Original subtitles

- My travels around Greece

as part of this Odyssey

have taken me from the heart of the nation, Athens,

and throughout several of the major island groups.

We've cruised around the coast of the Peloponnese

and traveled amongst the Ionian Islands.

Then we made our way across to the Northern Aegean

before spending time exploring

the hidden gems of the Western Cyclades,

and man, was it beautiful!

This series sees us steering Mia Zoi further eastward

and into the Dodecanese.

This episode brings the series to an end

as we travel to a place that holds special memories

for both Helen and I.

It's one of the first islands we visited together

when we were young and seeking adventure.

I dragged her up mountains, we crawled through tunnels

and lived like backpackers.

But it was an incredible time

and those memories have kept us coming back again and again.

The island I'm talking of is Samos.

Now Samos is one of the islands outside of the Dodecanese

that I'm including in this series.

It's actually in the Northern Aegean,

right on the edge of Asia Minor.

One mile to the east is Turkey,

so you can understand why this has always been

a strategic piece of land to occupy.

One reason I'm so fond of Samos

is because of its colorful history

from ancient times to the modern era.

However, there's one personality in particular

that fascinates me and that's the tyrant ruler

from the 6th century BC, Polycrates.

I have to admit something.

If I ever had a man crush, it was for him.

Not for his despotism,

but his vision and engineering exploits.

The ancient Greek world worshiped a litany of gods,

and at the top of that hierarchy was Zeus, the god king,

and his wife and sister for that matter,

Hera, the queen god.

Zeus had problems controlling only one god

and that was Hera.

Where have we heard that before, Helen?

Hera made her base here in Samos.

We're in Pythagoreio, the ancient town of Samos,

and it's here, in the 6th century,

when Samos was at its height.

Pilgrims would come from all over the world

to worship Hera in her temple,

and Polycrates made this city, this island

the peak island of all of Greece.

He built a beautiful mall that went out for 500 meters

and it was 60 feet deep for his 120 ships

and his 200 bowmen, his archers that protected

this beautiful town of Pythagoreio.

I loved him, I love Polycrates.

I've been following him for two decades.

He's my favorite ruler, he's my favorite leader.

Yes, he was a tyrant but, you know, we've got tyrants today

and in a thousand years time, they'll say,

"He was a conqueror" and "He was a great guy"

just like we say about Polycrates.

I love this island.

I've come back here two or three times

and I look forward to seeing it again with you guys.

If Pythagoreio sounds familiar, it's because the town

is named after the mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras.

We all learnt about his theorem in high school.

A squared plus B squared equals C squared.

But there was so much more that he gave humanity.

He was a brilliant philosopher and teacher,

connecting music with mathematics,

researching his observations

and turning them into principles

that allowed us to better understand the world.

There's not a person on the planet

that hasn't been touched by his work.

Of similar ilk was Polycrates.

His exploits may not have spread across the earth

but they were incredible in their own right.

During his reign, Samos was at its prime.

He fortified the island at a scale

that had never been seen before.

He developed engineering and technological expertise

that enabled Samos to become the superpower of the region.

He constructed a deep water mall that was 400 meters long

to protect his fleet.

He dug an aqueduct over a kilometer in length

to supply drinking water to his people,

and to keep his troops and the populace safe,

he made kilometers of massive stone walls

that still exist today.

As a newlywed, I convinced my wife Helen

to climb this mountain through thistle and brush

just to see these walls, the walls of Polycrates.

She didn't whinge once.

Three decades later, they've created fire trails

and I came up by four wheel drive.

But there's a special reason for coming up here.

These walls are almost 6.4 kilometers long.

Look how wide they are.

It was a mammoth effort around 530 BC, 6th century,

for Polycrates to build these walls

and create the empire that he had created,

and this is just a symbol of what Samos was,

the height of Samos.

And I love it,

and I could come up here again and again and again.

The thick walls were built with limestone,

quarried on the island and then put into place

using mostly slave labor.

