This begins a ten part series on dining on the Greek island of Samos. I have now been there three times for stays of a month or more. I have painted on each stay. Here is a link to the last ten paintings I did in 2014. This time has also has given me a chance to sample many of the great restaurants on the island. This first post looks at three of the smaller seaside villages. In subsequent posts I will look at the mountain villages, The larger towns will be covered in individual posts.
Staring on the southeast side, the first town is Posidonio, a working fishing village at the very southeast tip of the island close to Turkey. We have gone to a great restaurant run by Mari on a number of occasions before going swimming at nearby Sidharas. You can see the restaurant and the view from our tables below. Among other things, we feel it has the best fried calamari on the island. Below is Mari holding some of her calamari. It was the subject of a painting. There is also feta and tomato casserole, fried eggplant, and stuffed tomatoes. Like many places desert is complementary. Below you see a fresh fruit selection.
I did a paiting of one Mari's Greek salads. Here is the salad and the painting. I also did a number of paintings based on the local produce. They are shown in the last post in this series, along with the produce that is portrayed.
Ireo is located on the south coast about midpoint on the island. There are a number of excellent restaurants along the waterfront. Below is a typical meal of grilled peppers, fried eggplant, Greek salad, grilled fish, grilled lamb chops, and a complementary sweet.
Here is another waterfront Ireo dinner at a diiferent place on a moon lit night. It included grilled selections: shrimp with vegetables and salad, pork with vegetables and fires, and calamari with salad and vegetables.
Located a block inland a fish tavern run my Captain Miltos offered fresh fish and live music in 2013 but it was not open in 2014. We hope the place finds its way back to serving food and music. Here you can see the music and the ice chest with the ctach of the day. You can select your meal from the chest. A few samples are shown along with some fried peppers.
Below is a desert we had one night in Ireo and the painting it inspired.
Another seaside meal at a fourth place included a tomato cheese casserole, fried cod, and nice sweet for the finish.
Ormos Koumeika is another working fishing harbor located on the southwest coast. The harbor has a number of restaurants. We had fried mussels with fries, eggplant spread, and chicken coquettes.