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Modern Description: The un-Hellenic sounding name is in fact Turkish—Karlıovası, meaning ‘place of snowy meadows', perhaps referring to the noticeably white mantle which Mt. Kerketéus wears in certain lights, due to the high chalk content of its bare, upper screes: the city itself, almost as big in population as Vathý, also feels more Levantine than Greek. Only the picturesque quarter of Palaió Karlóvasi, overlooking the port from a hill at the western extremity of the city, with its balconied houses, plane trees and tavernas, feels familiarly Aegean. The ‘shot-apart' feel of the main city derives from the fact that there is a lot of space here, and the city has spread lazily across the wide mouth of the valley and along the shore: in consequence, it is hard to find its heart. The church known as the Panaghía tou Potamoú or, more correctly, of the Metamorphosis tou Sotiros (‘Transfigiration of the Saviour'), in Potámi Bay, is one of the oldest and most unusual churches on Samos (1.5km west of Karlóvasi Port). A track which leads inland from Potámi village up the valley of a stream, passes first the ruins of the early, apsed church of Aghios Nikolaos; after 150m, it reaches the church of the Metamorphosis, whose high bulk of un-rendered stone stands to the left in a beautiful setting among trees. The church has no decoration outside or paintings inside, but is remarkable for its unusual proportions: the floor-plan of the interior is approximately 5m x 5m, while the (inside) height to the ‘shoulders' of the building is about 7m , and to the crown of the minuscule cupola, 9m. Four monolithic columns in Samian marble, surmounted by finely carved, 5th century capitals support the arches of the crossing; but these do not dictate the height of the building, since they are only a little over one third of its total height.
The church was once the catholicon of a small monastery complex whose ruined buildings extended to north and south; the vestiges of a baptistery, with an immersion font, can be seen outside the southeast corner, once communicating with the sanctuary through a (now blocked) door in the south wall; the narthex on the front has also gone, exposing the block of the threshold, which is a piece of ancient stylobate that once supported a column. There are Early Christian spolia lying nearby, and the columns, capitals, and a fragment of decorated frieze in the church's masonry templon, all must come from an important 5th century basilica that stood on or near this site: this may have been destroyed around the 7th century, during the period of Saracen invasions, and the present church built later on its site, in the 13th century. Further into the shaded valley, the path leads to a series of cascades and natural pools; another path, climbing steeply up the east slope beyond the church, leads to a small castle with a cistern, contemporary with the church below, for which it must have functioned as a vital lookout post.
Trismegistos Geo: 54195

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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