Chios,Lesvos and Samos in October?
 

Hi. We are arriving Istanbul Sept 28 and heading straight for Cesme and Chios, then Lesvos and then Samos over four weeks till end Oct.
Would love to hear experiences of good budget hotels,cafes, rental cars and places not to miss on these islands....
We're hoping it's not too cold to swim and not too late in the season for some cafes etc.
also the ferries still run sometimes...
Thank you

We spent two weeks on Samos - last week in Sept., first in
Oct. Warm and windy. Not many tourists. Many restos closed
or winding down.

Water warm enough or swimming. Ferries still running.

Thats really nice (hint: never call Constantinople, Istanbul in Greece, Greeks appreciate that a lot).

Must dos:

~CHIOS: (see: http://www.chiosnet.gr/tourism/)
•Mesta: The medieval mastic village is on my top-10 for all of Greece.
•Nea Moni Monastery: Awe inspiring setting and beautiful wall paintings and mosaics and a feeling of peace that will give you an idea of what Mount Athos is like.
•Pirgi: The skrafitti designed houses of this mastic village may have you repainting your own house after your holiday.
•Anavatos: The deserted city where the inhabitants threw themselves from the cliffs rather than be taken by the Turks.

~LESVOS: (visit: http://lesvosgreece.gr/en)
•Mithymna (or Molyvos): The picturesque harbor, the hill with the stone houses and the colorful windows, the stone paved streets leading to the impressive medieval castle on the top of the hill, all appear suddenly just like a painting to the visitor
•Mytilene: The moment you arrive at the large port, the city of Mytilene will win your heart with its air of dolce vita. The island’s capital, built on seven hills and crowned by the Gateluzzi fortress, has preserved important features from its resplendent past and its outstanding cultural history.
•Vareltzidena Mansion: Built in the first half of the 18th century, is located in the centre of the village of Petra. It is a two-floor mansion, resembling a fortress because of the thick stone walls of the ground floor. The mansion combines elements of the local traditional architecture and influences from the Orient and northern Greece.

Thanks immimi and Petros - very helpful..

Samos in October, the main activity will be in port towns like Vathy ... if you land there, a nice budget hotel about 400 yards to your left as you leave the Quay is Hotel Pythagoras.. balconies looking right on the Bay. If u notify ahead of time, the owner will pick u up at ferry dock. Don't miss the Museum in Vathy ... best one in the N.E. Aegean ... it has the LARGEST kouros in the world ... they had to raise the ceiling to fit it in!.

Thanks Jan
(These free-standing sculptures (kouros)were typically marble, but also the form is rendered in limestone, wood, bronze, ivory and terracotta. They are typically life-sized, though early colossal examples are up to 3 meters tall.
The female sculptural counterpart of the Kouros is the Kórē or Koúrē (Plural: Korai or Koúrai).

This kouros (male not female) is FIVE meters tall, the largest to survive... a special wing was built to house the headless body -- then they found the head, and had to put in a skylight to make room for it; saw it in 2002 and 2006. Its marble. And yes I know what the female and the plural forms of the word are. Have seen a lot of Korai/Kourai in my time.

Korai in the Chora perhaps jan? I was quoting from Wiki.before.
Only 2 weeks before Istanbul-Izmir-Cesme-Chios-Lesvos-Samos for a month...

He he he ...

I was in Chios early June 2008. I had read negative things about Karfas being too touristy etc. but we were there off season so it was not busy. You are also going off season. We rented a car for just one day and went to Mesta, Pirgi and the cave. Our favourite was Pirgi, especially if you are into photography. We stopped I think in Komi, possibly Emporios, but I don't think so, and it was dead. I would not have wanted to stay outside of Karfas. It is nicer to have some people around. We spent one night in Chios town when we arrived and the next morning we took the bus to Karfas. I did my usual walk about to look at the options for hotels. There was allot to pick from as most were fairly empty. In Karfas I did not check out any of the hotels that were across the highway away from the sea. We chose Sunset Hotel on the water. It was almost empty. The pool was dirty. Not cleaned for the coming season. The view great. The owners told us that the more expensive Golden Sand Hotel was owned by the same people & we could use their facility which included a nice pool, bar near the sea & chairs on the beach plus we used their internet. It was only a short walk up the road. So that is what we did because my partner did not want a room where we could cook as it was the end of our vacation & he knew I would cook if the facility to do so was there. I had found a small hotel half way between the Sunset and Golden Sand that was about $45./night Canadian, that was modern, had a kitchen & easy little walk to the beach but my partner preferred the Sunset which at the time was about $75. Cdn per night. On the weekend the owners said they were going to Cesme (where we spent one night before taking the ferry to Chios)so they told us we had the south wing of the hotel to ourselves. We were there 4 or 5 nights and we hardly saw anyone in the hotel. The Golden Sands was busier but I don't think the price was worth it. We even went there for a Greek night of entertainment. Word of warning, Greek ferries are more open about their competition but the ferries in Cesme were not. The tourist office told us there was only one ferry, which was a car ferry and the most expensive & slow. We found out that there were several ferries and we took the passenger ferry that was fast and significantly cheaper. There is a system I think of kick backs in Turkey so you don't get all the information even from the tourist office. Hope this helps.

Thanks for that Chania. We ran into something similar last time in Rhodes - Ticket office at the port said just one ferry per day to Fethiye at an inconvenient time. Asking around revealed a Turkish ferry better time and cheaper.
Interestingly I've found the car ferry on the Cesme-Chios run quotes 11 Euro and the small ferry 20 Euro.
There seems to always be games played between Turks and Greeks. Of course, with a bit of study about their history you can see where it's coming from. Just a bit hard for the poor traveller stuck in the middle...