Hey Mike - so you got married back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth too??

The similarities in our trips is really getting wild!(insert twilight zone music here)

Weadles, I cannot thank you enough for sharing your expeience and thoughts regarding the south coast of Turkey. Although I am sure parts of it could be nice, I am really excited to add a visit to Greece in place of it.

I already booked flights on Aegean Air last night per brotherleeloves great advice and was amazed at the price - Santorini to Athens 25 euro each and Athens to Frankfurt 59 euro each, that is all in!

Now I just have do decide for sure what other island I can (fairly) easily get to from the Kusadasi area, and one that will also allow me to get to Santorini without swimming there.

I am going to write to Sky Express (another great Brotherleelove suggestion!)to see what the May schedule for 08 might be. Even if it is a slight hassle to get to Marmaris for the ferry to Rhodes ( only day it seems to work for us) it will make up for it if there is a direct flight from Rhodes to Santorini.

If I were to do Rhodes and Santorini for 6 nights how should I split it up? 3/3? 4/2? and which Island would be 4?

bkmk

Happy Cheesehead,

I would split Rhodes and Santorini 3/3, since the two islands are completely different from each other, and have so much to offer. In Rhodes, unless you don't mind being a bit isolated, I'd recommend staying near the old town instead of in Lindos. I don't know what your budget is, but there are one or two small boutique hotels inside the walls, as well as the Rhodes Hotel and Suites just outside. None of these obviously are on the beach if that's imp to you, but from the old town, you can walk to the public beach and pay for a chair etc for a couple of hours.

On another note, while the Sky Express option sounds great, you should know that those planes are ( or were two years ago) really small and as I remember, propeller-driven. Not my favorite thing in the world, but maybe you're OK with that.

I see that Brotherleelove2004 suggested Anker Travel. We used one of their agents, Ceyda Genc, to help with our arrangements, and she was fabulous. The agency is based in Kusadisi, so I bet she'd be able to help with your question about getting to Samos. Her e-mail is: [email protected]

Cheese,

I've been to Santorini and Crete but not to Rhodes. Regarding your question of how long to stay on the two islands, from what I've read Rhodes is probably a reasonable substitute for Crete.

Using that as background to my answer, I would probably choose to stay in Santorini 2 full days not including the time to get there. I would stay 4 days in Rhodes including the time to get there.

I think Rhodes probably merits more time than Santorini simply because it's so much larger. I would use geographic size as the basis of my decision unless there was something in particular about Santorini that compels you to stay longer, such as maybe that you're an anthropologist whose specialty is the impact of the caldera on island culture.

<i>those planes are ( or were two years ago) really small and as I remember, propeller-driven.</i>

You're probably assuming the propellers are powered by gasoline. At the price Cheese mentioned, I'd be happy to fly them if the props are powered by rubberbands. :(

MikeBuckley,

Thanks for the laugh!

Happy Cheesehead: Re: Getting to Rhodes from Cappadocia. Probably the best bet is to ask a Turkish travel agent, but there is an airport about half an hour from Marmaris. I think it's called Dalman (spelling??). From Marmaris, you could catch the ferry to Rhodes.

The name of the city with an airport near Marmaris is Dalaman. SunExpress flies there but according to their website you must connect in Anatalya. If I were to fly to Anatalya, I think I would simply drive from there to Marmaris rather than take another flight to Dalaman.

The March-October schedule of 2007 for Turkish Airlines is at http://www.thy.com/en-INT/online_ser...ime_table.aspx

I assume the schedule will be similar for 2008.

Cheese,

You asked awhile ago about how I will get from Cappadocia to Rhodes. I think I've finally figured it out, assuming the Turkish Airline schedule remains about the same next year as this year.

Fly from Kayseri to Izmir. I'll probably take the morning flight that connects through Istanbul, which takes 3 hours. The 1 3/4 hour non-stop flight occurs only on certain days and none work well with my itinerary. The connection only takes barely more than an hour longer, which explains why there are so few non-stop flights.

Once in Izmir, I'll probably rent a car and spend a couple of days driving around exploring ruins on our way to Marmaris, which apparently is only 175 miles away. Visiting the ruins will make my wife so happy that she might put up with me for another 25 years.

We'll take the hydrofoil to Rhodes either from Bodrum or Marmaris, depending on how our schedule works out.

Another less likely possibility is staying in the Izmir area while exploring the ruins and flying from there to Antalya. We would drive from there to Bodrum or Marmaris.

MikeBuckley,

If it helps at all, we just drove the coast from Izmir to Marmaris. The drive takes about six hours ( Izmir-Kusadisi is about 2, Kusadisi to Bodrum is roughly 2.5, and Bodrum to Marmaris is also about 2.5).

Your time frames are a HUGE help, Weadles. I hope I can convince you to provide details of your drive, such as things that were great, things that were not so great, etc.!