It's said that there was once a moat in front of it

dug by Milesians and Lisevians

that Polycrates captured during a battle.

The story of his exploits and much of the history of Samos

were penned by the historian Herodotus.

He writes in detail about Polycrates' life.

However, the telling of his demise

is somewhat less thorough.

In essence, Polycrates was deceived

by a Persian or governor, Oroetus,

and assassinated on a visit to Magnesia.

Herodotus describes it

as an "unfitting end for a glorious ruler".

As a break from all the history lessons,

I took a walk on the northwest of the island

and it was one of those hikes that you never forget.

Giorgos, what's unique about this forest?

- In this forest, you can find a lot of endemic flowers

and herbs and also you can find a lot of animals,

special animals like jackals, chameleons

and that is the unique thing.

- Wow, Jackals?

- Yeah. - Awesome!

The island really does have everything.

I've never heard of jackals and chameleons being here.

It just goes to show you that you never stop learning.

However, the chances of seeing one are pretty slim

as they're cunning little critters.

This is a massive green canopy.

You must get a bit of rain here.

- Yeah, during the winter, it rains a lot.

For example, this January and December,

we had almost a record in the rainfall in Samos,

around one meter.

- One meter of rain in two months?

- Yeah, almost every day, hard rain.

- Well, that's why you've got the waterfalls here.

- Yeah, of course.

- So there's three waterfalls here in Potami, right?

- There are three waterfalls

and to see the waters, you have to swim

to go inside the water.

- Well, I brought my swimmers with me, mate.

- Perfect.

- Most people don't realize

that a lot of the larger Greek islands

have quite diverse ecosystems.

There's much more to them than beaches and olive groves.

The interiors of many of them are filled with rainforests,

waterfalls and wildlife.

The best thing is often it's easily accessible too.

I love these walks, Giorgos,

because they're good for people like me

that don't wanna go on long walks, you know?

15 minutes and then we're there.

Awesome, I love it.

- It's perfect for all of the people, yeah.

- The bubbling water and shady canopy

made this part of Samos much cooler than the coast.

It had a calmness about it and despite being so beautiful,

it seemed as though no one else knew it existed.

We didn't see a single soul

the whole time we were out there.

- Here we are, Panayotis.

In this place, we have to get wet now.

- Aw man, and what, there's three waterfalls up there?

- Yeah, three waterfalls here and we'll go to see.

- Let's go!

Better start stripping off here.

We might have only been a kilometer

from the 25 degree Celsius beach water,

but this mountain stream was significantly colder.

After a hike, it was quite invigorating

but came as a bit of a shock.

Discoveries like these are why I keep coming back to Samos

and the Greek islands in general.

There's always something new and exciting to be found.

All you need is a little bit of local knowledge

and an adventurous attitude,

and in this case, some bathers,

and you never know what you might discover.

The water was refreshing in more ways than one.

It gave me a burst of youthful energy,

taking me back a couple of decades

to when I first traversed this countryside with Helen.

I might have aged a little

and now find it more of a challenge

to scale the mountain trails, but I'm still young at heart.

Coffee time.

- Man, tricky scale.

The perfect way to finish a hike and a swim

is with a nice cup of Greek coffee.

It's pretty cool that there's a tavern

right next to the waterfall.

The only downside is to get to it,

you have to scale a rickety old staircase

out of the gorge.

Aw, the creaks, I can hear all these creaks.

For an island that had one of the best engineers,

I'm not too sure if they carried the genes right through.

Man, it's dangerous.

Can't even plan, no steps the same.

This looks like it's ready to collapse.

All I can say is, if Polycrates was here today,

this thing would be made from marble and six feet wide.

Ah, man.

I'm pretty sure they used that on an Indiana Jones set.

It's that bad.

Cafe, cafe!

- Yes, well I know.

- Ah!

What a great reward for the effort.

In the middle of nowhere, there's this awesome little spot

with mountain views and fantastic coffee.

Of course, we had to celebrate it with an Ouzo as well.

It's a taverna too, it makes lunch and dinner.

