Had it been a color, it would have all the shades of green!
Had it been a taste, it would have the fragrance and the sweet, crisp taste of the Samian muscat wine.
Had it been a picture, it would look like an ancient pillar in Hera’s sanctum, in sunset.
And if it was an island, it would be all the above as well as a sea, blue as the sky and cool as the summer breeze coming from the coast of Asia Minor.
It is Samos, the island of Pythagoras and Aristarchus. The island with the wine yards and the olive groves, the unique nature and the many water springs. But, above all, it’s the island of its hospitable people.
I went to Samos, for the first time in my life, last August. A friend of mine had invited me to go.
I was thinking that Samos would be like any other Greek island: lots of sunshine, narrow alleys, bouzouki music, musaka, nice beaches and many beach bars, wild night life and not so green landscapes.
I was dazzled! The beauty of the scenery was competing with the serenity and the pleasure that one gets from listening to the song of the early morning birds and the sound of the waves from the Aegean Sea.
The house I was staying was so plain and at the same time so hospitable as if I had designed it myself, in order as to meet all my expectations.
My neighbor would greet me good morning, people passing by would greet me as well and I could cut a juicy orange from the orange tree and eat it with a slice of warm bread from the nearby bakery.
At lunch time I tasted the delicious white feta cheese mixed in a Greek, fresh, village salad, ate the tasty Mediterranean dishes cooked with local fresh products and drank the wonderful Samian muscat wine.
After lunch I could nap under the shadow of the yard tree, and eat local grapes and figs, while at nighttime I would drive around the different villages, each with its own color.
I hiked in the shady mountain trails, climbed up the rocks and the revealing, beautiful landscape was there, in front of me!!! I visited caves and important archaeological sites and monasteries, that held all the historic memories inside their stones.
Time went by quickly. My summer vacations were over!
I didn’t want to leave the island but the ticket inside my pocket was fixed in a date!
The friend that had invited me to Samos managed to convince me to stay a bit longer. He said it would be worth it.
« A bit longer», he said. «Until the grape harvest. We’ll go together…».
I woke up before sunrise, on September morning. I felt happy because it was something new to me. Laughing and teasing, we reached in this highland wine yard, wearing a huge hat and holding this special little knife. I felt that I was too part of this landscape, that I was one with the local people, one with this aromatic white grape that filled the baskets!
In our way back, I was thinking that this experience wa the best part of my vacations and that I could leave absolutely happy, but I was wrong.
«Take a few days of your work and stay a bit longer…..suggested my Samian friend and to tell you the truth it didn’t take much to convince me.
So did I. The weather in Samos in September was pleasantly cool, the house was as hospitable and functional as in the summer time and the people were pleasant all the time.
In October, the sun was warm in my back while I was ascending in a little olive grove, all cared properly and in each one of the trees I saw a little hand-made wooden sign with names in each of them. In one of them I found my own name!
To my surprise, my friend had his answer: «Pick the olives from the tree which id now yours….. You won’t regret it…»
And of course I didn’t. I left Samos, carrying bottles of my «own» samian wine, the one bottled from the grapes I has helped harvest. I left Samos carrying bottles of authentic olive oil, the elixir of life.
I took the memories from the land and its people, the local flavors, the beauty of simplicity.
Forgetfulness, is the only thing I didn’t take back home. I cannot forget how happy I was living there, how rewarding was to work and tire and how I was waking up, feeling that I belong to that place.
I think about it all the time. I dream of it and I expect it. And who knows……. I might return to Samos this year, not as a guest but as a man who knows what he wants from his life. A little house with my personal touch, a sunny front yard, a place with vines and olives, happy people singing and laughing. And all these in an island not only worth visiting, but LIVING in it as well!
