Day 438: “Lost” in Samos

Selcuk – Kusadasi, Turkey – Samos, Greece – Kusadasi – Selcuk, Turkey

Today sort of pissed me off. My travel route plan was to go to the Greek islands from Turkey then onto mainland Greece.

The travel agent in Selcuk told me that this wasn’t possible as some of the ferries stopped running because the high season had ended. I resorted to just do a day trip to Samos Island and then onto Europe by land route via Istanbul.

Upon reaching Samos, I saw plenty of ferries going to Athens. To backtrack to Turkey on the ferry to grab my backpacks wouldn’t make sense and would cost me an extra EUR40.

Samos wasn’t anything exciting either. For EUR57, all I got was to be in a town not at all unlike Vela Luka of Croatia. It gave me a bittersweet longing and a dull ache in my chest. Remembering Vela Luka always do. Despite all the unfortunate events that happened at the end of my time there, I missed a lot of good times on that island. I miss the shabby and dirty staff house I called home for two months; I miss the pizza at Alfa; I miss the old lady next door and the Turkish ice-cream man; and most of all I miss the time spent with my fellow dive interns (our BBQ of illegally caught octopus; our crashing of the summer solstice fire-jumping custom; our urban-exploration into an abandoned hotel; etc.)

I could easily go back to the island for a visit since I was not far from Eastern Europe. However, I realized that what I was looking for was no longer there and would never be ever again. It was a summer that left me with both wonderful and not-so-wonderful memories. What matters though, was that I earned a few good friends along the way.

My dive buddy Storm described our feeling for Vela Luka best: it’s like the island in the TV show “Lost.” When you’re there, you wanted to get out from it. Once you left, you long to go back.

Anyway, some photos from Samos: