The derelict tanneries
Stone industrial shells on the water — a strong photographic subject.
Kramer96 — CC BY 3.0 · United Kingdom Hydrographic Office — Public domain · Robot8A — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Robot8A — CC BY-SA 4.0
**Samos's second town and its western port — a former tanning town turned university town** — about 30 km west of Vathy. It is really **several separate quarters**: the port, the new town, the **old quarter on the hill** with stone lanes and abandoned houses, and **Meseo** between them. ⚠ What marks it visually are the **derelict tanneries** along the shore: large 19th-century stone industrial buildings from when Samos was a centre for tanning and exporting leather. **They stand empty today** — some restored for the university, some ruins. ✅ From Karlovasi the roads run into **wild western Samos**: the **Potami** waterfall in a narrow gorge, the remote beaches of **Mikro** and **Megalo Seitani**, and **Mount Kerkis**. ⚠ The town itself is **not pretty** — it is a base.
Stone industrial shells on the water — a strong photographic subject.
Stone lanes and empty houses on the hill above the port.
The routes to Potami, Seitani and Mount Kerkis begin here.
Karlovasi, 83200 Samos, Greece
**An industry that made Samos rich in the 19th century, then vanished completely — leaving its buildings.** ✅ **The boom**: through the 19th and early 20th centuries Samos — Karlovasi especially — was a **major centre for tanning leather** and exporting it to Egypt and Europe. **Dozens of stone factories were built right on the shore**, because tanning needs **abundant water** and a sea outlet for shipping. ✅ **The context**: Samos was then a **semi-independent principality** with self-rule under Ottoman sovereignty (1834–1912), which gave it the stability and commercial freedom it exploited. ⚠ **The collapse**: the industry declined in the mid-20th century — competition, shifting markets, costs, **and later environmental law** (tanning is a heavily polluting industry). **The factories closed and were left.** ✅ **Today**: **some are restored** as buildings of the **University of the Aegean**, one is a small museum, ⚠ **and most are empty ruins** on the water. ⚠ **Do not go inside them**: collapsed floors and unsafe roofs.