Samos is only 1 mile off the western Turkish coast in the Aegean Sea. We arrived after a bumpy, salty, windy trip from Didim, Turkey. Our first time back in Greece with Onward since last August, it's curious how different two countries can be when only separated by 1 mile of water.

Shortly after arriving, we thought about some of the differences and concluded that not only are the Greek Islands more laid back, but we think they are holding on to some of their traditions more than the Turkish coastal towns are. One of the most obvious differences we notice while living aboard, is to see the tripper boats that daily take tourists to the local beaches. They arrive back playing Greek music that is noticeable but not too loud, whereas in Turkey so many of the tripper boats have huge speakers and appear to compete to see which one can play music the loudest hoping to attract future customers. Also in Turkey the music is mainly English whereas in Greece, it is “all Greek to me”.

Twice we toured around the island on scooters enjoying the cool shade of the pine forests on the north side and visiting a waterfall, an uncommon site in the Greek islands. Exposed to the northern winds and waves, the numerous long beaches are comprised of the smoothest stones that have been worn by repeated washing of the waves. It was also harvest time in the vineyards. We could see people scattered among the vineyards picking the grapes and small open trucks with the cargo area full of crates of grapes. We read that Samos Island is the exclusive supplier of wine for the Vatican’s mass.

Our anchorage for three weeks is at the coastal town of Pythagoria, birthplace to the famous mathematician Pythagorian (for those of us remembering high school math, think of the right-side triangle formula)! A small but pretty harbour town that attracts lots of boats, it suited us to a "T".

One of the largest of the Greek Islands with a population of 33,000, there are many hilltop villages and boasts 1,000 churches!