- Yeah, it makes lunch, dinner here, yeah, yeah.

And a lot of people, they visit during the day.

- Kostas and Manolis that own the place, they built it.

- Kostas, he built everything here

and also Kostas was the person

that created the first bridges

and give the access to the water first time.

- Was that right?

- During the '90s.

- Is that right?

So they built those accesses through.

A lot of vision, it works for 'em.

Yeah, I think it's an awesome place.

I mean it's beautiful, but I never wanna stay here for long.

If there's a bit of an earthquake,

it looks like it's been put together very,

not the best way, mate, you know?

But, I tell you, I've had a good time today, Giorgos.

I really appreciate it.

For as long as I can remember,

this place has always looked like

it's just been through a cyclone.

And as rickety and precarious as it all appears,

the stairs and buildings stand firm.

Well, maybe not firm, but let's just say

they're still here.

As you'd have noticed, Samos is green and hilly.

This is Mount Kerkis,

the second largest mountain in the Aegean.

It's here that Pythagoras had his secret school

far from the establishment,

hidden in one of the many caves.

Follow the red marks.

Now I didn't realize Pythagoras was an acrobat.

Well!

The trail is well marked

but it's not so easy getting up here,

especially when you're lugging a ton of camera gear

that's required for a production of this scale.

It's a good thing I've got such a fit and healthy team.

I'd have lent a hand and carried some of the equipment

but, well, well, I have no excuse.

Ah, I made it!

Four kilometers from Kambos

up into Kerkis mountain, and here I am.

I've been waiting for this.

Pythagoras, thinker, philosopher, mathematician.

Way ahead of his time.

Not accepted by the autocracy.

He had to flee persecution of Polycrates

in this cave, one of 50,

but the only one that was dry

because it was ventilated from two sides.

I can just see him sitting here with his students,

teaching them that advanced geometry

that had never been heard of.

But this was it, this was his last moment in Greece.

He left here and he fled to southern Italy.

The Greeks never saw him again.

This was a powerful moment for me.

I stood in the cave silent,

knowing that one of the greatest minds to have ever lived

would have once been in this very place,

sharing his words of wisdom.

And although Pythagoras was forced to leave Greece

some two and a half thousand years ago,

I felt like it happened yesterday.

I don't know how to describe the sensation

but let's just say, it was although I had just lost a mentor

that I never got to meet.

Few people have had as much impact on history as Pythagoras

and his influence will continue well into the future

for centuries to come.

Heading to the port on the main street of Logothetis,

take a right a couple of streets before you hit the water,

follow the sounds of the bouzouki echoing down the walkway,

and you'll eventually come across

one of Samos' special personalities.

When I think of Greece or anyone thinks of Greece,

the first words that come to mind are

"Acropolis", "Greek islands" and "bouzouki".

Why is the bouzouki such an important instrument in Greece?

- It's not only that it is important,

it is a beautiful instrument, okay?

The sound of it is bright, it's beautiful

and we are very proud of it for one reason also,

because we created this instrument

and we gave to the West western music.

- I did not know that.

- Mhm.

We are the carriers of the ancient dias,

not the Turks and the others, they are East.

- Yeah.

- They kept the early vision in music

or the later unsymbric music with quarter of tones.

We made it, semitone, tone, semitone, tone.

And we put all this knowledge that we had,

all these thousands of years, we gave it to the West.

- Wow.

- This is the most important part

about the bouzouki.

I'm playing professionally 46 years.

- 46 years!

- I bought the bouzouki when I was 24 years old.

- And you haven't stopped playing?

- No.

- Do you play every day?

- You have to.

- So you make the instruments.

You design the instruments as well.

You write songs.

You write music.

You've been playing the bouzouki, you teach the bouzouki.

What is there left to do?

You have everything there, haven't you?

- No, I have to keep going.

- Yeah?

- Yeah, I have to still create.

- Yeah, will you be playing the bouzouki forever until you--

- Yes, as long as I can.

- As long you can.

