Samos, Greece

Thursday afternoon we caught a ferry from Kusadasi in Turkey over to Samos, in Greece, where we were picked up by Claudia and Greg (friends from Australia who now live in Singapore). They were visiting Turkey and Greece with Claud's parents (following a similar route to ours – they had even ended up in the same hotel in Istanbul just 2 days before us) – it was great to swap stories about what we'd seen.

Out to dinner with Claudia and Greg

The ferry itself was something of an adventure – we'd got great spots at the front, on the top deck but under shade so we'd get fresh air but not get too hot. However, since we were running against 2 meter seas, directly into the waves, even the top deck was getting drenched – and we bore the brunt of it, getting soaked through. Not quite how we wanted to begin our plunge into the Agean Sea...

A far better way to plunge into the Agean sea - the water was crystal clear

We only had a couple of days in Greece but we are definitely coming back – we spent two days just eating fantastic food, laying by the pool, swimming in the sea and finally relaxing. Turkey was great but intense; Greece was anything but...we didn't do any sightseeing, just shuttled back and forth between Kokkari (where Claud, Greg and the Claud's parents were based) and our hotel a bit further up the hill.

The pool at Armonia Bay hotel was lovely

But all good things must come to an end, and with great reluctance we boarded the ferry back to Turkey (sitting inside this time, having learned our lesson)...we'll definitely be back to Greece, and would love to visit Turkey again.

Wandering by the harbour on our last night in Samos