This is my third trip to the Greek island of Samos. This time we took a three day trip to the islands of Fourni. This is the first of three posts on the trip. We took the small boat from Karlovasi on Samos island in the early afternoon. The ticket agent said the trip would take three hour but it took over four. This is not to complain as we stopped at three other interesting ports before getting to the main town in the Fourni Islands. After leaving Karlovasi harbor we traveled along the very wild west coast of Samos, including Micro Santini beach seen first after the harbor. We took the 45 minute walk to this beach last year.
Our first stop was Agios Kyrikos on Ikaria, an island known for its lack of any police or stoplights and its free spirit. The smaller town of Therma, with a swimming beach, appears before Agios Kyrikos.
Then we went over to Kampi Chrisonilias, a small fishing village on the north end of the main island in the Fourni group. The houses were mostly resting high above the small port.
Next stop was another fishing village on Thymena, the island opposite Fourni Korseon, the main town on the island and our destination. This time most houses were near the harbor.
We arrived in Fourni Korseon as the sun was setting behind Thymena. The town gets its name from its past as the headquarters of the pirates, the French Corsairs. Their name got applied to all pirates in the eastern Aegean. Above Fourni is Mt. Vardia at 311 meters, the tallest spot on the island. The main street runs perpendicular to the harbor and there is a small square part way back. On our first night we had the lobster pasta, the dish for which the town is famous, right on the harbor. You can see the view from our table below. The large portion came with two whole lobsters surrounded in pasta with a light tomato sauce. It was wonderful and we saved some for lunch the next day. You can also see the cook below.
