Turkey April-May 2012

 

We started the eighth year of our cruise when we returned to Turkey at the end of March. We took a couple of days in Istanbul to allow ourselves to adjust to the time difference  and visit a few more sights before the trip south back to Two Moons. The 6^th century underground water cistern was especially impressive. It covered 9800sqm. had 336 columns and 4m thick walls. Water was brought into the cistern from a distance of 19km.

 


Istanbul skyline fronted by floating fish restaurants




The Blue Mosque



6th century Bascilica cistern

cistern ceiling

 We had really hoped for a day bus to take us from Istanbul to our winter spot in Bodrum, so that we could see the 1000 kilometers of sights. We had previously done this trip overnight, but inexplicitly it wasn’t to be and we endured another 12 hour bus ride in the dark.

  

We found Two Moons in the YatLift yard in good shape. As had occurred in previous year, there had been no threat of hurricane, no revolution and no flood of swallows using Two Moons as their personal latrine. The only issue was that many of the trees lining the yard had been felled overwinter and cut into large blocks for future boat stands. We were situated meters from the carpentry shop and were covered inside and out with sawdust. But this was a quick fix, unlike scraping petrified bird poop.

    

It was an intensive month at the yard, taking care of boat jobs that had arisen since our last major haul out in Sweden, four years ago and it helped that the locality is excellent for obtaining supplies and technical assistance for us do-it-yourselfers. The area is famous for its gullets, which are kept in pristine condition in the boat yard next door. There are also many builders which turn out boats in wood and steel as large as 150 feet. We found that you need to shop aggressively for your boat bits, because nothing is priced, prices vary considerably and “Are we negotiating in Turkish lira, euros or US $?”.

The weekly market

The gullets of Bodrum

   

After launch, we sailed north with the spring southerlies (mid to late summer becomes the raging northerlies - Meltimi) with the expectation of exploring the Black Sea. Daily checking of Navtex revealed many live firing ranges along our path which warranted some annoying deviations. One day we were passed by two large convoys of Turkish war ships (approx 50 vessels) heading to one of the firing sites. Admittedly, some of the vessels looked a little long-in-the-tooth, but their numbers certainly surpasses that of Canada.

   Turkish war ships – two of the many

Rules for visas and staying in Turkey have been in transition for a while and have finally been resolved (?), but there still remains much self interpretation. You used to be able to hop a ferry to Greece for the afternoon, get a stamp and return to Turkey for another 90 days. Our current visa allows us to stay a total of 90 days out of 180. So after 90 days, it is out for 90. We felt this would necessitate us staying in the Black Sea longer than we wanted and prevent us from returning through the Bosporus (controlled by Turkey), back into the Med until we met their requirements. So we are circumnavigating the Aegean Sea counter clockwise, passing through Crete and Cyprus on the southern edge, to winter back in Turkey. Maybe, with better planning, we can head for the Black Sea next summer, or we go west to Croatia and Montenegro.

We are finding the Turkish coast superb cruising grounds because anchorages abound and when needed, top class marinas are being developed everywhere. But we are frustrated sailing between the Turkish mainland and the Greek islands and not being able to stop there, knowing that it beckons with cheap wine, pork and bacon. To stop legally requires costly and protracted check-in/out procedures. So we wait.

We managed one land excursion to the World Heritage site of Ephesus, a very extensive Roman archeological site. It was at one time a major port, but now rests about five miles from the sea due to silting. Although people have occupied the site since 1000BC, it was here that Christianity began to supplant the old Gods. St Paul stayed here around 53 AD and caused a ruckus, it was the home of Mary Magdalene and Anthony and Cleopatra visited because of the social, political and commercial prominence. There is even evidence of the first advertising, for the local brothel, still on display.

 The Library of Ephesus

Our check out of Turkey was a relatively painless procedure, apart from our misunderstanding with the Harbour Master demanding payment of a tax. Grace and I were both hearing 930 Turkish lira, when he was saying 9.30 TL (a difference of $500). But it was another situation where we had to run to the bank, pay the tax, return with the receipt before being allowed to move onto the next official.

It was but a short sail over to the neighbouring Greek island of Lesvos, where we would experience our second Greek check-in. With memories still fresh from last year, we were delighted when a petit woman did the work in one quarter of the time, at 25% less cost, than it took six men last year. For our first day in Greece we had bacon and eggs for breakfast, ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch and whopping big pork chops for dinner – washed down with 2 euro wine. The work chicken is not to be spoken for a while.

So today we are at anchor in a secluded sheltered bay on the south coast of the island of Lesvos while waiting for a few days of wet windy weather to pass. There is bacon in the fridge and wine in the cupboard and who says things are tough in Greece right now............Cheers