Neo Karlovasi

Neo Karlovasi is the busiest town in western Samos and its commercial centre, kept alive through the winter by departments of the University of the Aegean — Mathematics, Statistics, and Information and Communication Systems Engineering. Its squares have cafes and mezedopoleia at town rather than resort prices. Down by the sea stand the tabakika: more than fifty tanneries worked here between 1880 and 1930 and remade the town, and their buildings still stand in an area protected since 2002. Ferries to Ikaria and Piraeus leave from the port.