I think summer has finally come to an end, not bad though as we are in our final week in November. The nights are drawing in and the temperature has started to drop, daytime has dropped below 20C and night time down to 16C, but still not as cool as back in the UK.

We have had some spectacular storms, thankfully nothing like Rhodes which reported that 3 people had died and 1 was missing plus damage to property and cars was estimated at 5 million Euros.

In between the storms we still have some nice weather. On one such day Harry and I went off for one of our rambles taking my camera with us to take some photos of all the flowers and plants that are still in bloom.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure you will recognise most of them  but if anyone knows what this is, please let me know. They are sprouting up all over the place - only time will tell.

The locals here on Samos have been very industrious since the tourists have left. The smell of paint and varnish lingers everywhere as houses and hotels get spruced up. Everyone is collecting firewood in preparation for winter and farmers are busy in the fields tending their winter crops (which is the same crops that farmers grow in the summer in the UK).

Following on from our snake picture which amused the grandchildren,  here is this week's offering which was resting outside the apartment.

Bye for now - Harry and Kath xx

Out and about in Samos

October 28th is Ochi Day - A national holiday here in Greece. It is to commemorate the rejection by Greek prime minister Ioannis Metaxas of the ultimatum made by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on October 28th 1940. It was a flat denial to the Italian's request for free passage  to invade Greece.

Most of the towns and villages have parades and it is celebrated in great style. Harry and I decided we would hike up to Marathokambos to watch the spectacle. We were joined by Clare who was also interested to see what it was all about and not having walked up to Marathokambos along the old road, was keen to venture along pastures new. After a moderately strenuous walk we arrived in the village square and made for one of the tavernas to enjoy a frappe in the sunshine while we waited for the parades to start.

At approximately 11.00am (I say approximately - this is Greece after all) the children marched through the village some carrying wreaths which were later placed at the memorial. Prayers were said and poetry recited before the older children moved on to the school playground
where they gave a demonstration of Greek traditional dancing. It appeared that everyone in the village had turned out for the occasion, some in their Sunday best, some having a bird's eye view from their balconies.

 

 

 

As Harry, Clare and I ambled our way back through the village before our long trek down the hill, we got the distinct impression that things were just about to get started. The goat roasting on the spit, the tavernas filling up - maybe next time we'll make a day (and night) of it.

We've had some mixed weather the last couple of weeks. The first of the winter storms was quite spectacular. Torrential rain which turned roads into rivers, gale force winds and then they disappeared as quickly as they came, the sun re-appeared and all looked normal again apart from a few loose boulders and rocks that have fallen onto the roads.

On the good days we still manage to get out on walks. This picture is of a nearby beach at Psili Ammos, much frequented by tourists and locals in the summer months. It has a fabulous safe and sandy beach and is ideal for children.








 En route to Psili Ammos we came across this snake in the road, unfortunately (for the snake) he didn't manage to get across the road. The warm weather must have enticed him out of his den. It is unusual to see snakes at this time of year as they are quite dormant until April and May.

Sunday afternoons are good for strolling along the beach to our favourite beach side taverna where we can relax, enjoy a beer and sit and admire the view. What more can we say -  enjoy the view -  so until next time bye for now. Love Kath and Harry xxx

Domestic bliss on Samos

"Do you like pomegranates?"
A voice shouted up from the courtyard below. It was Katerina, our landlady, who has been so welcoming and helpful since our arrival on Samos.
"Yes I do" came the reply.
"Oh good, I picked these myself this morning from the garden".
Katerina presented me with a carrier bag full of pomegranates, some the size of large grapefruits.

Now it's been a long time since I sat down with a pomegranate, as a child my mother would present me with half of one and a pin. On reflection I think it was a ruse to keep me occupied for half an hour or so. The only other time I have tasted them has been the liquid variety out of a carton or in an exotic display of other fruits beautifully presented in the chill cabinet of Marks and Spencer. Undeterred, I began to think about the correct way to tackle this ancient fruit - what did we do before the internet? A quick search on google and I was watching a 3 minute video on you tube. Armed with this knowledge I set about tackling my pomegranate. Mmmm maybe I need some practice.

A visit to the supermarket is a pretty straightforward experience wherever you are in the world - or so I thought. Having taken a notion to do some baking, I looked at the various packets of flour on display and decided that I should check with some of the ex pat community here on Samos before buying the wrong one. I was informed that the colour of the packet was the reverse of Britain ie plain flour was blue and self raising was red. OK next trip to the supermarket a packet of "S R" was bought. Although not a master baker, I like to think that after years of providing cakes for family, friends, whist drives and cake stalls, I can produce a batch of scones and the odd chocolate cake without too much difficulty.
"Do you need weighing scales?" Harry asked.
"No, of course not, it will be fine".
Somehow the mixture didn't feel right but I pressed on. I flattened the dough out with my hand and used a glass to cut out the scones, brushed them with egg and milk - perfect. I put them in the oven and waited like an excited child for the magic to happen. The scones, if I can call them that, resembled something that had just emerged from a potter's kiln. Not the light fluffy golden brown scones that I have so effortlessly produced over the years - OK maybe I need to talk to my Greek friends about the colour of the packets!

Harry decided that he needed some transport.
"I'm off to buy a motor bike - there is an end of season sale and they are offering 25% discount".
I didn't take too much notice because 1) Harry doesn't have a motor bike licence, not too sure if that would make any difference here and 2) somehow I can't see Harry on a bike.

A little time later Harry returned, pleased as punch, with his new purchase. I had to admit, it did look rather smart and now it takes pride of place in the sitting room - doesn't need fuel, just the odd polish.

Most days Harry and I manage to get out for a walk, usually on what we call the back road.

