokkari, between Tsamadou and Tsa(m)bou beach.
O.K., here is my presentation of this picturesque small village and its surroundings. Most of the 91 fotos used for this presentation were taken in the time range from July to October 2007. Hope you will enjoy it.
Then maybe next time you come to Samos, you might want to stop for a visit or even stay in Avlakia, swim in the sea or spend some time in a taverna!

If you want to see the full size (540x438 pixel), please go to:
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1387701kwYdyY5E


Online Videos by Veoh.com

Samos, greek and green

Here is a version of my presentation "Samos 2007, greek and green",
thanks to the video platform "veoh" in relatively good online quality (Mike gave me the advice to try this one!)
The 87 fotos used for this presentation I took during several stays on the island in the years 2004 to 2006.
Music is played "live" by a good friend of mine, the bouzouki player and singer Yannis Loulourgas from Pithagorio. I met Yannis in his shop in Pithagorio, then a musical instruments workshop solely, on the second day of my very first visit to Samos way back in 1999.
The music you hear comes from a performance of him together with some of his friends and music collegues from the island at the ancient theatre of Pithagorio, I think this was 3 years ago.

If you want to see the full size (540x438 pixel), please go to:
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1337966RTsBdwMa


Online Videos by Veoh.com

Leaving on a jet plane / cheese or chicken

Everything comes to an end, so did my stay on Samos for this year.
This summer I really missed the typical blue aegean sky most of the time during my stay on Samos, only on a few days we had it. Most of the time it was hot and hazy with south or east winds. Beginning of September was nice, I already reported on this. But that didn't last for very long.
The last morning in Pithagorio on Samos, a beautiful morning! After a cool weekend in mid October with several rain showers finally the sky was clear again. Perfect for shooting landscape photos. And I had to leave Samos!


Almost 11 o'clock on monday morning, here I stand on the platform looking back on Samos before entering the door of the aircraft.




German reality had me within half an hour when I realized, that the service on the LTU flight back to Frankfurt had been "right-sized" to Air Berlin standards as it seems (LTU belongs to Air Berlin now).
A quick change back to "Guten Appetit" after a long time of "Kali Orexi" on Samos. The announcement "After we have reached our cruising altitude, we will serve you a sandwich. You have the choice between cheese or chicken" came almost as a shock. In comparison to last years flights with LTU, what a mediocre breakfast!
I ordered the cheese variation of this sandwich and - according to the label on the box - this is what I got: "Sandwich Landbrot Gouda".


Faced with such a splendid meal I couldn't resist and took a photo of that well contained and quality asured small piece of bread with cheese before I ingested it with the help of tea and orange juice.


I tried to talk about this with a highly sun-tanned elderly woman sitting next to me. She replied dry and cool: "for me such a sandwich is enough! If you have the impression that the quality of service has gone down over the years when flying to Samos, why don't you try a different island next time! Hmmm....

For the next 7 or 8 month, I hope that Mike will put some photos of Samos during fall, winter and early spring on this blog from time to time.

The haze is gone!

For many many days the skies over Samos were hazy and the weather hot and sticky. That's not good at all for taking fotos of landscapes. Last evening and during the night, clouds came to the island. Today (Thursday, Sept, 6th) the situation changed dramatically, we had blue sky with nice white clouds casting shadows on the landscapes of the island. And a very good visibility in the afternoon. What a relief!
I left Pythagorio and drove around on my motor scooter to take some fotos. Here are 3 examples of how it looked like today in the afternoon on Samos, 2 fotos show views on Samos-town, the third foto shows the Samos straits with the view on the turkish coast in close distance.

This is the weather I like, but in this exceptionally hot summer I had to wait for many days.