Greek Island Samos – Votsalakia

The Samos blog of Votsalakia.net

I finally did it. I was thinking about making a blog about Samos, the island i have spent the bigger part of my life on, for a long time now. But as life plays something always came in between.

Who am I?

I’m just another blogger who loves the ‘Pearl of the Aegean Sea’ how i used to call it on the first website i ever made. You guessed right my very first website was about Samos Island. I first came to Samos Island in 1976 that’s a while ago. There where only a few cars, mostly three-wheelers and taxis, on a few very bad roads to spot at this time. “The” TV was placed in the village kafeneion and was in black and white. Kokkari had a show of with 25 “Xeni” – Tourists – at peak time in August. Tourism wasn’t something the people where used too. ’76 was only two years after the fall of the junta in Greece and freedom was still overwhelming.

In this year i enjoyed staying in Kokkari very much. It still was a “Kokkari” ( that’s a baby onion to be planted – couldn’t find the English word for it, sorry) Nowadays it’s more like a field of huge onions though. The development that has taken place on Samos during the last 20 years is unbelievable. After My initial summer in Greece i had to go back to make some money, but i knew that i would come back.

In the years to follow i have moved around quite a bit on Samos. During my time with Greenpeace I’ve stayed in Kokkari and Ag. Konstantionos and Ambelos. Than i moved to Athens for a while, than to Crete and back to Samos. This island just drew me back. On Samos I’ve done all kinds of things, I had my own olive fields, gardens, apple trees, animals and wine. It was a good live and things where simple. Very simple.

Doing Business on Samos Island

To make a long things short; I ended up there where most people on Samos have ended up in one way or the other, in the tourist industry. Now to say that upfront, I have had my share of problems to work for other people and get paid some lousy salary while my boss drives a Mercedes. So i wasn’t willing to work for a boss and was looking for a partner instead. Just suits me better. In the meantime I had gotten married, and it wasn’t looking out for myself alone anymore but also for my beloved wife, so it had to be something good.

Our first attempt was on a restaurant, I leave the name out here with respect of the owner. That was my first business experience with a Greek business partner and it lasted the full length of six weeks than we where out of there. Attempt number two was a lot better though. We meet a guy on the beach… Amdits.. Yes that was the year 1991 and the year when the umbrella industry started to develop. Great idea i must say. After we won the auction for three beaches at the minimum price (there was nobody else to bid) for a total of four years we where setup. So we set there in the sand for the first season renting out umbrellas and lousy old beach beds for the first summer. The umbrellas where old and so where the beds and had come from Costas, our new partner.

The beaches where at the south west end of Samos in Votsalakia. In ’91 tourism had just begun to set in to an otherwise quiet “Kampos” Agriculture was the name of the business. After the Hotel Votsalakia with it’s owner Vangelis Isidoros started to bring tourists to Kamops things began to change fast end entirely. One of the first things that changed was the name. Kampos Marathokampos became “Votsalakia” named after the Hotel that started to bring money and work to the place.

After four years on the beach, that is going to be a story of it’s own, we where not alone anymore at the auction for the beach. The local people had meanwhile gotten wind of what we where carrying away from our three beaches, Psili Amos, Limnionas and Votsalakia East (Nick the Greek). We knew there would be quite some people coming to the auction and neither of was ready to make that commitment for another three years. We went to the auction not to bid but out of curiosity, just to witness the price rising by 5 times. And it was once again Vangelis Isidoros who made the cut.

New Ways in Votsalakia

After our initial four years in Votsalakia we had seen the place developing, so we didn’t want to leave and had to do something else. Votsalakia was and still is advertised (with all rights) as achildren and family friendly holiday resort. Shallow sandy beaches and most of the accommodation have a kitchen or kitchenette. So what was closer than building a Mini Golf Course with a cocktail bar? We found the land in February and started building an 18 hole mingolf course and a bar wit the help of a few friends. We opened on first of June 1996 in the same year and worked almost the full season.

So we had our new business running for two years, had build new parts to it and everything was good. In 1998 our landlord Dimitris Franzescos died, a very friendly man who had help us a lot in starting up the business, and his widow asked us if we would want to open a second place on the beach. So we did, and the Kalivi Beach Cafe was born. We opened Kalivi in 1999 and ran it until 2006 for seven years.

That was the short version Check back for news and stories and … here are some more reasons …

• If you have something to say about Samos or you took some good shots, i will be happy to publish it here.
• If you have a business in Votsalakia or elsewhere on Samos i will be happy to give your business a spot on my blog in exchange for a place on your website or some small donation.
• If you search for Votsalakia on the net you will find Votsalakia.net on the very first page of just about every search engine, so promoting your business here might be a good idea.
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• And if you now use this button it will be an easy thing to find your way back here.

A Greek Fish Restaurant in Votsalakia

“Keffi” means something like “to do it just for the fun of it”. And that’s what it is all about here, fun.

The fish tavern “Nick the Greek” is located at the very eastern end of Votsalakia, the first tavern of Votsalakia Beach, coming from Marathokampos or Ormos. The distance to the center of Votsalakia is about 1 kilometer. You can walk the whole way along the beach though and especially at sunset it is a beautiful walk.

Nikos, the owner, speaks perfect English and German and you will feel at home, the minute you arrive at “nick the Greek”. Even though the specialty of the restaurant is fresh fish, you can also get all kinds of fresh cooked Greek dishes here.

Traditional Greek Service

Nick the Greek works still in the old traditional way of running a Greek Restaurant: Go in the kitchen, lift the lids of the pot an have a look what dinner looks and smells like. The same goes for your fish, first nicely decorated on a display of crushed ice, the fish will be weighed and price tagged according to your appetite.

Nick the Greek is a very family friendly place, the family has kids themselves, with a play ground and a sandy beach right in front of the restaurant. Speaking of the beach; this is a very quite part during daytime, provides umbrellas and beach beds and you can find a beautiful snorkel spot a bit to the left. you can spot octopus and shrimps, squid and crabs around the reef as well as tirades of small fish who seek the shelter of the reef to grow up. Much of the fish in the “Tavernas” on Greek islands are probably not even out of Greek waters these days. The much over-fished Mediterranean Sea just hasn’t that much to offer anymore. That’s why you can find Nikos early in the morning, chatting with fishermen and sorting out to the best fish of the latest catch right of the fishing net.

My overall rating of the fish Tavern “Nick the Greek” goes as follows:

If you’re looking for a quite place where you can let the kids run and enjoy a glass of wine and a great dinner. this is the place to go. you must try “Garides Saganaki” Shrimps, backed with cheese and fresh tomatoes.

your dinner is accompanied by relaxed and quite music and sometimes Greek live music with Bouzuki and Guitar, Candlelight and always very friendly staff.

Bon Appetit