Spending a day with this craftsman and passionate musician

was beyond entertaining, it was inspirational.

Not just for me but my son Irenaeus too.

He was so fascinated by Yiannis and his music

that he stayed behind and started to learn how to play.

Once back in Australia, he remained in contact with him

and now has a weekly lesson over Skype.

Yiannis has brought Greek music into my son's life

and I can't thank him enough

for this cultural enlightenment.

This is yet another experience

that reinforces my belief that travel,

especially to places connected with your heritage,

is a wonderfully powerful thing.

It brings a sense of place in the world.

It opens your eyes to the past,

which in turn helps you feel at home in the present.

Knowledge gathered by hands-on experience

is the best form of education.

It not only goes for things

like the arts or practical skills

but history and philosophy too.

Take this next place I went to,

it was seeing these ruins in the flesh

that motivated me to dig deeper into their origins.

I discovered that this site

was dedicated to Zeus' wife, Hera.

She was a goddess of marriage and birth.

It's called the Heraion of Samos

and the historian Herodotus claimed it to be

the largest of the known temples of Ancient Greece.

It was built in various stages,

starting in the 8th century BC,

culminating 300 years later when Samos was at its peak.

Little remains of it today

but you do get a sense of the grand temple

that once stood on the now crumbling foundations.

- First of all, this pillar always existed.

It's been here for the past two and a half thousand years

so we always knew how big it was,

but just so you can understand it,

this was like an eight story building.

- Wow. - It was 25 meters tall.

- So it was a massive structure for its time.

- So what inspired you,

why did you wanna dig here, what is it?

- This is one of the oldest sanctuaries

that we have throughout the whole of Greece.

So, it might not look as overwhelming as the Pantheon,

but this is where everything starts.

So this is where religion starts

between the East and the West.

And the first people that came here,

came here 5,000 years ago.

- 5000 years ago.

Wow.

This was a third of the great engineering fates on Samos

that Herodotus write of.

In many ways it symbolizes the prosperity of the island.

No other great honor possess something

of such grandeur and opulence.

It was statement of power and wealth

for both Samos and Polycrates.

- For those people the temple

was just not the center of religion,

it was a way to attract people.

You know, you have the biggest temple,

more people would come.

But the center of religion was always outside,

where they would sacrifice.

Sacrificing was everything for these civilizations.

- That's all religious stuff, for me, big deal.

What I love is the engineering.

- Yes. - I mean these guys

were building an eight story building at the time,

and sure, yet engineers, local Samos engineers,

but it was Polycrates, wasn't it?

He was the one that created this,

he's the one that created all these engineerings.

Why are you laughing?

- You're seriously obsessed with Polycrates.

- Yeah. - Polycrates was a tyrant,

it was a political system.

He could be good, he could be bad, he was very ambitious.

- Yeah, but if it wasn't for him, it wouldn't happen, right?

- He had very good engineers.

This was the engineer Rhoikos and Theodoros

and the other one that he brought was Eupalinos.

But this, you're right.

He wanted to build

the biggest temple the Greeks have ever seen

and that's exactly why.

- So he had a--

He had a bit of a phallic problem, right?

- Yeah he had a phallic problem

- Most tyrants and leaders, we know some today,

that are a bit like that as well.

What makes this even more important

is that unlike the port or aqueduct

that were build for militaristic purposes,

or a fortress that might have existed to protect the masses.

This was a sanctuary dedicated to a mythical God,

this many was given even greater consideration

and became the most important project on the island.

If you ever find your wife here,

I implore you to just stand on one of the column basis,

and try to conceptualize the scale of what was built here.

I can tell you now,

there's nothing like it anywhere in the world.

Behind the port is a mountain range

that dominates landscape.

It's here that my favorite site on Samos lies,

the Tunnel of Eupalinos.

It's a feat of engineering that was well ahead of its time,

it still amazes me to this day.

- You know, I'm super excited.

- I know you are.

- Super, super excited.

I'm gonna walk in first, that's how much I'm excited.

Irene it is a bit tight.

