Karlovasi Photo Blog: Living Like a Local on Samos

As our regular readers know, we love travelling, but we also make plans that let us experience another country like locals. Our latest example was spending two months in Karlovasi, a charming town on the beautiful Greek island of Samos, as part of an Erasmus internship.

Karlovasi managed to make us fall in love with it within a week. With no high-rise buildings, farmland still reaching the seafront, trees so heavy with fruit that their branches seemed ready to break, and the scent of the sea mingling with wild herbs, it reminded me of Zeytinalanı or Kalabak twenty years earlier. Vathy, with its small square and animated residents, brought back memories of Çeşme from the same period. While İzmir—whose population rivals that of a small European country—inevitably changes and expands, we nostalgic souls began living very happily in Karlovasi.

The view from our little house: a simple street framed by a goat pen on the right and orchards on the left.

Not everyone parks a car outside the house.

The beach in front of our house, with Karlovasi Port behind it.

Our neighbours' houses, which we were only 'slightly' jealous of.

Of course, not every house was in wonderful condition.

It looked like a bridal veil to us. What do you think?

The mosque is gone, but the mihrab remains.

Tourism supports many families on Samos, and Karlovasi has its share of visitors. Its many restaurants and cafés are ready to welcome you by day and night. They were certainly prepared for Turkish travellers too; many even had menus in Turkish. As this is also a university town, there was somewhere for almost every taste and budget.

The small square in our neighbourhood.

Neo Karlovasi's 'main' square, full of young people.

On our third day, we discovered that it was an important Christian feast day. There were bands, flags and celebrations everywhere, and the streets were filled with the smell of incense. We could not remain indifferent, so we climbed to the Church of Agia Triada, perched on a hill that looked close to our house.

It turned out that a normal road also led to the church, but our Canadian landlady, treating us like locals, had directed us up the goat path.

This tiny church watches over all of Karlovasi from above...

...from here...

...it enjoys this view.

Hello, alien—we come in peace.

Our neighbourhood dignitaries and band.

A view of Karlovasi from a tiny terrace we noticed on the way down.

Church of Agios Nikolaos

As we said, we were on an island, surrounded by sea. After an easy half-hour walk from home, we first came across this church among the pine trees. Set a little above the coast, it overlooks Potami Beach.