I hesitate telling my tale for it sounds pretentious. But, pretentious as it may sound, I must tell my tale. I went to Greece. I not only went to Greece but I went to an island - an island that was not spoiled by tourists - an island by the name of Samos. And, I don't mind spilling the secret ... God lives in Samos!
I've come to appreciate the ways God expresses Himself. He uses people - for we are made in His image - to display character traits to show we who live below heaven who He is. If you come from America, I think you tend to believe that God is somehow in His core - American. If you live in South Korea, I think you tend to believe that God is somehow in His core - South Korean. Yet, now that I've set bare feet on white pebbled beaches I am convinced that God does live in Greece.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
The reason for my trip to Samos was for relaxation: to get away from "it" - all of "it", to find myself, to really see my husband and to not allow my brainwaves to set their default to all that must be done within certain time frames prescribed by me or others. I was tired. My Chris was tired. We realized that this tiredness was not to be resolved by a good nights sleep - it required unplugging.
Finding a last minute deal through a local travel company, I found an insanely good offer that gave us 7 nights stay in paradise, airfare, and airport to hotel transfers which were "All Inclusive". I will say that having never booked such a trip, the "all inclusive" tag line made me nervous. Were there hidden prices I was unaware? Would there be a special fee at the airport that was not disclaimed? Would our hotel be the scene of an Alfred Hitchcock movie? Yikes. This was scary and unfamiliar territory. However I will save a dramatic pause and just come right out and tell you that my fears were not realized and I will ALWAYS book future trips through this travel company. I could not stop smiling out of sheer gratitude at the outcome.
After settling into our new home for the next 7 days, we decided to head down the mountain toward the nearest village, Kokkari. Quaint. Quite. Quintessential Island experience. From everywhere you looked the Aegean Sea was our backdrop. We found a cafe with a sea view and plopped ourselves down on the lounge chairs that gave us a front row seat to the turquoise sea that splashed and danced in a frenzied welcome.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
After a few hours of staring into the distance, we decided to do a bit more exploring in our new village. I've heard and seen for myself in other parts of Greece the tangible evidence of cats ... many cats roaming Greece. However, this island had a plethora of felines. Knowing how deeply my youngest loves animals, I made a pledge to snap a photo of a cat every time I saw a furry creature. In fact, 60 of the 517 photos that I took while in Samos were of ... cats.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
I told you before but I'm not too proud to admit, I could NOT stop smiling. Smiling out of total amazement that what I thought was a blind move of travel fate turned out to be one of the most beautiful experiences of my 48 years on planet earth! This ... this is our village ... tucked into a harbor ... of the Aegean Sea.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
I was struck by the hospitality of the Greek people. Eager to engage in conversation once you initiated it, they were warm, sincere and authentic. Having made two prior trips to Greece, I thought my island experience would be similar to what we had already experienced. However, to my sheer delight, it was totally different. Perhaps the best way to explain the impressions could be compared to coming to America and visiting Chicago and Dallas. Then, you go to a small fishing village off the coast of Washington. What a contrast! This was our experience in Samos.
We met some of the most lovely people. Below is a sampling of the traditional Greek bakery items one of our new friends proudly sold at his very stylish Bakery. A native of Kokkari, he spent much of his early education in Canada where his brother now lives. He spends the tourist season months running his delightfully delicious shop full of Greek pastries and then heads to Canada for a reprieve from the island. His English was perfect and his Baklava to die for ... which I had to sample ... twice.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
Not easily seen in this photo is the small black and white cat poking his head out of the back of the wooden basket behind this mans bike. Make this number 2 of 60 cat photos. I'm telling you ... there were a lot of cats!
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
Old. Proud. That's the impression I came away with from our Greek island. The blue from the blue and white colored Greek flag could be found everywhere: doors, awnings, chairs, gates, window coverings. It's the kind of pride that makes you humble at the long line of heritage that bears your name and not the kind that forces you to point your pointer finger in the air waving "We're number 1".
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
And there was always ... always the water. The water that drew us into its' mysterious rhythm and color. It taught us to sit. It taught us to daydream. It taught us to wonder. It taught us to read until we fell asleep. It taught us to listen for it's crash upon the shore.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
And whenever possible, I stuck the zoom lens on the end of my camera and snapped real life photos of real life people doing real life things.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
And because of my almost addictive love for doors, I noticed them. Not as many as cats, but a great number of my photos are of doors. All shapes and sizes, doors captured my imagination. What lie behind? What had walked through and out and what stories could be told by those coming and going.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
Samos is the closest of the Greek islands to Turkey. In fact, in the photo below, you can see a mountain behind the white colored village. At this mountains' peak, Turkey lay a mere 25 KM. Being such close neighbors, at the top of our mountainous island can be found many border control facilities that keep close tabs of their eastern neighbors.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
And there was always the mountains ... that kept paved roads winding themselves around its' rocky borders climbing and dipping to bring the traveler to new destinations. Being so close to Kokkari, we climbed the 25 minute hike on our steep road to and from the village and to and from our hotel.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
And never ... oh never ... did the view along the way disappoint. And because the view never disappointed ... it always made me smile more ... out of gratitude ... and thankfulness ... and giddy excitement over the fact that I had discovered ... that ...
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
God lives in Samos, Greece.
 |
| Photo: Christina Elledge |
Stay tuned for the continuing Samos adventures ...
and more cats.
