Samiopoula, the largest of Samos’s islets, lies south of the main island and can be reached by boat from the western coast of Samos, near Katsakas. It covers 1.018 square kilometers, with a 5.928-kilometer coastline and a peak elevation of 153 metres. The small island hosts numerous wild goats and, according to a 17th-century source, was once covered with a fragrant flower that locals called Kores. The island’s chapels suggest that monks from the Monastery of Patmos may have lived there centuries ago. In 1865, it was used as a quarantine station for ships infected with cholera.
In the early 20th century, Samiopoula was sparsely inhabited by a few dozen people, primarily livestock herders and fishermen. Over time, the population dwindled, relying on local trees—olives, figs, carob, and almond—to supplement their diet.
By the turn of the 21st century, only one resident remained: Katina Kappou. She settled on Samiopoula as a young bride from Patmos in 1944–45, when the island was ceded to the Greek state by the Monastery of Panagia under the condition that landless farmers would settle there. She and her husband, Anastasios, remained the only inhabitants of Samiopoula well into his 80s.
Following her husband’s death in 2000, Katina received numerous pleas to move to Samos, where she could receive better care in her old age. She refused, staying on Samiopoula until her death in 2013. She spent nearly 70 of her 87 years there, tending to the Greek flag and lighting candles in the chapels.
Known as the “Grandmother of Samiopoula” during her life, she is now remembered as the “Lady of Samiopoula” and she is often compared to other legendary “Ladies of the Aegean” that lived alone on small islands, like Despina Achladioti, the famous “Lady of Ro,” and Aikaterini Santorinaiou, the “Lady of Rineia.”
