Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
EATING AND DRINKING
NORTHERN HILL VILLAGES
9
AAA
Manolátes
T
22730 94472.
Central taverna that
makes a good fist of such dishes as
yiouvarlákia
, grilled
mastéllo
, an idiosyncratic version of aubergine
imám
and
dry red wine from Stavrinídhes.
March-Nov daily
11am-2am, some winter weekends from 8pm.
Despina
Manolátes
T
22730 94043.
Warm-hearted
Despina whips up dishes of the day,
revythokeftédhes
and
good
tzatziki
, which you can enjoy in a gazebo by the
central fountain.
Daily 10am-10pm.
Galazio Pigadhi
Vourliótes
T
22730 93480.
Serving up
rabbit stew,
soutzoukákia
and aubergine dishes at limited
pavement seating under a kangaroo vine up beyond the
platía, this is a real locals' favourite.
Daily 7pm-late.
Ì
Iy Pera Vrysi
Vourliótes
T
22730 93277.
This
taverna at the village entrance offers a huge range of well-
priced, imaginative mezédhes like spinach croquettes or
chicken livers, as well as local
robóla
wine.
March-Nov
daily noon-1am.
Ì
Kallisti
Manolátes
T
22730 94661.
Excellent roast
goat, courgette pie, grills and some small fish are all
available for maximum €7 at this great taverna next to
AAA
,
as is fine barrelled wine. Warm welcome assured too.
March-Nov daily 11am-1am, some winter weekends
from 8pm.
Karlóvassi and the northwest coast
KARLÓVASSI
, 31km west of Vathý and Sámos's second town, is sleepier and more
old-fashioned than the capital, despite having roughly the same population. It's a useful
base for enjoying northwestern Sámos's excellent
beaches
or taking a number of
rewarding
walks
. The town divides into five straggly neighbourhoods:
Néo
, well inland,
whose growth was spurred by the influx of post-1923 refugees;
Meséo
, across the
usually dry riverbed, tilting appealingly off a knoll and then blending to the west with
the shoreline district of
Ríva
; picturesque
Paleó
(or Áno) lies further west, its hundred
or so houses draped either side of a leafy ravine; while below it is
Limáni
, the small
harbour district. Most tourists stay at or near Limáni, which has most tourist facilities.
he
port
itself is an appealing place with a working boatyard at the west end.
Ríva
On the 1km-long street linking Meséo's Platía 8-Maïoú to
Ríva
, stands a huge, early
twentieth-century
church
, topped with twin belfries and a blue-and-white dome,
typical of those that dot the coastal plain here. Ríva itself is something of a ghost town,
with derelict stone-built warehouses, tanneries and mansions, reminders of the defunct
leather industry that flourished here until the 1960s. The epoch is immortalized in the
brand-new
Tannery Museum (
Tues-Sat 9am-1pm; free), which has informative displays
on the industry, as well as tobacco production.
Potámi and around
The closest decent
beach
to Karlóvassi is
Potámi
, forty minutes' walk away via the coast
road from Limáni or an hour by a more scenic, high trail from Paleó. This broad arc of
sand and pebbles is presided over on the east by the striking modernist clifftop chapel of
Áyios Nikólaos from 1971. A streamside path leads twenty minutes inland from
Potámi, past the eleventh-century church of
Metamórfosis
- the oldest on Sámos
- to a point where the river disappears into a small gorge. Just above the
Metamórfosis church, a clear if precipitous path leads up to the remains of a small,
contemporaneous
Byzantine fortress
.
Mikró Seïtáni and Megálo Seïtáni
A couple of daily water-taxi services run in peak season from Karlóvassi port to both beaches
The coast west of Potámi ranks among the most beautiful and unspoilt on Sámos; since
the early 1980s it has served as a protected refuge for the rare
monk seal
, still glimpsed
occasionally by lucky hikers or bathers. Some twenty minutes along the dirt track at the
west end of Potámi Bay takes you to the well-cairned side trail running parallel to the
water. After twenty minutes more you'll arrive at
Mikró Seïtáni
, a small pebble cove
guarded by sculpted rock walls. A full hour's walk from the trailhead, through olive
