We caught the 9am ferry from Chios on Saturday morning, July 15th, to travel to the island of Samos. We hadn’t realised that Samos is considered to be one of the jewels of the Aegean. It is very close to Turkey and you can easily see the lights on the shore at night. It is famed for its wine, fruit and honey amongst many other produce. The whole island feels lush, verdant and relatively wealthy. The island is some 43km long and 13km wide with a population around 33,000.

I don’t think we would have considered visiting Samos if Sara and Brian from sailing yacht Tutella had not suggested it when we met them in Skopelos last year. They have an annual contract at the marina near Pythagorio (the mathematician Pythagoras was born there, hence the name) on the SE of the island so we wanted to check it out. Consequently, we booked into the Casa Cook hotel nearby at Potokaki beach. The hotel was stunning with swim up rooms, a cool beach bar and even rooms with their own private pool. We treated ourselves to a room with a private pool. The hotel has only been open just over a year and you can tell with so many staff determined to make your stay memorable. Having arrived before check in, we spent time ambling about the place and checking out the beach. We knew we were going to love it there. We decided to eat in the hotel restaurant on the beach. Pretty magical.

As we wanted to get a feel for the island given it was on the short list to move Nimmie to, we hired a car for a couple of days from the airport which was so nearby, you could practically touch the runway. Sunday was spent checking out the east of the island, including cute mountain villages (Vourliotes) and cool beaches.

We found the Eupalinus’ Tunnel, which was built in the mid 6th century BC to supply water to the town and ran for 1.5km from a mountain spring to the then capital of the island, Pythagorio. The hard limestone was hewn out by hand and took 10 years. The work was started simultaneously at the north and south openings and incredibly met in the middle. The tunnel was pretty narrow in places and Liz managed to hit her head several times. Good job we were wearing hard hats!

Back to our private pool at the hotel and then a drive into Pythagorio to have a lovely dinner at Mermizeli on the harbour front. Nice to have a cool breeze after the heat of the day. The town is a hub of activity late into the evening as tourists wander around the bars and shops after dinner. It makes you realise how often we are not in tourist locations like that and certainly not in the height of high season. Back at the hotel, we needed to cool down so had a decadent skinny dip in our pool!

On Monday we wanted to explore the north of the island but first we went to the Heraion of Samos, which was a sacred site dedicated to the goddess, Hera. There had been statues and altars there since the Early Bronze Age but the current stones date back to 6th Century BC. The Temple of Hera had 155 columns 20m high and it was accessed by The Sacred Way from Pythagorio (then named Samos). Amazing place that would have been huge in its heyday. They even excavated an almost complete mosaic of Dolphins.

Next stop was to scope out Samos Marina and decide whether Nimmie would like it there. The price quoted was very reasonable but the spaces were filling up fast as many boats were coming back from Turkey where it was no longer the cheaper option in the Aegean. We needed to make a decision soon but still wanted to mull it over as the cost was only one of many factors in our decision. It needed to be somewhere we wanted to spend time and also was a good base to explore the local sailing area whilst being relatively easy to get to and from the UK.

We then made our way north to Potami where there are waterfalls – yes, even in July! It involves a hike though the woods alongside the river to the entrance of the waterfall then a wade and a swim to the waterfalls themselves. There are three in total but it would have meant some serious climbing to get to all of them so instead we climbed what must be the most rickety set of wooden stairs in the whole of Greece to have lunch at the Archontissa Adventure Cafe. The house special was grilled goat so we had to try it. Delicious.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a gorgeous chapel near Karlovassi before heading into the mountains to a small village called Platanos, one of the oldest villages on Samos and the centre of the wine making region. There is a stone water fountain, supplying fresh spring water, with a laundry room built around it dating back to 1600AD. A lovely place but with very narrow streets so we were glad we had rented a really small car this time!

Back at the hotel, we had cocktails on the beach followed by a walk to another hotel to eat in an Italian restaurant called Asterias. We weren’t that hungry after lunch, which was just as well given the prices. Of course, after a warm late evening walk, we just had to have a dip in our pool – naked of course!

The next day, Tuesday, was going to be a rest day as it was our last day on the island. So, after we had dropped the car off and walked back from the hotel we then spent the day on the beach being indulged. You didn’t even need to get up to go to the bar, you just pressed a button! After such a lazy day, we walked towards town for dinner to have sushi at Unan. It was absolutely gorgeous and washed down with some lovely Samian wine.

Our brief sojourn to Greece is now over until later in the autumn when we will (almost definitely) be moving Nimmie from Lavrion, near Athens to Samos. We’ve decided we need to branch out and sail in new and exciting waters to create new adventures for us both in Nimrod. Can’t wait!!