Samos part 1

Hi everyone,

After almost three years, finally a new post on my travel-blog. What took me so long? Well, during those three years not much has changed. However, I did finally complete my masters and started working as a Phd student. That means as of now, I do get to travel a lot, which seems like good reason to keep everyone informed.

As most of you have probably noticed by now, I changed the language of this blog to English. This is of course due to the fact that because of my travels a nonzero amount of my friends do not understand Dutch. However, if you cannot understand this, or like my writing style better in Dutch, please say so in the comments. If a lot of people do, I might switch back to Dutch. Of course, if you like it to be in English, also reply to prevent me from switching back!

Good, now that the introduction is taken care of, I can start writing about my latest trip. A trip to the island of Samos, home of the great ancient philosopher Pythagoras, who most people (even non-mathematicians) will know from his famous theorem. But this is of course not the main reason to visit Samos. Heck, all of the following reasons are more important: The temperature, which is more than twice as high as the temperature in the Netherlands, the complete absence of rain, the nice beaches, the University paying for my flight, hotel and food, not having to apply for leave/holiday, meeting all kinds of interesting people, and learning algorithmic game theory from the best in the field. Also one thing that has changed during the last three years, is that I actually started reading news, so going to Greece would let me form a better opinion on the crisis, than I could from just believing journalists.

“Wait, but what is this Algorithmic game theory?”, you ask. Ah, yes, I might have forgotten to mention the main reason to go to Samos, which is a summer school on algorithmic game theory, organized by the University of the Aegean, conveniently located on an Island in the Mediterranean sea (officially Aegean sea). “So, what is a summer school, exactly?” Well, even after the school has ended, I cannot give an exact answer which 100% certainty. However, the ‘summer’ part greatly appealed to me, and naturally there was also some learning involved. Needless to say, these reasons were sufficient to cancel my other plans, that is my annual holiday to the festival of Ghent and the initiation of the new board members of my student association.

Now, finally to the holiday itself. As soon as I left the plane I was overwhelmed by a glorious feeling of warmth. Due to the lack of air-conditioned boarding tunnels used in larger airports, I was outside straight away and I could enjoy every single one of the 42 degrees. Maybe 42 might be a little hotter than the optimal temperature, but I would prefer 42 over the usual 15 during the Dutch summer any time.

My room at the hotel could be described by the Dutch saying ‘iemand blij maken met een dode mus’, which means that there was lots of stuff which seemed great, but was near useless. There was a refrigerator and air-conditioning. However, they were automatically turned off as soon as I left the room. There was a construction on which to put a tv, but no actual tv. There was a huge closet without any hangers. There was a stove and a cupboard to store food, but no plates or cutlery. There was a shower, but no warm water. Also, the shower door was badly attached to the rail, and the rail was badly attached to the tub. Luckily, the people were very friendly and provided me with some hangers and fixed the warm water. The cleaning ladies were very adept at cleaning the large pools of water I left after every shower, and for those who have already forgotten my introduction, watching tv was not one of my reasons to visit Samos anyway. Also, the quality of my keycard was pretty bad as well, so when it got separated from the keys after a couple of days, I could leave the card in my room when I left, so the refrigerator and air conditioning stayed on.

Luckily, the hotel had two advantages. Firstly it being located three minutes from the only beach in Vathy (The capital of Samos). Secondly the owners knowing this great restaurant. I went swimming straight away, and when I laid down on my bed, only to wake up two hours later, making up for all the sleep I missed travelling. It was 7pm already, but the Greeks usually eat late. After I took a shower and arrived at the restaurant even later I was one of the first guests. It turned out great was actually an understatement. I got a Greek salad for 4 euro’s, mousaka for 5 euro’s, and they even gave me free melon for dessert. Moreover, I got the salad only two minutes after ordering, and the mousaka before I finished the salad (which says something about both the quantity of the appertizer as well as the speed of the main course). Hearing this, you might think I went to some Macdonalds-esque place, but it turned out the quality was even above-average. Even the other people at the restaurant were nice. I met this couple from Australia, so I could talk to them about my previous trip. It turned out they even unknowingly visited the Netherlands once, thinking Maastricht is part of Belgium.

After dinner I wanted to check out the city, figuring out something small to do during my planned day of chilling, relaxing and making up for lost sleep at the beach. However I passed a traveling agency, which was still open at 21pm. Apparently working too little is not one of the causes of the crisis. I found I could book a trip to the island of Patmos, which my grandmother advised me, having been there herself when she was young. Also, this was a weekly trip on Friday’s (aka tomorrow). The week after, I would not be able to go because of the summer school, so I decided to postpone catching up on sleep for another day and book the trip. After that I went to sleep straight away, and woke up just minutes late of being able to catch the ride to the harbor of Pythagorio (a town about eight kilometers from Vathy). I had to take an expensive cab, but this was better than missing the boat, since I already paid for it and the guided tour on Patmos.

Luckily I did catch the boat in time. The boat trip was nice, except for the bartender. Everyone who entered the ship saw the nicely decorated bar. However, after fifteen minutes, the bartender went around the boat and informed all the passengers of all the things available at the bar. He seemed quite surprised that only a handful of people had gone to the bar at that point. Being the cheap Dutchman I am, his surprise almost made me believe the drinks were included in the price. Why else would he be surprised? After a while I got hungry and decided to check out the prices. I was fifth in line and noticed the toast on the bar with some flies over it. It still looked tasty though, so I decided I would take it if it were less than 2 euro’s. When the bartender noticed I had not put anything on my plate yet, he turned to me: ”You want the toast?”. “How much is it?”, I replied. “Just take it!” After his reply, again I started to wonder whether it was free. However, he started talking to his other costumers, so I did not put the toast on my plate, but waited until I was first in line, so he could not deny me any further. “So, how much is it?” “For you, special price”. He did some mumbling afterwards, and the only number I heard in his entire speech was “one”, so I put the toast on my plate and looked at the number that popped up at the cashier: 4 euro. So, for the first time in my life, I decided to value my principles higher than my hunger. But this story isn’t even finished. The bartender almost managed to trick me again. Just when the ship was about to be docked, the bartender went around the boat again, this time carrying a plate of drinks. “You want this?” “You want this?” Just in time I realized, these canned drinks could not be close to their expiry dates, so he was in fact not handing them out for free!

Wow, at this time I realize we have arrived at my maximum weblog length. If I write any more, no one will read it because it seems too much. And I haven’t even gotten past the first 24 hours on the island yet. Could English words be that much longer than Dutch words?
Well, I guess you can read all about Patmos, all the interesting people I met, the real cause of the crisis, some more trips, and maybe even some mathematics in part two! To be continued…..

Oh, and don’t forget to reply about my English grammar mistakes, your own opinion about the crisis, or whatever you want. If I don’t think people are reading this, then I won’t have much incentive to actually write part two. Also, a cliffhanger to keep you interested: Patmos is also known as ……‘the island of apocalypse’ Dun dun duuuuuun!