skyluna

Hi everyone,
Glad to find this forum with such active experts on Greece + Turkey.

I'm getting married in the spring of 2010, but we decided to postpone our honeymoon to three weeks from August 7 through August 28, 2010 because a good friend is getting married in Istanbul on August 21st. With these following three dates as my boundary, here's our draft itinerary:

August 7 Saturday Depart from US
August 8-10 Explore Athens and vicinities
August 11-17 Fly or Ferry to the Greek Isles (Santorini, etc?), ferry to Rhodes (?) TBD
August 17-18 Make our way from Turkish Port (TBD) to Istanbul
August 18-20 Explore Istanbul and vicinities
August 21st Friend's Wedding in Istanbul
August 22-26 Hide out at a secluded, not crazy (as in, not a whole lot of college kids partying) beach town in Turkey--rent out a small hut or villa if possible, visit ruins, go on hikes
August 27-28 Come back to Istanbul, return to US

My specific questions are:
1) What Greek Isle itinerary would you recommend? Santorini (Oia) seems iconic and a can't miss destination, but I'm pretty open to others. We're interested in historically significant places, and of course, beautiful views, but logistical convenience is also important
2) What Turkish port is a good point of entry to travel back up to Istanbul?
3) Related to #2, what mode of transportation would you recommend to go to Istanbul? Train? Bus? Fly?
4) After my friend's wedding we want to be the typical honeymooners and hide out somewhere beautiful and somewhat secluded--we're of course open to the Mediterranean, but Black Sea would be an option, too.

Thank you all in advance for your help! We are so excited about this trip.
Sharon

travelerjan

Sharon, you have a wonderful trip ahead, with of course some challenges! Thank you for your exactitude regarding dates! It is so helpful! ANother helpful thing is if you can figure out roughly what your nightly budget for lodging would be... of course it differs widely fdrom place to place Santorini/Mykonos being most costly in Hi Season. Here are some thoughts:

ATHENS -- Usually we 'regulars' say zoom off immediately, but since you are not coming back to Athens, good to have 2 days there; our Greek friends reveal that Athens in August is (1) less crowds, because Greeks are away, and (2) not as hot as July!! Also, this enables you to take a domestic flight Early on Day 3, to get a less-expensive ticket to an island.

CYCLADIC ISLANDS ETC -- the 2 islands you mentioned are So famous and (alas) in AUgust will be Absolute Zoos!!! You don't want to go home and tell all your friends you didn't see Santorini, yet it can feel like Times Square, PLUS at same time the hotel costs will be horrific. I have an idea of a win-win alternative: Early on Aug 11, fly or Ferry to PAROS.

PAROS -- No flights listed yet (because Mar 1 the Paros route will be allotted either to Olympic Air or Aegean), but there will definitely be a morning flight. An easy enjoyable alternative also is the 7:25 Blue Star Ferry, arriving Paros 11:45 -- get a "Reserved Economy" seat... it means you may sunbathe on deck as long as you like, but if you want to rest/snooze inside, u have a numbered, reserved lean-back comfy seat guaranteed. In Paros stay a few days (3?) at a wonderful hotel that honeymooners love, lie PEtres -- check Trip Advisor reviews, all raves: http://www.petres.gr/ ... quiet yet accessible, so important in the busy season. And here's the PLUS: there are 2 companies offering a Day Excursion to SANTORINI (I favor the one using the larger boat, M/V Alexander. Leaves Paros 8 am, back about 6:45. On Santorini, bus transport AND guide to both Oia & Thera, lots of time for sights, photo-taking, nice lunch, back to peaceful Paros for Sunset, all for about 55€.

ISLAND-HOP to TURKEY? - some options --
(1) Via SAMOS -- There's a nightly ferry from Paros/Naxos at 22:40 (10:40) to SAMOS, arriving 4 am (eeks! but you can nap on the beach!). Stay a day or two, then take a ferry of 45 mins - 1 hr either to Bodrun OR (if you want to See Ephesus), to Kusadasi. To reach Istanbul, you have flight/bus choices.
(2) Via RHODES -- On Monday & Wednesdays, you can get a Blue Star Ferry from PAROS at 8 pm, and reach Rhodes next AM (get a compartment)
(3) Via RHODES #2 -- INstead of day-excursion, You can go to SANTORINI, spend 1 night there, and at midnight Tues-Thurs-Sunday u can get Blue Star I or II (brand-new vessels) and be in Rhodes 7:40 am next day.... After Rhodes, You can ferry to Marmaris Turkey ... not much there but shopping, but you can bus/plane to Istanbul.

To get around in Turkey, THE dynamite website for bus-plane-train-car is: http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/trans/index.html

Heimdall

Any chance you can delay your departure by about ten days? The period you have allocated for the Greek Islands Aug 11-17) is right around the Aug 15th Greek Assumption Day holiday, when the islands are maxed out. If you could start your honeymoon at your friend's wedding in Istanbul, then move on to the Greek Islands, finishing up in Athens, it will make a world of difference. The last week of August is one of my favorite times to visit the Greek Islands - still busy, but the madness of mid-August is over.

Paros is one of the busiest islands in all of Greece (apart from Mykonos) around Aug 15th, so it won't be any better than Santorini. Aegean Airlines won't win the contract for the Paros flights, BTW - they didn't even bid for it. ;-)

brotherleelove2004

For entering Turkey at Kusadasi so you can see Ephesus: Getting to Samos from Santorini just means taking a ferry to Paros or Naxos during the day or evening and waiting for the late-night ferry to Samos, which stops at Naxos around 11:30pm and at Paros an hour later. http://www.hellenicseaways.gr/npgres/english

In August there will be an overnight ferry 4 days/week from Santorini to Rhodes. Check http://www.bluestarferries.com/site/...?sel=624&loc=2 Be sure to select the correct date link.

