GREECE

SAMOS & LIPSI

This is a much easier task in summer, the high tourist season, when the ferries are many and the schedules frequent.  But after September 15, not so much.  After our 5th trip to the ferry booking agency to ask questions about when we can get a ferry to Island X or Y or Z and finding out you can't get there from here, or there is only one a week and it was yesterday, a transplanted Aussie clued us in: getting around the Greek islands is fairly easy as long as you want to navigate within the groups of islands known as the Dodecanese and the Cyclades.  But Samos is in a group known simply as the Northeastern Aegean and there is a virtual "Great Wall of China" around it.  Once we realized we were stuck here for a week, we decided to take a day trip to the little island of Lipsi and do some exploring of Samos.

Lipsi is a delightful throwback to the past, so small and quiet and laidback, you just have to feel relaxed being there.  We had a fabulous breakfast of Greek yogurt (thick and creamy and unlike our yogurt) with fruit and honey (the honey from this area is out of this world - light and delicious with a slight hint of vanilla in it.  I don't know what the bees eat here, but it must be nectar of the gods.) Then we opted to rent a motorbike to see the rest of the island.  There is very little traffic of any kind, car or motorbike, so the fact that Bill hadn't driven one in years was not as much of an issue as it might have been!

The view of the island from the harbor is comprised mostly of the traditional white stucco-like houses with blue trim (everything in Greece is white and blue - everything) but more so than anywhere else, this island is liberally dotted with Greek Orthodox churches.  All are white with a blue dome, some with a little bell tower, but I was amazed when I counted 14 just in my field of view on this small harbor.  Some were so tiny, they looked as if they would only hold 10 or 12 people.  I later found out that it is common for a family to save up their money to be able to build their own chapel to use for special occasions.