- I know.

- I thought men made

for people of my size. - It's made for people

like my size.

- I'm in.

This is tight.

Yeah, it's a little tight here,

not the best for the claustrophobic.

The conditions down here,

weren't as claustrophobic as you might think.

Yeah, it was cool, and a tunnel well ventilated,

plus having a fantastic guide and Irene,

man, I spent the whole time talking

and learning about how that were built and their purpose.

I can handle it from my passion for engineering.

- And also a shaft up here.

- Yeah.

- Which has some light.

- Right, okay.

So Irene, this is the actual aqueduct down here, isn't it?

- Yes, yes.

- And this was basically the service tab.

- The service tab.

- So this is what they looked down there

and the water ran down there.

So many, many years ago

that water would be running down there.

- Mm-hmm, in the terracotta pipe.

- Wow. - So, literally, two tunnels.

- Two tunnels?

- Yeah, one on top one of the other.

- Wow, they were way ahead of their time, weren't they?

- They were. - We should keep moving yeah?

It's a kilometer of this yeah? - Mm-hmm.

There was no machines back then, right?

So, this was all done

by hand. - Handmade.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

- What was the labor story?

- 4,000 war prisoners from the island of Naxos

did all the digging in here,

and their reward was that whoever come out alive,

would go back to Naxos as a free person.

So from the 4,000 only 350 came out of life,

according to Herodotus.

- Wow. - Yeah.

- Only 350.

- A lot of people were lost for the water of this city.

- And how long was this tunnel useful?

- This was used for over 1,000 years.

It was an active tunnel

that gave water to the city for about 1,000 years.

- Unbelievable.

Ah.

This is the bit I love.

Irene.

Not only was it difficult to build the tunnel,

all that labor, but it's coming in two sections.

- Both sides.

- What's the story, what's the story?

- Okay so, we don't exactly know why

maybe to make work quicker,

they started digging on both sides

and they actually met in the middle.

This is the junction point, half a meter of distance,

they originally fell off seven meters,

but they realized their mistake,

and they managed to save it.

And this is the point where both tunnels--

- But that, literally at one angles.

- Yes.

- And they didn't have surveying instruments

that we have today.

No theodolites, none of that.

- No, they had a triangle.

- Yeah.

That was, what we believe that they used.

The three sturdy points.

- Yeah.

- That's pretty much it.

- And what's the moral of the story?

Use Greek builders.

Let's get going.

The Romans were known of their advanced engineering

and construction techniques.

From roads and bridges to aqueducts,

they certainly achieve remarkable feats.

But this town was built, well before the Roman period,

and was one of the first,

if not the first subterranean aqueducts

of this scale to be built from opposite sides.

The sad thing is over 3,500 people died in its creation.

I guess one positive from all that sacrifice

is the legacy that it left.

Thousands of years later,

people still walk through the place in wonder.

Samos is the ninth largest island in Greece,

about 490 square kilometers in size.

So there's plenty to be explored.

Coincidentally, it's also the ninth most populous,

with close to 34,000 people calling it home.

Apart from the great climate,

it's also one of the sunniest places in Europe,

so you can understand why it's so popular for tourists,

you're almost guaranteed perfect weather.

Through the interior, you have mountains, planes

and plenty of vineyards.

Musket it's a grape of choice, but there's also olives,

honey and almonds, amongst other things

that are produced on the farms.

Along the coast of countless beaches,

which provide a bit of respite from the heat

it also gave poor Helen a break

from all the history lessons I was giving.

Apart from taking the family along to all the sites I visit,

they also have to listen to me

spouting all my facts and figures during breakfast,

lunch and dinner.

So a visit to the main town of Vathy

with a few swim stops along the way, was a welcome relief.

Being one of the major towns on the island,

Vathy is a hub for tourists.

This is where you generally first arrive on Samos,

and to be honest,

you don't have to spread the wings too far from here.

