Samos

Samos seems the only disappointment of our trip. Not that I wish to emphasize that, so I’ll mention the highlights. Sitting outside at dinner last night with Margaret was most assuredly a highlight of my experience on Samos. She treated me to dinner and a nice wine after a relatively interesting day.
On Doryssa Bay we stayed at a hotel noted for its unfriendly service – when we had service – weighed down by buffet-style food. The low quality of the food, the testy service of the waiter, and the lack of room service all conspire to try the tolerance of those of us who enjoy spending a quiet evening winding down after a day of visiting the sites and a museum of the area.
But back to the highlights of my visit to Samos: This morning we arrived at the Sanctuary of Hera to find it locked. They did, though, tape a note to the gate that said they had gone on strike and would return at half past noon. We glimpsed the excavation site through the fence, though I missed the one last column left standing, then drove downtown to the museum where they exhibit the extraordinary objects they have found in the area. The museum was also closed because of the strike until half past noon. We mostly dawdled over cappuccinos and Coke Light under the awning of a café that overlooked the bay, then had lunch, and then walked back to the museum. Inside, I noted that the collection is marvelous and intriguing for its differing cultural influences. Good things are worth waiting for, as they say.
But I felt antsy about meandering through an excavation site, spotting glimpses on a stone or a hunk of marble of an era or two of people who lived long ago. So when the driver deposited us at two in the afternoon at the hotel, Jean and I set off for an adventure. We crossed the street to explore what is left of the Sanctuary of Artemis and an “ancient” Christian cemetery. We climbed up the mountain to touch what is left of a Cyclopean wall that once surrounded city. We felt pleasantly surprised when we came upon one of the entrances to the E. tunnel surrounded by a tall fence with a locked gate. We spotted a small brown owl sitting on the fence. It seemed to watch us as it kept an eye for a field mouse, which it caught, deftly, then took to its private dining area. We thought we were alone when we spotted a car and a couple coming toward the gate.
They were a nice couple from Chablis, France. We asked them about the distance down the road to the excavation site of a Geometric cemetery that we could see from our location. They said it’s too far for going “a pied” and offered us a ride there. Delightedly, we accepted.
The Geometric cemetery is protected by the same kind of tall fence and the same kind of locked gates. Some excavation appears to go on, though it seems hard to tell with confidence because, though we see a roof over an area of the site, work may have halted.
Karl appeared on the sidewalk on his way to the town of Pythagoran. We joined him, and then left him to his shopping while we walked to the charming harbor. There, we saw moored large yachts on our left, and local fishing boats on our right side. The place is just utterly charming.
If we had not had a constraint on our time we would have chatted with a marble worker we passed by, or a fisherman cutting bait for his evening fishing – language barrier notwithstanding – but we had to return to the hotel, a good fifteen-minute walk, while including a stop to the gelato shop. It was, after all, a pleasant day.