One of the maximum fun adventures available while journeying Turkey’s southern coast is taking a brief ferry experience to go to one of the neighboring Greek islands.
It has been almost years for the reason that remaining ferry ran from Bodrum to Kos earlier than final indefinitely because of pandemic precautions. I recognise this due to the fact my mother and a set of her pals have been at the remaining boat that made the journey and that they even needed to quarantine later on due to it. For people who stay alongside Turkey’s southern coast, taking an afternoon journey to a Greek island is simply par for the course.
The ferries with routes from Bodrum to Kos, Çeşme to Chios, Fethiye to Rhodes and Ayvalık to Lesbos are all exceedingly short, prepared and extraordinarily pleasant. Most ferries, if now no longer all, have offerings that go away withinside the morning and go back the equal afternoon, creating a short day journey to Greece each viable and fun.
While the fast time span of 4 to 6 hours among the boats’ arrival and departures does now no longer permit for an intensive discovery of the islands, it’s far definitely sufficient time to get lunch, wander across the port vicinity of every metropolis and perform a little shopping. Of course, you may live at any of those locations in a single day and clearly go back at the day of your deciding on.
After a short hiatus in offerings, fortuitously for us expats down south and all people else that fancies a short jaunt to Greece, ferry offerings among Turkey and Greece have formally resumed. Hopefully, we are able to now count on multiplied vacation spot alternatives and days journeys are provided withinside the months to come.
Fethiye to Rhodes
The first ferry from Turkey to Greece seems to be a voyage that activate on Saturday, Feb. 26. While it become scheduled for the day prior, climate situations necessitated a put off of 1 day. Keep in thoughts that in the low season months, ferries have to cancel offerings while the climate situations do now no longer gift secure passage. However, as withinside the case with remaining weekend’s voyage, the ferry carrier is typically quick rescheduled to the nearest day the hurricane watch will permit.
Nonetheless, the hour and forty five-minute catamaran voyage is scheduled to sail from Fethiye to Rhodes each Friday and Sunday departing at 8:30 a.m. for Rhodes after which leaving to Fethiye at five:30 p.m. The fee for the voyage is 50 euros ($56) for a go back journey at the equal day, 60 euros for a go back journey on special days and forty five euros for a one-manner price price tag. The journey organization arranging the journeys from Fethiye is Tilos Travel and they may additionally be servicing the path from Kuşadası to Samos beginning toward the quit of March. While the Fethiye to Rhodes journey is actually one of the longest, at almost -hours period every manner, the ferry experience from Kuşadası to Samos is plenty greater digestible at simply forty minutes.
At the instant the Fethiye to Rhodes journey is the best path presently operating. However, come the quit of March and into April, many greater extra offerings are scheduled to function among Turkey and the Greek isles. That said, Rhodes is the biggest of the Dodecanese islands and is nicely really well worth spending some days exploring.
Çeşme to Chios
On March 1, the path from Çeşme to the North Aegean island of Chios will resume with vehicle-transporting ferries starting off at 2 p.m. from Çeşme with a go back carrier leaving Chios at five p.m. The path takes simply 1/2 of an hour and can be provided on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On the weekends, there can be even greater offerings with a ferry departing Çeşme on Fridays, beginning March five, at 7:30 p.m., and at 10 a.m. and five p.m. on Saturdays.
Ayvalık to Lesbos
One of my non-public favored islands to go to from Turkey must be the North Aegean island of Lesbos, a good way to be on hand through car-transporting ferries from Ayvalik. The ferry lands in Mytilene, and the exceptional island gives many areas and seashores steeped in records and herbal splendor to explore. It can also additionally simply be really well worth your even as to pay a go to, in particular as ferry offerings are deliberate to be resumed in the subsequent weeks. Serviced through Turyol, the journey takes an hour-and-a-1/2 of however is nicely really well worth it, so test out their internet site for the soon-to-be-decided time table of ferries among Ayvalık and Lesbos.
In April, offerings among Bodrum and the neighboring Dodecanese island of Kos will resume, even though the times and timing of the routes haven’t begun to be decided. Speaking with Bodrum Feribot, I become advised that it’s far possibly the 20-minute voyage can be serviced through catamaran in preference to through ferryboat for the time being. While the ferry boat experience from Bodrum to Kos takes about forty five minutes, it does permit for the choice of boarding with a car.
Things to consider…
While withinside the beyond there had been durations wherein Turks have been allowed to go to the Greek islands on day journeys, in the meanwhile a Schengen Visa is needed for Turks to set foot on Greek soil. There also are pandemic precautions in place, so it’s far vital to be aware about the necessities earlier than boarding, which at the prevailing consist of filing a COVID PDF shape and a vaccination certificate. The journey organization you buy a price price tag from can help in each acquiring visas and imparting updates at the contemporary pandemic measures in regard to maritime journey.
It is forbidden to deliver dairy or meat merchandise into Turkey and such objects can be confiscated at customs. Each passenger is permitted to herald one bottle of difficult alcohol and one bottle with decrease alcohol content material including wine. Products including those also can be bought from duty-loose shops, that are open at the Greek port side.