A Samian Summer

By Sue Llewellyn

Sue Llewellyn is an affirmed traveler who loves to seek out new experiences around the world, but one place she is constantly drawn back to is Samos, a Greek Island in the Aegean Sea. At every available opportunity Sue and her partner, Peter (aka Mitch) return to the village of Paleo Karlovassi where Mitch's family originate from.
Paleo is situated high in the hills above Samos's secondary, and more attractive, port. It's population is small, ageing and remains quintessentially Greek. Life is quiet, laid-back and unlike the more popular tourist destinations on the island , the local lifestyle remains unchanged.
After travelling around Southern Africa Sue and Mitch moved back to the island for six months. Sue has written about her life on Samos and the colorful personalities that she encountered in a series of short stories. Her portrayal of the local characters are often humorous yet manage to evoke compassion and sympathy from the reader. The descriptions of Greek bureaucracy is often borderline farcical and her imagery of the island's beauty evocative.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sue Llewellyn
• Release date: Feb 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310193521

Sue Llewellyn

Sue Llewellyn was born in the 60's. She has traveled extensively for over 20 years and lived on three continents. Born in the UK she then moved Australia to live and work for a while when she met her partner Mitch. Sue has been blogging about her backpacking experiences since 2011.Her first adventure was a trip to America at the age of eighteen. Since then she has become an affirmed traveler who loves to seek out new experiences around the world. Her other interests are photography and writing. For many years she had stories floating around in her head about her travels and the people she met along the way but never had the courage to commit them to paper. All that changed when on one of her journeys she became extremely ill and had to return home for an operation. Whilst waiting for surgery and a conclusive diagnosis she started a travel blog to keep her mind occupied and also to write about the people who had enriched her life. Sue wrote her first book "A Samian Summer", which contains stories and photographs about her time in a small Greek village on the relatively unknown island of Samos, in 2014 and published it in 2015.In 2013 Sue backpacked around Southern Africa for five months. Along the way she met a local trying desperately to make enough money to build a house to support his wife and child by running a seafood beach bar and restaurant in Zanzibar, Tanzania. At the time he was a one man operation and dreamed of owning three bungalows and a successful restaurant. By reviewing the restaurant on the net and introducing him to a friend who was teaching tourism, Sue set in motion a serious of events that led to the Beach Bungalow Build. Sue returned to Zanzibar at the end of her travels to assist with the project, planning to stay a few weeks but ended up living in the isolated village of Pingwe for over two months. The story of life on the island and progress of the build is depicted through a series of connecting stories and photography in her second book "The Beach Bungalow Build - Zanzibar".

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A Samian Summer

A SAMIAN SUMMER

BY

SUE LLEWELLYN

Copyright 2015 Sue Llewellyn

Published by Sue Llewellyn Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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For Luka and Joan Lillian

Contents

Prologue

A Greek Tragedy

The Duck With A Sore Throat

The Oki Shop

Chillin At Hippys

Naughty Night No Knickers

A Rock and Roll Easter

Gangsta Gregori and Bollywood

Picnic at Agios Iggionais

The Lonely Man

King of the Castle

Coffee and Cake

Elene

Such is Life

Everybody Out

The Meltani Wind

The Lucky Dip

Sunset at the Parthenon

Flying Fish and Beef Stifado

Midnight at Honey Farm

Orange Peel and Rub Rub

The Road to Leka

The Sundial

The Fakalaki

The Day the Port Collapsed

A Very Superior Type of Beach Mat

Wee Nasty Beasties

The Goat Lady

The Earthquake

Epilogue

About the Author

Prologue

The Homecoming

I open all four double paned windows, throw back the shutters and lean out into the scenery. A breeze gusts up and the familiar scent of musty fig, walnut and pine, that is so uniquely Greek, assails me. To the right, beyond the terracotta roofs, church tower and olive tree terraces, lie three mountain ridges. The tops are dull brown, stark and scarred but when the sun sets they add dramatic beauty to the view as their bare rock turns pink and deepens to dark red in the fading light. On their lower slopes, villages and vineyards with their regimented rows of grape vines, lush and green from the winter rain, can be picked out. Below is a ravine that divides the village in two. Tiers of houses have been built into the hill on either side above the lip and along the edge until they meet at the end of the gorge where the village square lies and connects them. Here a steep road with hairpin bends leads out of the village down to the port and town road below. To the left, spread out along the coastline is the town of Karlovassi and across a narrow strait of sea lies Turkey, so close that even through the misty heat haze its land is visible. I have returned to Samos, the village of Paleo Karlovassi will be my home for the next six months and the thought makes me extremely happy.

Just down the road, Gramataki is standing on her potted plant and flower covered balcony. She sees me, smiles a huge welcome then makes her way out onto the street for the traditional homecoming greeting. It’s been three years. I make my way outside and am grasped in two strong arms attached to a squat body, topped by a beaming face. I return her joy, hugs and kisses with a reciprocated affection.

Kalli mera. Ti canis? she asks

I struggle to remember the right reply. Calla, Gramataki, calla and you?

You need to learn Greek she scolds as she always does when she sees me and I reply as usual

I know, I know whilst rolling my eyes upward and shrugging my shoulders in apology.

Throughout the day as Mitch and I clean and air the house and its contents, inspect water damage and dry rot, deal with an insect infestation, unpack and wash musty sheets, clothes and towels, villagers drop by to say hello. Arthur, our Greek American neighbour, proffers emergency milk and juice rations for breakfast then drives us down into town for shopping. By the end of the day we have caught up on local gossip, commiserated over the early demise of a friend, heard about and witnessed the bite of the economic crisis.

It is the beginning of May. The village is quiet, too quiet. Athenians who have family homes on Samos can't afford to holiday this summer and neither can residents of other affected European countries. No music blares from the village square, the tavernas are closed for good and houses that once reverberated with the sound of family life are hushed. Instead cicadas dominate the airwaves, their calling only fractured by short crackling megaphone bursts of music coming from vans who have driven up to the village to sell bread, fish or vegetables. Those locals that live Paleo have little money to spend and vendors depart with their wares unsold.

As the sun sets, swifts soar and swoop on the currents, hawks glide in the thermals and owls hoot in the pine scented night. But the usual fairy lights made up from pinpricks of back lit windows in town and the surrounding villages fail to punctuate the darkness or glitter little pockets of golden warmth. There is hardly anyone here. Even Stamati is silent, the full moon unable to tempt him out into the night air to deal with his demons in public.

Despite the financial disaster the essence of