Samos, Greece

We have finally made it to another country - Greece! Our ferry was supposed to leave Kusadasi at 8:30 am, however, there was a computer glitch and the police could not process the passengers out of Turkey. We stood in a line that did not move and when the computers eventually started up, the line moved at a snail's pace. No worries...it gave us an opportunity to meet some of the other people in line. We chatted with some lovely American travelers. It turns out that most of them are teachers in Kuwait on their spring break, but also amongst them were Kathy and Steve from Beverley, Massachusetts, parents of one of the Kuwaiti teachers. When the ferry finally left port, we were only a half an hour behind schedule. The trip took approximately 90 minutes. The seas were calm and the sun was shining so everyone was happy. We quickly cleared Greek Customs and Immigration. We were all disappointed with the stamp they put in our passports. It was barely legible. Off we went to find our pension. We didn't have a map so we had to stop and ask directions. At that time, we were approached by an older Greek man. He wanted us to come and see his place. He gave us every reason in the book as to why his pension was better. In the end we trooped up the hill to see it. At 25 Euros per night it was a better price and location, so we stayed, but it may not have been that much of a bargain as he did not have WiFii or breakfast. Worse than that, we were the only ones staying there. We know now it is so much better to be staying in a place with other people. It is how you find out the best places to eat and where to go sightseeing. Greece has been a bit of a shock for us. Suddenly, we are faced with another language to learn and an alphabet that is unrecognizable. Reading street signs is difficult to say the least. Luckily, we have met a lot of Greek people who speak at least a little bit of English and Craig has made up a Greek cheat sheet that we refer to often. We did not venture out of Samos Town while we were on the island. We did not have any transportation and we weren't there long enough to give public transit a go, however, we liked what we saw. Samos Town is exactly what we thought a Greek port town would look like. We spent most of the first day wandering up and down the streets with the American crew. Craig found a kindred spirit in Kathy, who is a professional photographer. How come they are always three miles back?
View The Photos
Lynda and Steve decided they should start a support group for the spouses of photographers. It's always a bit of a drag to be the person without the camera. Our short stopover on Samos quickly came to an end. We had a 6:00 am (yes, you all heard correctly) departure from the port on a Hellenic Seaways ferry bound for Naxos. We were so afraid that we would miss the ferry that we set the alarm for 4:45 am. When we were awoken at 4:00 am by the drop of the ferry's anchor in the harbour, we jumped out of bed and started to prepare for our departure. We had a second reason to be worried. We hadn't actually confirmed the time when we arrived in Greece. Was it the same as Turkey? We weren't willing to take a chance so we arrived at 5:00 am for a 6:00 am departure. Better to be safe than sorry.