There's plenty enough to keep you entertained

with quiet beaches, restaurants, cafes and museums,

you could easily base yourself in town

and enjoy the convenience

of having everything at your doorstep

and hire a car or get a water taxi

to explore more of the island.

One thing to keep in mind

is that it's a sprawling development,

that rise up the hillsides.

So with all that sunny weather they have,

it can make walking around town during summer,

a bit of a challenge.

A side trip to Vathy is well worth it.

If only to see the archeological museum

and some of the votives

that lined the sacred way, one in particular.

Wealthy pilgrims from across Greece

would come to the Sanctuary of Hera,

bringing with them handcrafted marble offerings.

If they were lucky,

it would be placed as a votive on the sacred way.

The most popular offering was a statue known as a Kouros.

Most have been lost in time

or destroyed by the ruling powers that have come and gone.

Herodith is one of the largest of its kind,

hast at the museum.

This fella is the tallest freestanding Kuros from antiquity.

And you can tell he's a votive for an offering,

because on his left thigh

you can see an inscription from the family

that offered him to the God, to the God Hera.

And this Kouros, he's my favorite.

Not because he's the tallest,

because if you look closely, he's smiling.

And you look at this Kouros and the more you look at it,

the more detail you can see

from the meniscus of his knee

right through to the buttocks and the shape of the buttocks

with the veins of the marble.

Now, what is a Kouros you say?

Kouros means young boy in Greek,

the young boy of noble descent,

and the Kouros was an offering to the gods.

You'll see them all over Greece.

This is specifically from antiquity.

I just love looking at it.

Standing next to this tarring figure,

you get an appreciation for the scale of work

that went into making it.

Not only carving all the details,

but also coring of the right block of marble,

and the enormous exercise of delivering the statute,

during the various stages of production.

It took both great engineering skills

as well as artistic prowess to bring such a wonder to life.

There're some things in life I'm willing to say

that I'm pretty good at,

construction for instance,

but I'm also more than happy to admit

that there's plenty of stuff I'm just hopeless at,

like choosing a good wine from a bad one.

I know what I like, it's just that often

what I think is awesome

doesn't right amongst the enthusiasts.

but one thing I'm confident in saying,

is that Greek wines hold their own.

Mia Zoi is stocked with the stuff,

and all my guests love it.

Centrally into the North part of the island

is this beautiful town of Vourliotes.

And surrounded by vineyards,

I'm about to meet someone

that's gonna tell me why these vineyards

have two unique qualities

that you won't find anywhere else.

I'm really looking forward to it.

In ancient times, Greece was fame for its fantastic wine,

but through much of the 20th century,

it became the opposite.

However the last couple of decades

I've seen a resurgence in its quality,

and therefore popularity to international buyers.

Nowadays, you'll find an award winning Greek wine

in some of the top restaurants around the world

and in my cupboard at home.

The best thing is,

not only does every owner produce it's own varieties,

but it's also generally inexpensive.

So when you spent a couple of euros

on a glass of red at a tavern,

you're usually supporting the local growers.

You can be sure you'll be drinking something pretty good.

To help broaden my understanding of Samean wine,

I met with Huity,

the Heritage Director of The House of Metaxa.

- And you see over there

that there is the bezouglas that we discussed.

- Up there, yeah.

- These are quite old,

they could be even five to 600 years old,

but the vines here are relatively young,

they're, I think-- - I can see the grapes here.

- Yes, they're young, they're young.

- How many vineyards are there here, in Samos?

- Let's say how many farmers,

or vine growers are in Samos.

There's not a single person in Samos,

or a single family who doesn't own a vineyard,

so it's quite rare that you meet a Samian

and does have nothing,

I don't have a property, I don't have a vineyard.

So it goes from generations you inherit,

your vineyard from your grandfather, great grandfather,

all the way to your father.

And for the locals is also a sign of pride,

and it links to their tradition,

to the heritage of the family,

so they will keep the vineyard at any cost.

- How many farmers are living?

- Let's say today, part of the cooperative of Samos,

there must be around 3,500 people.

- And it's a cooperative, they all work together?

