Samos
Samos was one of the first Greek Islands to open up to holiday makers in the 1980's and is located in the eastern part of the Aegean sea. Today, easily accessed with its international airport, it has become 184 square miles (477 sq km) of holiday resort, its beaches crammed with sun beds and encircled by hundreds of hotel rooms, its roads blocked with tour buses and its waterfronts lined with tavernas, bars and cafes. Tourism may have taken over, but that does not mean that this lovely island has lost its traditional charm or its scenic beauty. The very fact that it remains such a popular destination testifies to the fact that it has a great deal to offer the thousands of holidaymakers that come to enjoy themselves each year, many returning again and again.
Historically Pythagoras was born in Samos in the sixth century BC and the Island boasts many ancient relics and some spectacular architecture, which includes a temple and marble paved road lined with 2,000 statues (now largely covered by the airport runway). The course of its more modern history has seen the island in a tug of war between Greece and Turkey, but since 1913 Samos has been indisputably Greek.
The town of Samos is offers a curved bay with quaint pastel buildings upon a vibrant green hillside. Numerous other coastal towns and villages encircle the island, all offering holiday accommodation and tourist trappings. Inland there are some delightful mountain villages with picturesque alleyways and friendly locals, which, out of season anyway, still maintain the illusion of being unspoilt by mass tourism. The natural beauty of the island is enchanting and the tourist boom leaves the landscapes of Samos mostly unmarred. The dramatic, indented coastline is dotted with sand and shingle coves, while inland the slopes of the mountains and hills are covered in samian vines and verdant forest.
Samos offers a classic Greek summer holiday and as one of the first to offer is, it is still one of the best with hot weather, jolly crowds, lively tavernas, sights to see, shops to browse and a selection of good beaches, Samos comes up trumps.
