Where's Vic Today? .... Oh, It's The South Pacific.

I recently subscribed to Vic's World Travels Youtube channel. And the regularity of his globe
trotting visits around the world is something that most of us can only dream about.
And while most people work and toil for eleven months of the year and then blow their
 4 weeks holiday in some far off place, well Vic is literally off to some distant
exotic destination every week.
Although Vic Stefanu is an American citizen he bases himself here in London.
And by being based in London it apparently allows him to pop over and visit many
places in Europe and beyond.
In just the last week alone I've received at least 4 new Vic youtube alerts.  And he
was very quick to visit the Greek Island of Kos earlier this week despite the fact that
Kos suffered a huge earthquake on Friday 21st July.
There were other video alerts this week where Vic had visited Laos, Egypt and just
a few hours ago I received an alert that he was at the Central Fish Market in Kuwait.
Of course it is most likely that perhaps the videos had only just been edited and
posted up weeks after having actually visited there.

Above: Vic doing one of his side on views even though

it is him that is holding the camera. He is often prone

to unknowingly give us some rather scary looks into the camera

which I think is part of the Vic's charm.

 

Occasionally on Vic's video comments you'll often hear those mortal words...

'Where are you today Vic?' Which begs the question is Vic ever at home?

I remember back in 2006 after my partner had a bit of a financial windfall thanks

to a generous Aunt who passed away. It was that Summer that with a bit of extra

money we decided on two trips to The U.S as well as three rather expensive

holidays in Cornwall. And it seemed like that Summer shot by us in no time.

It seems like the more you do then time goes quicker. But at the same time it's a

thrill visiting somewhere nice and knowing that in 3 or 4 weeks time you'll be off

to some new exotic location.

So I can understand how our roving traveller Vic must feel who is lucky enough to

take off literally every weekend. And if a place that he visits is not to his liking then

he'll say so as he recently did on his visit to Italian coastal town Vernazza.

Apparently it was too crowded and noisy and there was a lot of trash on the Harbour

beach.

Of course with Vic and his Greek connections and his many visits to the Greek Islands,

I keep meaning to ask him, when I get round to it, what his thoughts are on a certain

little Island out in The Agean Sea. Because when I first saw this picture (below) of the Marina

come Harbour in Kokkari on the Greek Island of Samos, well my jaws just dropped.

It just didn't look real to me. It looked like something out of a dream. And checking

online for more images of the Kokkari Marina, well more images proved that this was

indeed a fantastic setting, and that original image I first saw (below) was no exaggeration.

 

And yet when you look at the map in that area of the world it seems like a

miracle that Samos is not part of neighbouring country Turkey as is Kos and Lesvos

as they are literally just off the Turkish mainland, which of course joins on to Syria,

the global boiling point of the world in these last few years. And it was just two years ago

that these  Greek Islands including Samos, were besieged by refugees from Syria,

Iraq and Afghanistan, all seeking asylum in the West. And it was the image of the dead

child washed up on the Island of Kos that became the most harrowing image of the

refugee crisis.

Naturally all this caused a big downturn in tourism on Samos.

And a recent update on the refugee crisis there tells us that nearly 2,ooo refugees are still

stranded at the Detention Centre on Samos where they are still waiting for their asylum

applications to be processed.

But yes, the tourists still visit Samos, but perhaps not so many. 

 

Above is the beautiful Marina and Harbour in Kokkari on the Island of Samos

with it's little stretch of sand leading out onto a small rock Island where you can see

several of the holiday properties.

It was also on this little stretch of sand where the boats are moored that a local Monk

Seal became a bit of a tourist attraction. He was nicknamed Argiro the little mermaid (youtube HERE).

And he was often to be seen boldly sunbathing on one of the sunbeds on this little stretch

of sand, that is until he became a little too big and boisterous for the local children and

so he was moved out to sea by the local marine authorities.

 

But for sure, I would love to visit Samos and Kokkari one day. But as it stands these exotic

locations hold no interest for my partner who sadly has no spirit of adventure, preferring

to keep their feet firmly on home territory. 

 

 

Above: The red spot indicates a popular spot to photograph Kokkari Marina

and that little Island in the picture above this one.

That image above this one was most likely taken from this red spot.

And it's the houses on the far right of this image that sit above that little stretch

of sand that literally look out onto the Rock Island. What an amazing view they

must have from the holiday apartments above that little beach.