Day 13 and Beyond .... Dan Burgess... May 16, 1999

Kusadasi to Samos....

The last thing I remember of Turkey was the soft warm cheek against mine as I said goodbye to Meli.

The choke in the voice, the light brown eyes looking over a pair of smudged eye glasses.

"As friends part and you return to your loved ones, may your journey go as smooth as the water flows from this amphorae".            

We boarded the ferry Diana, our feet no longer touched the soil of Turkey, the transition from land to water was like the transition from our Mother Anna to the world outside.  We had been the children of Mother Turkey for
twelve days and were vastly more aware of Asia, Islam and the priorities that the Turks use to order their lives.

The Isle of Samos was clearly visible from Turkey, but as we approached there was something different about the way that the people conducted their lives. While in Turkey we saw a more serious look on the face of the city dweller, fewer smiles, earth tones and covered heads.

More exposed skin here in Samos and even more as you get out into the other islands. Probably its the tourists.
We checked into the Samos Hotel and were given a typical ETBD room painted in Greek Army Green, a toilet with a seat that spent its time on the floor and a view of a modern ruin out the back window.

The roof provided a better view, some places to sit and watch the boats and enjoy the beautiful view of Samos town harbor. Linda and I changed clothes and headed out with the Nicolino's to find lunch.

Outside we intercepted a scruffy foreigner with an Australian accent that appeared to know the "whatzapnen" of Samos. He was full of information and we were given directions to a water side restaurant to the north, a fish resturant on the other side of the island and "el Greco"a place with a good cook. We worked our way down to the shore and found a restaurant that fit his description but was not what we had in mind. We wandered along the streets growing ever more hungry and finally decided to go back and find that place named after that greek painter that lived in Spain. As we walked into the alley, we saw Duncan, Pat, Sally and Ken sitting and eating at the "el Greco" all trying to tell us at the same time about this Aussie that gave them directions to all these neat places. Small world? He must bring in more business than a blond in a sandwich board.

Mike had promised to teach Linda Backgammon all during the trip and as the sun settled down behind the hills on the other side of the harbor, we took a street side table at the hotel.  Mike acquired a board and proceeded to teach Linda the game.  Linda got the hang of the game within the first few minutes as Mike tenderly moved ahead of her with the skills he had acquired from the bus drivers.  He won the first game.  Game two.  Mike move ahead and was careful not to crush her again.  Suddenly, the tempo shifted and Mike realized that Linda was out for blood.  She trapped his men and then moved ahead of him.  Soon the "luck of the game" shifted and she was ahead.  The ebb and flow continued to move her way until she had beat him.   Game three.... Linda gained momentum and beat him again.  Game four... luckily was interruped by Bryan and Cheryl and Mike escaped with his reputation in tatters, but not completely ruined.  Linda owes him a rematch.

The group started breaking up and going their separate ways.  The Pringles headed home and some of the others headed off toward the other Greek islands.  Our family was getting smaller each day, with the Nicolino's heading for Santorini and Mykinos.  

Berta and Tom Cohen had found a wonderful hotel called The Proteas Bay Hotel on the other side of the island..  Since we had to continue our trip from Pythagoria, we rented a car and decided to stay there for the next couple of days.  Tom had done good!  The hotel was situated on a small cove with beautiful views of the adjacent island called Fourni.  The rooms were large with full baths and tile floors and large balconys overlooking the sea.  A large swimming pool was situated between the town houses and the beach.  We sunbathed, swam in the sea and felt like sultans and sultannas on a vacation.

The four of us circled the island in the car, visiting ancient temple of Hera and small towns in the hills. 

The Temple Hera was one of  the ancient ruins along the road during our drive around the island of Samos.  We enjoyed the site every bit as much as others we encountered on our trip.

  It has the ruins of a Christian church intermixed in ruins that dated back to 2,000 years before Christ. 

We parked on overlooks and watched the few boats and bathers in the distance. 

Linda recognized the road signs that directed us to the fish resturant that the Aussie told us about.  It was fantastic.  Down a single lane road with a high bank on one side and a cliff to the sea on the other, we went; arriving at a little place on the rocky beach. 

A man and a boy were unloading provisions while another man and woman worked in the kitchen.   Smoke poured out of a little window and Berta investigated finding a man cooking over a grill.  The smells were wonderful!  They insisted that we come look at the fish in the kitchen.  Dan picked out a good one and the others passed for some other Greek entrees.

Back in Samos City, we ran into Mike again and followed his directions to the Cyber Net Cafe.

. 

We signed on to the internet and sent the kids and my worried mother some e-mail telling them to spread the word that we made it out of Turkey alive.  She was sure that the terrorists would get us and hold us for ransom. The Cyber Cafe could not connect to a major internet provider like AOL or Microsoft, so we settled for a connection to a backup mailbox we had reserved for such an occasion.

On our second visit to the Internet hangout, we ran into Mike and found that when we left the island the next day, he would be the "Last Man out of Samos".  We watched him walk away from us down the street, slightly slumped, hands thrust in his pockets, looking for a backgammon game.

The next day we left Samos to Mike as Tom and Berta had left by plane earlier in the morning.