Chios
Our next destination was Chios, which was added to our trip at the last minute and therefore left us completely unprepared for its magnificence. With only 5 hours to explore the island before catching our next plane, we wondered down the street hoping to rent a car for 3 hours. Every car rental shop turned us down. Normally, car rentals charge you for 24 hours, not 3, so the situation was getting hopeless. However, after some time we stumbled upon a shop named AutoUnion, whose owner welcomed our request with open arms, feeling proud to share the beauty of his homeland with us.
We drove out of town on a windy road into the scenic mountains towards a historic monastery “Nea Moni.” When we arrived, the monastery was very peaceful and quiet, enjoying a warm Sunday morning. We explored the grounds studying it's amazing architecture, enjoying the jaw dropping view of the mountain range, atop which the monastery was built.
By accident, we wondered into one of the houses, which we assumed was a museum. There, we got greeted by an Orthodox Christian priest who invited us into a backroom full of people. The community was celebrating the final day of Carnival (their Mardi Gras, equivalent of Catholic Fat Tuesday) over a meal. They took us in, broke bread, and we learned about the rise of the monk's monastery, the destruction and pillaging of outside forces, and the current restoration. Afterward, we thanked our newly-found and gracious friends and took off in the direction of the car rental shop.
When we arrived at the shop, the owner asked us, surprised, ‘Why are you back so early?” Confused, we replied that we needed to catch the flight. After a short while, it dawned upon us that we never changed our clocks back 1 hour when we jumped time zones. So, with an extra hour to spare, the owner treated us to our first (of many) tastes of Souma (like moonshine) and fresh clams from the waters of the Aegean Sea. Afterward, he drove us to the airport where we caught a small (private-jet-like) plane to Samos.
Samos
Of the hundreds of Greek islands, Samos holds a special place for us and for our good friend back home – Manolis. He owns a house there, which he graciously offered to us for our short stay. He contacted his sister Eleni and her husband Michalis who live on a different island to host us.
Even though we had just met for the first time, in the words of a wise man (see tours with Joe) - “every day spent with them felt like a holiday and every meal felt a banquet”. Both of them could be in the running towards becoming Greece’s Next Top Chef!
The next day marked the beginning of the Orthodox Christian lent called “Clear Monday,” which we spent driving around the island of Samos, seeing many beautiful towns and spectacular views. Our highlights included Samos – the capital harbor, Karlovasi – the university town, Plantanos – the highest village on Samos, Ormos – the picturesque waterfront, and Mount Vigla – the tallest mountain in all of the Aegean Sea. After a day of learning about the rich history of the island from Michalis, we feasted at Anthemousa restaurant in Karlovasi, where we tasted the gifts of the Aegean Sea - squid, calamari, and octopus the traditional “Clear Monday” favorite. The warm evening drifted off with the sunset, as we listened to traditional Greek music and watched the dancing of the local university students.
Michael spent the days going to the market with Michalis gathering fresh fish from local fishermen, stopping by a well for fresh water, and looking for homemade Souma, while Julia helped Eleni around the house and enjoyed some herbal Greek tea.
We did another venture around the island later in the week visiting Pythagoras Caves - labyrinth in the side of Mt. Vigla, Panagia Spiliani Church – the nun's monastery, the Tunnel of Eupalinos - an amazing engineering feat, the Moni Zoodochou Pigis- the monk's monastery, the Mourtia Beach- a spectacular look back at Kusadasi across the Sea, and of course the Museum of Samos – with amazing history and statues from the island built all the way back to the Bronze Age! Everything was free to explore except for the museum, which was 2 Euros per person, well worth it.
The rest of our time in Samos was much the same with great company, great food, and amazing culture. We enjoyed sharing stories with our hosts playing various card games, including Go Fish. Thank you again to our Greek family!
Athens
This was our last and brief stop in Greece, but unfortunately we only had 2 days to spend there. We stayed near the airport at the Holiday Inn Athens Attica, which offered free shuttle service to the airport. You can also catch the X-95 (express) bus into the city center- for 3 euros.
For our final day we took a 1-day Cruise to Hydra, Poros, and Aegina. Our new friends from Nevada joined us exploring the islands. The 12-hour tour included a buffet lunch, music, dancing, and spectacular views along the journey.
Hydra was known for having donkeys as a preferred means of transportation. We opted to just peacefully walk through “Idra” - the hillside harbor town.
On Poros we had only a short time so we hiked up the closest stair case until we reached the top , where we found a lighthouse/clock with views of the entire harbor!
The final stop of the day was Aegina. It was pouring rain, so we decided to enjoy a cup of Greek tea at a quaint local coffee shop “Oinoh Social Bar." When we finished our tea, the clouds parted and we proceeded back to our ship. Sadly, our time in not only Greece but Europe came to an end, “Antio Sas” until next time!
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