It makes pleasant strolling and we bump into the locals and sometimes stop for a chat of sorts. After a particularly stormy couple of days we came across a tree which had shed most of it's fruit, mandarin oranges, on the ground. A little old lady heard my groans of "Oh no" and she beckoned us over to her. She was salvaging what she could from the tree and invited us to help ourselves. It was only afterwards as we walked away with pockets stuffed with the fallen fruit did I wonder if it was her tree on her land or was she just foraging.

We had been warned about frequent power cuts here on Samos and were advised to have plenty of candles just in case. So when Katerina told us that there would be no electricity the following day, due to maintenance work, we were well organised. Harry even put the alarm on so that he could get up to make a cup of tea before the scheduled early morning cut off. Harry was somewhat amused when some time later he found his dizzy wife plugging her phone in to recharge the battery. What can I say - maybe I had too much sun  yesterday.

Electricity restored, Kath is not losing her marbles and even managed to produce her scones!

So that's all our news for now. Our next blog will be in a couple of weeks and we will have more about the island as we begin our walks. Until then, love to you all.

Kath and Harry xxx

Welcome to Samos

Thursday  3rd October - 5.45am.

It was dark as we took off from Athens airport and as we settled down for the short hop to the island of Samos, which is situated on the eastern edge of the Aegean sea, we were treated to a spectacular sunrise. So much so that when we landed at Samos airport I was eager to capture the scene, so camera at the ready, I was about to snap away until Harry reminded me that we were at an airport in Greece which also housed military aircraft and that it may not be a good idea to take photographs. So no pictures to show you and I'm glad I wasn't spotted otherwise it might have been a completely different beginning to our latest adventure.

It's been quite an eventful year for us, We have sold our house - we came to realise that as beautiful as it was and how much we enjoyed living at Ravensdale, it was time to downsize. It was also impractical as we were spending more and more time away from home travelling in our motor home. So the decision was made and we were very fortunate to have had considerable interest and an early offer was made. Not wishing to rush into buying another house, we decided that we would wait until the "right one" came along, but that presented us with another problem - where do we live until we find another house until we head to warmer climes for the winter? Not a problem really, we just headed a couple of miles up the road and established ourselves at the local caravan site and spent the summer on a fantastic pitch overlooking the narrows on Loch Linnhe.

 The summer was kind to us in Scotland and the midges even kinder, it was hard to believe that we were in Fort William at times with temperatures reaching high in the 20's and no sign of the little blighters. Then came the decision where to go for our winter get-a-way. In previous years we had taken the motor home to southern Spain where the temperate climate has suited us both, but I suppose having been bitten by the travelling bug we were keen to try different experiences. The island of Samos is a place we have come to know well in recent years, having spent several holidays here so when Harry suggested spending the winter in Samos I readily agreed. We put the motor home into storage (we need somewhere to live when we go back to Scotland) and made plans. We had seen an apartment on our last visit to Samos and after a few enquiries to see if it was still available we booked our flights and here we were, two sleep deprived travellers just about avoiding arrest for espionage in a foreign land!

By Saturday, we were all but recovered from our long journey and ventured out to see what was happening. In the neighbouring fishing village of Ormos we were alarmed to see 4 naval frigates and even more alarming soldiers on the quayside rifles and all. Was there an invasion from nearby Turkey taking place? Had they heard about my attempts to take photographs at Samos airport? Or maybe we were both still tired and our over active minds were in overdrive. We were happy to learn that there was a naval/army exercise taking place.

The apartment is really lovely and has everything we need and I know we will be happy here. The first week has seen us settling in, meeting up with old friends and generally relaxing.  The coming months will see us exploring more of the island and going on lots of walks. I want to do some painting and sketching and Harry would like to try his hand at writing a children's book!

So if you want to share in our ramblings, please tune in and we will endeavour to update the blog at regular intervals, until then bye for now.

Views from inside and outside of the apartment

 

 

 

Homeward bound

Our last few days at El Puerto de Santa Maria were quite relaxing. We ambled down to the marina again at Puerto Sherry where there is always a selection of different craft to look at.

The coastal path makes very pleasant walking and you can often meet a friend or two along the way.

Last week end we moved on to a place called El Rocio. An extraordinary village which overlooks a section of the Donana National Park. This is no ordinary place - the thoroughfares are all sand,  the buildings have verandahs with hitching rails to tie up your horse, and of course there are horses, lots of them.

It was just like being in a western movie. We saw young boys riding masterfully, families out riding, and folk in horse drawn carriages. Even saw a single file mule train with 7 mules and a covered wagon (unfortunately we didn't have our cameras that afternoon and we didn't see them the following day, pity as it was quite something).

As always in these places the Church is the main focal point and pilgrims travel from near and far to pay their respects to the "Virgen del Rocio", a tiny wooden image in long bejewelled robes.

Up to a million pilgrims descend on El Rocio every Pentecost. The pilgrims dress in bright Andalucian costume and sing, dance, drink and romance their way to El Rocio arriving on horseback, elaborately covered wagons and by foot. It was a lot quieter when we were there but there was still a fiesta feeling about the place. We even saw a group of young Spanish men on a stag week end - the groom was dressed in traditional Flamenco style (a woman's dress) and they were having a ball. I wonder if they acquired the dress from a shop like this! That was our second photo opportunity missed that afternoon.

We left El Rocio on Monday morning to undertake the long drive to Aranjuez to enjoy a few days of rest and relaxation before making for Bilbao on Saturday and our ferry home.

Our time here in Spain has passed very quickly and we have enjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones.

Once again, thank you all for sharing our travels and we hope you have enjoyed reading about our experiences as we have had experiencing them.

Love to all

Kath and Harry xxx

PS We noticed these in El Rocio - don't think they will replace the horse!