My 2011 photo-presentation of one of the most beautiful and green greek islands, the east aegean island of Samos!

samos-media.blogspot.com/2011/02/samos-2011-exploring-island.html

Most of the photos presented I took in the year 2010. Camera used was a Nikon D700 with Nikon prime lenses. The processing of the RAW files I did with Lightroom 3 and/or DxO 6.5, additional work on some photos with Photoshop too!

The music accompanying this presentation I recorded in the village of Leka on the evening of July 16th, 2010.

One of the best groups of Samos was playing there on the village square during an event organized by the voluntary fire brigade. I had met these musicians before on other occasions, e.g. in August 2008 in Kallithea (panigyri) and Kastaneá (charity event).

Musicians:
Mavrikis, Kyriakos: main vocals, guitar, bouzouki
Liapis, Giorgos: laouto, bouzouki, vocals
Sarantou, Vasilis: violin, vocals
Mytilinos, Giannis: keyboards, vocals

This presentation in 960x640 resolution is intended to be non-commercial. No embedding allowed on websites with primarily commercial focus!
Since some people seem to forget quite easily about copyright and from where they took the photos they want to show, I added some watermarks to make it a lot easier to remember. ;-)

Samos is a unique island, this green emerald in the blue aegean sea (greek & green!) is located just a few kilometers away from the coast of Asia Minor. It is loaded with natural beauties and archeological sites and - in contrast to many other greek islands - Samos is gifted with large water reservoirs, partly due to forests and high mountains.
In addition, Samos is famous e.g. for its wines and the mathematician/philosopher Pythagoras, who was born on Samos and lived there for many years.

Many different kinds of landscapes can be experienced on this island, e.g. large forests, deep valleys and canyons, herbs with incredible smells, unbelievable fresh and crystal clear water springs, brooks, cascades and even small waterfalls.
High mountains reaching up to 1150 meters (Karvounis, Ambelos) and 1443 meters (Vigla, Kerkis). With caves and ancient quarries.

Lots of beautiful beaches all around the island. Mostly with small pebbles, but some of them, especially in the south, are fine sanded, named psili ammos.

And many small villages, not only along the coast line. The more you get away from the coast, the more you will find the natural and rural life on Samos. Don't forget to visit one of the many panigiria during the summer season, the celebrations of the patron saints of the respective churches or chapels. The worldly part of a panigyri will not start before 10 pm, usually on the evening before the celebration day of the church patron saint. Dancing begins about midnight and will last into the early morning hours!

Besides the red, white and rosé Samos wines and the local Ouzo, try the Souma of Samos (in other places in Greece this spirit - containing about 40 % alcohol - is called Tsipouro!)

Some of my personal impressions from 8 days in May 2010 in the lovely village of Pythagorio on Samos island in Greece.
Take your time for an approx. 20 minutes long experience strolling around the village and the harbour.

All footage taken handheld (I'm a lazy guy!)

Special thanks to my friend Jiannis Loulourgas.
And to some nice romanian women introducing me to the dance music.

A presentation of the greek island of Samos located in the east aegean close to the coast of Asia Minor. This "high speed" presentation is 11 minutes long and based on more than 300 photos I took during several stays on Samos during 2004-2008.

The music that accompanies the presentation is sung and played by various groups/musicians living on Samos and Ikaria. Several of them I know personally. It reflects the lively nisiotika type of songs, the energetic dance "Ikariotikos" and soulful interpretations of rembetika songs.

Please note: as far as I know, CD's of these musicians are only available on the islands. Please support the local musicians and their music by buying their CDs when you will visit Samos, Ikaria and Fourni!

Samos 2008: approx. 7 minutes presentation with impressions of the beautiful greek & green island of Samos, located just a couple of kilometers away from the coast of Asia Minor in the eastern aegean. I took the photos for this presentation during several stays on Samos between 2004 and 2007. I used cameras and lenses from Nikon.

Music comes from local musicians and is a "live" recording of Jiannis Loulourgas (luthier, bouzouki player and singer) from Pythagorion on Samos together with some of his fellow musicians.

Come to lovely Samos for a holiday!

Souma distillation in the village of Stavrinides on Samos island in Greece.

Presentation showing the procedure for the distillation of pomace to yield the alcoholic beverage Souma (Tsipouro). The Souma (the sum of all fractions of the distillation process) at the end of the distillation process has about 70 percent of alcohol.
According to the taste of the drinker, the Souma distillate is then further diluted with water to 38-40 percent of alcohol or further below!

Photos were taken in a pot still with a nice copper cauldron, located near the village of Stavrinides high above the north coast of the island of Samos in Greece.

The music in this presentation is performed by local musicians! I recorded a session in September 2008 "live" (using Olympus LS 10) in a special place called "Notos" in Pythagorio on Samos. The musicians are:

Jiannis Loulourgas (bouzouki, main vocals),
Jiannis Karavasilis (guitar, vocals)
Makis Karavasilis (bouzouki, vocals)

The photos for this presentation were taken in 2008 with a Nikon D700 camera. Software used to build this presentation was Boinx FotoMagico on Apple Mac.