The 30 mile beat to Greece took us through a blast zone of up to 30 kts on the nose before we finally gained the entrance to Pythagorio harbour on the island of Samos(37 41.3'N: 26.56.94'E). Strangely this harbour is separated from Turkey by a strait only about a mile wide. Once entrance formalities were complete, made much easier in the Customs office with our very Greek yacht name, we were free to roam the country and prop up the economy as best we could. So, naturally our first stop was the Cosmote telco for sim cards! To do this one has to take the dolmus over to Samos town, the commercial centre of the island on the northern side. Whilst there we toured a beautiful Greek Orthodox church and the excellent museum before having a quick lunch with Stormvogel and Southern Star on the quay. It turns out that the island has been inhabited since 10,000 BCE, so the production of ruins has been well-developed over the period. It also continues today as evidenced by the many abandoned modern half-constructed buildings littering the countryside. Back in Pythagorio we walked the grounds of the fortified monastery above the old town, inspected ancient Byzantine villas, clambered up the hill to tour the town walls, and had a couple of meals out. (Recommend Aphrodite restaurant). Without a doubt our best trip was by car to the base of Mt Kerkis (1434m) for a walking ascent of its peak. One of the highest mountains in Greece, the climb is 1000m up and took about 8 hours return. We were rewarded with stunning views across the Aegean to many islands. We lit a candle in the tiny chapel of the high mountain refuge hut to give us extra insurance for the summit bid. For this trip we were accompanied by the wonderful crew of Birgitta, Murray and Lyn, who hail from Gisborne in NZ. They have spent 5 seasons in the Med and combined a great depth of knowledge of the area with an excellent sense of humour and outstanding palates. Samos really grew on us but we decided to join Birgitta southbound. So, with a forecast of 20 kts NNW breeze we sailed SW toward the Fournoi archipelago.
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