Samos: houses, publications

Over the years, I bought three adjacent ruins in the hillside village of Ano Vathy. Little by little I started renovating them, taking care of the traditional aspects of these typical village houses. Each of the houses has fantastic views over the traditional village of Ano-Vathy, Samos-Town, the sea, the Samos mountains and the sunset. House 1 and 2 can be rented together or separately. The big attraction here is a huge terrace from which you have a "millionaire's view". It is partly shaded, the best place you can imagine for a summer evening. You will find the details here .

In 2021, a new, compact apartment was finished under the terrace, built in amix of modern comfort and traditional Saiot elements such as stone walls and good woodwork. Find out all details here.

(this link is in Dutch - U kunt het boek hier bestellen) (foto's: Ben Albers, Marcel Diepenbroek)   Griekse Toestanden (Uitgeverij Boudewijn Boer) verscheen op 24 oktober 2022, en werd gelanceerd op een boekpresentatie bij de gerenommeerde boekhandel Scheltema, Rokin, Amsterdam op zondag 23 oktober. Bekijk hier het interview bij de boekpresentatie Recensies Decembernummer "Griekse Toestanden" 21 november 2022: De Telegraaf, 21 november 2022:  "Een fraaie liefdesverklaring aan Griekenland" Bezorgdheid om geliefd eiland in ’Griekse toestanden’ | Cultuur | Telegraaf.nl 12 november 2022:  Julie Smit, Griekenland-blog "Smitaki's Lesvos"  : " Er valt heel veel te herkennen in dit boek, dat zowel een traan als een lach zal ontlokken. De expats en de vaste klanten van de kafenions, het Griekse leven, de komst van de vluchtelingen en waarom je eigenlijk alleen maar een balkon met zeezicht nodig hebt om gelukkig te zijn. Wie weet hoeveel mensen dit m

" Misguided " was launched in April 2022, by online Publishes Ishin Daishin, London, UK. Misguided reconstructs in great detail the 1990s summer season Ruard spent as a tourleader on the bus, from Athens to Crete to the remote island of Chios. Starting this career out of sheer economic necessity, Ruard quickly learns how to operate in a world of conflicting interests, local tyrants and flabbergasted tourists - taking the reader on a tour where one learns a lot more about Greece than in any guidebook, while embracing the central message of the tourist trade: always keep smiling.  He thought that his brand new degree would open the door to a posh job in Athens, but his depleted bank account had other plans. Before he knew it, Ruard became a holiday rep for a small Greek tour operator. What followed was an eventful summer of dodgy travel agents, noisy hotels, demanding customers, undercover guiding by not-so-official tour guides and coaches that were way too small (or way too bi

the first Summer Island Movie Festival - Samos, July 2012 by Ruard Wallis de Vries (this is an extended version of an article published in the Dutch magazine Lychnari, March 2013 ) A warm Greek summer night on Samos. About a hundred people are seated together on an intimate square, between a school building, a nursery and the milky-white church of Agios Panteleimonas. After two failed attempts, the DVD of director Alex McCall appears to be working after all. Thank heavens for that - McCall himself has come over to Samos especially for this occasion, to show his documentary called The Boy David Story , for which he's won a BAFTA [1] award. The projector hums. The sound from the speakers is excellent. And the documentary comes out beautifully on the church wall. Yes, the church wall. Our festival couldn't have wished for a better, a Greeker movie screen than the side wall of the church dedicated to Saint Panteleimon. But then it happens. From afar, we se