Ormos Marathokampou settlement

Fast facts

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Settlement altitude  10 m
Settlement land area  0,05 km²
Population  2011: 210, 2001: 221 inhabitants.
Area per person  246 m² per person.
Parish Church 1 orthodox, Agios Nikolaos (saint Nikolaos). The church was built in 1772 and was part of the Koutloumousiou monastery in Mount Athos. After years it was abandoned and deserted and in 1962 the current church was built.
Economy relies mainly on tourism, fishing and agriculture.

Description

Ormos Marathokampou  settlement (Όρμος Μαραθοκάμπου = Bay of Marathokampos) is the seaport of Marathokampos village and located southwest of Samos island. It is a picturesque fishing village, with a beautiful port, and natural beauties in surrounding area, which attracts many visitors each year, being one of the famous tourist destinations on the island.

The distances are:  from Samos town 46 km, from Karlovasi town 16,5 Km, from Pythagorio town 33 Km and from Marathokampos village 4,5 Km. 

Administratively consists, the settlement of “Ormos Marathokampou”, which belongs to municipal community of Marathokampos, of Marathokampos municipal unit, of West Samos Municipality with Karlovasi capital.

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History & name

The name of the area was “Spilia” (σπηλιά = cave), but with the development of the port and then the settlement, it was named “Ormos Marathokampou”, or simply “Ormos”.

Since 18th c. until the end of the 19th c. the port of Ormos Marathokampos was the main transportation hub of the southwestern part of Samos. All the passengers and trade (oil, charcoal, onions, soaps, fruit, wine, etc.) of southwestern Samos, to the islands of southeastern Aegean mainly, were transported through the port of Ormos. To serve the trade, there was a port authority, board of health, a customs office, about 50 warehouses and many shipbuilding units for wooden boats (Tarsanades), where they built and repaired the boats.

Despite the great activity that existed in the port, there were no permanent residents in Ormos, for fear of pirates. People were coming in the morning, and before the night, they were returning to Marathokampos or other villages where they lived. Ormos, as Marathokampos colony, began to acquire permanent inhabitants at the end of the 19th century, when the danger of pirates had been overcome.

The historian and traveler, Karl Krumbacher, in his book “Greek Journey” (Griechische Reise 1886), describes Ormos Marathokampou, as he saw it, in February 1885, passing through for his trip to Patmos island. Krubacher mentions the cobbled road from Marathokampos to Ormos, the under construction port, the soap factory from where he bought soaps and impressed, wrote about the simplicity and spontaneity of the people.

The port of Ormos, probably was founded in the middle of 19th c., which originally consisted of the waterfront and two piers that served for boats loading and unloading, but without safety from the south winds, since the unfinished western pier did not protect. That why, in case of a storm the boats took refuge in the safe natural bay of Makria Pounta, to southwest.
In September 1944, at the end of World War II, when the Germans were leaving Samos, they blew up the western pier, of which only 50 meters remained.
During the ’60s they placed blocks on foundations of the damaged port and from 2010 work began to completion the construction.
In 2017 the project was completed and the port was transformed in a modern marina.

In Ormos there were many and famous shipyards that contributed significantly to the history of Greek traditional wooden boats shipbuilding. With raw material of the famous timber of Samos, they made wooden boats up to 500 tons, which traveled till America.
The wooden boat was built around 1720, with craftsmen from Patmos island, who also brought the skill, and the last one around 1970.

The parish church of Agios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas) was an ancient metochi (small monastery), dependency of Koutloumousiou monastery in Mount Athos. To the east of the church there was a two-story house where the monks lived, as evidenced by the remaining foundations. There is also the aqueduct with fountain and a marble slab that states that “church was completed in 1772, with monetary donations by the villagers (from Marathokampos) and shipowner Manolis of Panakis”. Over time, metochi was abandoned by the monks and in 1962 the current majestic church was built, on the foundations of the older one.

Tips

• Visit the parish church of “Agios Nikolaos”, build at 17th c., former dependency of Koutloumousiou monastery in Mount Athos..
• Visit the soap factory KENTOURIS, which from 1924, produces olive-pomace oil and the traditional green soap.
  
• Following the route to the west, for 2 Km., You will find Kampos Marathokampos settlement (or Votsalakia), with beautiful beaches and many natural beauties in the surrounding area.

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