- They all, well, the reason why the cooperative was founded

is because back in the days,

and the cooperative was founded in 1934.

Back in the days, the European merchants

would come on the island

and buy from every farmer, every wine grower,

and the wine growers at the point decided to come together

in order to be able to negotiate better prices.

At the same time, by forming the cooperative

what they managed to do

is to protect the quality of the grape and thus of the wine,

improve it through time

and be able of course to make

a little bit of profit out of it.

- What is it that keeps them all together

for the last 80 years?

- You cannot have a vineyard in Samos

and work it on your own, because cultivation

and everything that's linked to the cultivation

of the mosque has to be done by hand,

you see how it is, you cannot have a pickup truck,

you cannot have anything that's it's machine,

let's say equipment.

So what happens is that you need to be part of a community

and the people will work with the family,

with their friends and that's something

that you see a lot during harvesting,

because harvesting needs to happen quickly

within a day or two, and it's impossible for one person,

one farmer to do it on his or her own,

so they need to rely to their family and friends,

and what the Samian says, during harvesting,

everyone on the island works for their harvesting,

and so people from the age of five to the age of 85

will come here, will come through their own vineyards,

harvest and then the next day when they're done,

they will go to the neighbor, to the friend,

to the family member and help them out.

So that's how--

- I think it's awesome.

I think it's awesome. - Yeah it's really awesome.

- Yes, 3,000 families that have got a sustainable future

for a long, long time, and each one works on their own,

and they're still part of a major brand,

at the end of the day or major brands.

It's so impressive that a cooperative of 3,500 families

can all work together in such a united way.

I love the fact that all pitching and harvest time,

helping each other to get the crop ready for production.

It's a case of understanding

that the sum of all their efforts

far outweighs what an individual can achieve in isolation.

It's something you rarely see in this day and age.

- I'll share a story with you.

It's, Metaxa is a brand that's worth international

and you will find it everywhere in the world,

and I have had people from the islands telling me

how proud they feel when they go in an airport,

let's say Frankfurt or Melbourne or Sydney,

and they will find a bottle of Metaxa

and they know-- - They are a part of it.

That part of their homeland is there,

sitting on the shelf in a duty free shop

in Sydney or Melbourne, that's amazing

and, you know, it gives me the goosebumps.

- Me too, me too! - It gives me the goosebumps.

- You know, so much time I wanna go and taste it now.

Can we go and taste it? - Yes, of course.

- Let's go. - Let's go.

- Thank you.

There's no big business or corporate structure,

driving a commercial wine making machine here on Samos.

It's all about sustainable community based viticulture

where the end result is a high quality drop.

well known in Greece and exported around the world.

Other than wine, they also use the grapes

in the making of Metaxa.

It's a sweet, amber spirit, a little bit like brandy.

It's been made in Greece, since the late 1800s.

It's a perfect after dinner beverage,

so I might just have to grab a couple of bottles

to put them alongside the wine collection back on the bay.

But first, I need to learn more about it.

Consta, hi.

I knew that Samos was was famous for its sweet wines,

but I didn't know Metaxa came from here,

and how long has it been here for?

- Yes, actually, Metaxa is not coming from here,

but is based on a Samos sweet wine.

- Oh, right.

- From the beginning, the story of Metaxa

is strongly related to a Samos sweet wine.

- Do they get grapes from Samos, nowhere else in the world?

- No, yet for that kind of the wine for a sweet wine,

we get the grapes from Samos.

But apart from apart for Samos, Muscat wine

we're using distillates as well.

- Right, okay.

- Wine distillates.

Those distillates are coming from other places.

- Okay so, in 131 years they've only been five masters.

- Exactly.

- How long have you been a master for?

- I have been for 26 years.

- 26 years.

- 26 years of course.

- So what about the next master?

Are you preparing the next master?

- Yes, we have found the next Metaxa master.

Of course, I'm training him,

because we need to train him for a long, fourty years.

- Yes.

- To be sure, for their ability,

for the future of Metaxa, of course.