From Rhodes you can take a local ferry to either Bodrum, Fethiye or Marmaris, and from one of these seaside towns you can take a bus or fly to Istanbul. Domestic flyights are cheap in Turkey and a lot less time-consuming than a bus or train.

There's a sweet little seaside village near Bodrum called Gumusluk. I really enjoyed it there.

travelerjan

Heimdall is right.... I clean forgot about Assumption Day. He really knows what he's talking about!! That's exactly what to do. Disregard my entired previous post.

skyluna

Hi everyone,
Thank you so much for your great advice and for sharing your considerable expertise! Given your feedback about Assumption Day, but keeping in mind that we have a hard stop on the 27th of August (must be back for school), we actually revised our dates a week forward so that we're going to my friend's wedding as the last stop in our itinerary. So now our trip is July 30 to August 22, and we are extremely happy with this revised itinerary--but of course, we would welcome your thoughts!

July 30 Friday night depart from US
July 31-Aug 2 Explore Athens and vicinities
August 3-10 Fly or Ferry to the Greek Isles and explore
August 11 Ferry to Rhodes or Fethiye? (TBD)
August 11-17 Explore the Turquoise Coast, Lycian Way, etc.(TBD)
August 17-20 Explore Istanbul and vicinities
August 21 Friend's wedding
August 22 Depart Istanbul to US

I hope that by moving the week in Greek Isles a week early, that things would be less crazy. I'd love your feedback on what to do, where to stay in the Turquoise Coast--we'd love to rent out a small cabin or similar for a week and explore the coast, hiking and possibly taking a gulet cruise, etc..

Thank you!
Sharon

otherchelebi

Dear Skyluna, Re the Turkish leg:

Your lodging options, the seaside and the resorts are not like any others in the US or europe.

The Lycian way cannot be explored from one location.

There are major nature, romantic and historic sites scattered over too large an area to fit into a week or so and from one center.

The standard resorts and the closer and well known sites will be crowded with too many tourists. This includes the areas from which you can get gulet cruises. Also, unless you can afford a private charter, a gulet cruise has very little privacy.

Most of the historic sites are abandonned antique cities or parts of them. As such, they are usually away from the major highways and require either a tour organization or a rental car to reach. The few which can be reached by some sort of public transport will have too few scheduled trips and may be time consuming for you.

Hence, i strongly recommend that you rent a car, although the rates will be high in August and fuel is very expensive in Turkey.

To escape the crowds and the heat, consider a very romantic and exciting Western Black Sea trip, with two or three separate o/n locations.

Another possibility, which i heartily recommend is either Ortunc Hotel on Cunda island, off Ayvalik at the Norther Aegean, across from Lesvos, or the cheaper Lila Motel at Kucukkuyu, to the North of Ayvalik and again across from Lesvos.

Both these are stand alone small 7-15 room hotels with very nice grounds, beach, friendly staff and good food.

Both will be close to the ancient city of Pergamom. Lila is very close to Assos and Troy. From Lila, you can take hikes at the Kaz (goose) mountains, which are considered to be visited by ethereal or alien entities, and you can take a short boat trip to Bozcaada, one of the few Turkish islands and famous for its wines (Corvus wine). You can have day tours to some of the many tiny islands for swimming and picnics from Cunda and Ayvalik also.

We have been to both hotels and they are lovely for chilling out, relaxing and being cared for for reasonable cost (Ortunc may have upped prices because it became very popular with Cunda island becoming a haunt of the higher income Turkish intellectuals)

skyluna

Thanks otherchelebi for the feedback. As for the Turkish leg, we're pretty relaxed about our agenda. If we can find a *relatively* (aware that it is peak season) secluded, non-crazy spot to park ourselves for a week and lay out at the beach, that is perfectly fine by is. After all, it's our honeymoon!

Having said that, I'd love your opinions on the best "laze around for a week" spot along the Turquoise Coast.

Thanks as always!

otherchelebi

Am i to understand that, although you want a place to lay on the beach, you would prefer some activity in the evenings.

Most of the small hotels in the resort towns will be overcrowded an noisy. So what you want is a holiday village with large grounds to provide some vestige of privacy, but with a disco and animation and shows at night and some water sports facilities, possibly including half or full day boat excursions.

The holiday villages with the largest grounds are in the Beldibi- Goynuk - Kemer - Camyuva - Tekirova areas.

There is a Renaissance at Beldibi which received very good reviews (ask the DE Toady on Trip Advisor). Our favourite is Club Med Kemer. Palmiye Club Med is also very nice but in August there will be children there. Kiris World was also terrific some years ago but i do not know what it's like these days.

Another nice area for similar holiday villages is Fethiye. My daughter and husband will spend the first five days of their honeymoon at Letoonya in Fethiye. A more expensive location is Hillside Beach again at Fethiye.

Further North Cesme and Ilica areas will provide some possibilities for you, but we only know the Sheraton which is so so.

Heimdall

Hi skyluna,

Moving your dates a week forward will help. Many families take their holidays in August for the same reason as you - school holidays, so it will still be busy. Get your accommodation and flights booked as soon as possible, and you should be okay. Some of the ferry timetables won't be published until later in the spring, but http://www.bluestarferries.com/ is already available. Blue Star has a useful link between Santorini and Rhodes (4X/week), which might suit your itinerary.