Getting to Turkey

So, initially I thought I was going to have to take a 20 or so hour bus ride from Athens to Istanbul in order to get to Turkey. I was dreading that. Beyond the bus ride itself (I really have developed some strong feelings toward buses on this trip), I was lamenting the probability that I would not be able to visit a Greek island given my timetable for getting to Turkey.

However, as I failed to mention in my last post, my first full day in Athens, I headed up to the Pireaus Port to look into ferries to Turkey. They said there were none, but there are three Greek isles from which one can then ferry across to the Turkish coast. The three islands are: Lesbos, Samos and Chios.

Lesbos has recently become a mecca-esque destination for lesbian tourists (not exactly my cup of tea), Samos was an overnight and awefully long ferry ride with many stops along the way, and Chios (pronounced Hios) was a quick 6-hour hop across the Aegean...just right. And so, I decided to go to Hios.

The next day, I slept in (I started feeling a little under the weather and was up late the night before) and caught the metro to the port in time to buy my ticket and catch the 12:30 ferry to Chios.

The ferry was a lot of fun actually. And upon experiencing life on the deck without a reserved seat, I became hugely glad that I had opted for the shorter ferry ride. In Chios it didn't take long for me to realize to realize this wasn't a hot backpacker destination. No hostels on the entire (very large) island and no backpackers anywhere in sight. I found a 20 euro room in a nice hotel run by a New Zealander and then set off to get to know the area around the harbor.

It is actually a pretty charming little port. As hunger set in, I walked up along the beach away from town and after a couple kilometers, I found a nice looking beachview outdoor garden restaurant. I went in and sat alone in the sea of tables (Greeks don't start eating until around 9:30 or 10pm and this was around 8 or 8:30.

The meal that followed quickly landed itself in the top three of my trip. I had shrimp sauteed with onions, a greek salad on the side and homemade potato fries along with a litre of water and turkish delight for dessert (I didn't know it was Turkish Delight until I got to Turkey, however). Oh, and for 6 euros, it was one of my least expensive western European restaurant meals.

I had initially planned on spending a whole day on the island, but when I discovered that:
a) I was the only young person traveling on the island and had nobody to hang out with on said island;
b) Prices on the island were more than double the prices in Turkey, which was so close I could see the buildings on the opposite shore;
c) The beaches looked to be identical on both sides of this little stretch of water separating the continents; and
d) I could just as well sit alone for 1/3 the price on the far side of the water as the side I was on.

And so, the next morning at 8:30am, after only 14 hours or so hours on Chios, I boarded a little ferry bound for the Aegean Coast of Turkey.