- And so, you're a master,

that means you hold the secret recipe.

- Yeah.

- Nobody else has it?

- Nobody else.

Of course I'm trying

to have everything written for safety reasons.

- Right.

- But I decided, don't live for the recipe.

- Well.

Metaxa is a blend of brandy, musket and botanicals.

It's aged in oak barrels.

The number of years to spend in a cask

determines how many starts it gets.

It's usually sold as three, five or seven stars,

but Costantinos has created a 12 star version.

- So, you see, first of all the color is dark amber.

- Much darker than the five star.

- Yes, yes because of the aging,

because

you feel in the nose,

you feel a lot of dried fruits.

- Yes.

- Mature fruit, but dried fruits like dried fig,

dried prune, black raisin, chocolate.

- Wow.

- Spices, a lot of sweet spices,

and the orange peel at the end.

- Yeah, that's very different

than four star and sevens star, very different.

It's like a different alcohol, isn't it?

- Yeah.

- So how many bottles of Metaxa are produced yearly?

- 11 millions.

- 11 million.

- Yeah. - Wow.

Well,

- This is awesome, you've done a great job.

Bravos, bravo.

- Thank you.

- That's why you're the master.

- Yeah.

That's my job.

- That's your job.

In nearly 1980, at the time when Metaxa was taking off,

there were other trades on the island

that were flourishing too.

In the town of Karlovasi

existed a thriving tannery

and tobacco manufacturing industry.

It meant the population boomed

with plenty of work and wealth to be shared.

It's evident in the remains of the huge factories

and mere classical mansions that were built at the time.

When those industries collapsed,

shortly after the end of World War Two,

the town was largely abandoned.

But in recent years, it's been reinvigorated,

thanks to the University of the Aegean being placed here.

I walked through the old part of Karlovasi

and along the bay,

takes you past numerous grand houses and churches.

You'll also find the tannery and folklore museums,

as well as the Venetian castle.

Plus, just a short trip from town

takes you to The Waterfalls of Potami

and some sensational beaches.

It's a popular part of the island

for those that love architecture,

as well as young people

who are now bringing some life back into it.

They bring with them energy and creativity,

which is reflected in the bar and cafe foreign cafe scenes.

As well as the street art that adorns many of the walls.

One week just wasn't enough.

We're here on our last night in Charavgi Bay,

which in English means Dawn Bay.

We learned so much here.

We learned about Hera, the god Queen.

We learned about Polycrates, the tyrant.

We learned about Pythagoras,

the mathematician and visionary.

We walked through forests to waterfalls.

We ate extremely well, and we sat on beaches

and (speaking in foreign language) as the Greek say

lying on those beautiful beaches here in Samos

and I look forward tomorrow to waking up

to this wonderful sunrise here in Charavgi Bay.

This was actually the end of our summer in Greece

filming the series.

In a few days, I was due home.

In the last few weeks,

we traveled through several spectacular

and culturally rich islands,

but it was only now when things finally slowed down a little

that I had a real chance to look back at everything

and fully appreciate what we had seen and done.

It was an incredible time,

where I learnt, laughed, make new friends,

connected with old ones

and enjoyed numerous fabulous meals along the way.

The sun was setting on this leg of the journey

at one final day before boarding my flight home.

I was gonna make the most of it.

So with that in mind,

we made our way across the tiny island of Samiopoula.

for one last women paradise.

In the next series I returned

to complete my time in the Dodecanese, starting in Kos.

From there, I'll be traveling

throughout the southern islands of the group,

including Tilos, Symi, Karpathos, Kasos

and all the way down to Kastellorizo.

As you'll discover the region is as diverse as it is fun,

with great characters, fantastic cuisine,

and even better history, there's beautiful scenery

and gorgeous beaches.

And what's more, being so close to Turkey,

it has plenty of influence from Asia Minor.

Each destination has its own unique attributes.

But there's one thing I think they all have in common,

and that's some of the best sun rises

and sun sets you'll find anywhere on the planet.