Pythagoreio, history and mathematics in one trip!

Our most recent trip took us to Pythagoreio, a town on the island Samos, Greece. Why Samos? Well we decided to go to a country we never visited, not to far away, to a place we could relax but also find something interesting to look at or do if we felt like it. Samos is a four hours flight away, Greece is known for its history and Samos is the birthplace of Pythagoras. Samos checked all the boxes!

After a bit of research we decided to book the trip via a travel company, we usually try to stay away from travel companies but this time it was the only way we could fly non-stop Stockholm - Samos. The company took us were we needed to go and back again on time, but we were not impressed by all the additional sales they pushed on us and the answers we got from the customer service was a bit snooty, this is why we decided not to name the company in question. The hotel does not deserve more attention than: it had a pool, was close to town and it only took 5 mins with taxi from the airport!

Pythagoreio is an UNESCO world heritage, a small and quiet town perfect for a relaxing vacation. Basically there is "old stones" and history to be seen around every corner, perfect for walking around and look at whenever you need to stretch you legs a bit from lounging around the pool or ocean.

The archeological museum is worth a visit, not big or fancy, but interesting. In town, by the sea you will find the Tower of Lycurgus Logothetis and Early Christian Basilica 'Castle Church' with nice views of the sea, town and surroundings.

Within walking distance of town, just up the hill, you find an ancient theater still in use, Monastery of Panagia Spiliani and The Tunnel of Eupalinos or Eupalinian. A bonus is a good view.

It´s easy to rent a car but we decided to take the local bus to look beyond our little town. It is really easy as Pythagoreio only has one bus station and one bus that goes in a roundtrip Samos - Pythagoreio - Samos. (Samos being the administration centre of the island and thus a bigger town.

Food & Wine, very important on a trip!
Samos is famous for its sweet wines made from the Muscat grape stretching back from as far as 1200 BC. Sadly sweet wine is not a favorite for any of us, but we did try it as an after dinner drink with a lot of ice and it was kind of ok. Other then that we mostly tried "house wines" and they all lived up to the expectation of a house wine.

One wine we tried and liked was the Rapsini from the Tsantali wineyards & wineyards. This is a mainland wine grown on Mt Olympus.  The wine was a nice pairing to lamb and we gave it a 4 out of 5 for that reason.

Foodwise the best thing we ate on the trip was by far the homemade baklava with ice cream! But don´t miss the opportunity to eat fresh fish and seafood. Gyros, lamb and grilled cheese should also be on the menu.

All in all it was a relaxing vacation, a doze of history and some new food and wine experiences. 

Dragon sauce

This sauce got it name a long time ago when we had family visiting from London. We were cooking chicken and I suggested that we should have Dragon sauce, what I meant was tarragon sauce. Dragon is Tarragon in Swedish. From then on we have called it Dragon sauce. It was a favorite sauce before that and still is. Works well for chicken, turkey and other light meats. It does also work well cold as a dressing for chicken salad.

Looking on the ingredients it looks complicated, but by preparing everything before starting it is easy and quick to do.

• 4 dl chicken stock (or 2 dl water and chicken extract for 4 dl)
• ca 1 tbsp beurre manié (That is equal amount of room temperature butter and flour mixed together.)
• 2-3 tbsp fresh Tarragon finely chopped. Use half the amount if you use conserved Tarragon in vinegar.
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 dl Cream fraiche
• 25 gram room temperature butter
• salt and pepper

Measure all the ingredients and get them room tempered (except the Cream fraiche).

Cook and reduce the stock to 2 dl. Remove any foam.

Put the beurre manié into the stock and stir until it have mixed and the stock is thickening.

Gently mix egg yolks and Cream fraiche into a separate bowl. 

Pour the cooking sauce into the egg and Cream fraiche mix while stirring.

Add the room tempered butter to the sauce while continue stirring. If your ingredients are cold, do this back in your pan.

Add Tarragon, salt and pepper to taste.

Do you ever feel "away sick"?

A few weeks ago I learned a new expression, "away sick", it is of course the opposite of homesick. This struck a chord in me, I tend to feel away sick often and take every opportunity to travel when possible, so much that my colleagues at work always ask; were are you going this time? when I mention it´s time for vacation.

The trip could be long or short and I enjoy traveling to new places near and far. Thankfully my husband and I share this interest and we try to always have "the next trip" booked to have something to look forward to.

Two other interests we share is food and wine! When traveling you can always learn more about the food and wine culture in the new place you are in. Mind you, we are no experts of wine, but we know what we like and are always eager to learn more.

Why this blog?
Well, we want to share in our experiences and perhaps get a few tips a long the way from other people. This will in some ways also be a kind of diary to not forget all the different places we have been to. The posts will be a mix of current trips, food and wine, but also past experiences we want to share.

To start of I want to share a picture from a wine-tasting we did in Franschhoek, South Africa in February.

We went on the Wine-tram and stopped at Franschhoek Cellar to do a Pinotage tasting. Pinotage is a favorite grape and here we found a new favorite Pinotage wine Bernard Series – Bush Vine Pinotage.
A part from tasting the wines they paired the wines with nuts and biltong. This gave a uniq fantastic blend of the South Africas own grape Pinotage and tastes of their snacks.