Oh yikes, I am getting behind in responding to all the fab info in this thread.

I wrote to Sky Express and they sent me the schedule for next May, it is basically the same as what they have have on the site right now, so it appears there are daily flights from Rhodes to Santorini. That saves a ton of time! It is more expensive than the Aegean Air flights thru Athens (even broken into two, cheaper segments) but on vacation, to me, efficiently planning travel time is super important. I am so tickled with my Aegean Air prices that I have no trouble paying a little more for that straight flight. I think I can handle one prop segment (rubberbands and all) - we have to take them in Wisconsin fairly regularly.

I am still going to seriously think about my &quot;other&quot; island besides Santorini. Maybe I should pick an island that cruise ships do not stop at?? Rhodes seems like it would be nice, but maybe too touristy in conjuction with Santorini? Of course the obvious issue with smaller islands is the transportation issue.

Weadles, my husband and I were figuring we could get from Ephesus to Marmaris in three hours. Guess you blew that out of the water!

Anker Travel also wrote back regarding ferries and said there was only one morning ferry from Marmaris to Rhodes at that point in May. Maybe more companies take that route that they do not represent? I see other websites showing one at 18:00 - that would work out so much better for me!

Mike - amazing that the flight from Keysari to Izmir thru Athens is only slightly longer. I am glad to know it - I won't let the direct flight control my schedule. I myself would much rather leave from Bodrum if at all possible, and if we fly to Izmir thru Athens it might work better. Your transportation plan makes a lot of sense.

Gosh, we are getting so much planned so quick! What are we going to do for the next 9.5 months :)

Happy Cheesehead:

Anker Travel doesn't represent certain ferry companies. They simply let you know what's available on the current ferry/hydrofoil schedules. Those schedules are not really set until the spring. Last spring, there was only one ferry a day to Rhodes from Marmaris. The two ferry a day service didn't begin until early summer. From Bodrum, there was summer service to Kos, with a connection to Rhodes, but I don't remember the length of the layover.

The reason that the drive from Ephesus to Marmaris takes so long is because a good stretch of the road is through windy mountain terrain. It's quite beautiful, but it makes for slow driving.

Re: Rhodes. I've visited twice, and never been bothered by the cruise ship crowds. The old town is very busy during the day and early evening hours, but even that is very manageable. Also, Rhodes is so large that even if there were crowds in town, you could easily get into a water taxi on the harbor and escape to Lindos for the day. Anyway, we really love Rhodes, and I'd highly recommend it if it fits into your itinerary.

Cheese,

<i>Mike - amazing that the flight from Keysari to Izmir thru Athens is only slightly longer.</i>

Be aware that that's true only on one flight, which occurs in the middle of the day. Though I'd prefer a flight at the beginning or end of the day, that particular one has the shortest schedule and occurs every day. Some flights take 4 hours and others take 5 hours, depending on the layover in Istanbul. Remember that I've only got this year's schedule, not next year's schedule.

Now that I've refined my schedule more -- thanks to the great information provided by Weadles -- I'm currently planning on arriving at Izmir on a Thursday at 2:00pm. We'll poke around minor ruins on the way to Bodrum, where we'll stay Friday night. We'll take the ferry from Bodrum to Rhodes Saturday morning.

OK, so....

1. if the only ferry from Marmaris to Rhodes at that time of year is in the morning, and

2. there is no way I will make a Friday a.m Marmaris departure (since we arrive Izmir Thursday eve and need Fri am to see Ephesus) and if

3. there IS a Sat a.m. departure from Bodrum I have no reason to go all the way to Marmaris, then

4. I will be sitting next to MikeBuckley on that Sat a.m. Bodrum&gt;Rhodes ferry drinking coffee and comparing notes :)

Weadles, I thank you again for all the wonderful first hand info you have provided to help me (And Mike!) out.

Happy Cheesehead:

Wouldn't that be funny if you and MikeBuckley really DID meet on the very same ferry to Rhodes?!

Anyway, definitely check in with Anker Travel or any of the reputable travel agencies listed on Turkeytravelplanner.com about the ferry service from Bodrum. For all I know it may change next year. And certainly if there's any way to avoid an overnight stay in the most uninteresting place we visited in our 2-week Turkey stay, AKA Marmaris, do so!

Just had another thought... I wonder if there are possibly flights from Izmir to Rhodes? If so, you could visit Ephesus, overnight in Sirince if necessary, then backtrack to the airport, which is only about 1 hour away.

Cheese,

At the risk of losing the opportunity to chat with you on the Saturday morning ferry from Bodrum, you might want to check out the following alternative:

1) return to Izmir after visiting Ephesus and fly to Antalya.
2) Drive to Marmaris and take the ferry to Rhodes.

Weadles,

<i>Wouldn't that be funny if you and MikeBuckley really DID meet on the very same ferry to Rhodes?!</i>

Actually, and very seriously, I'm getting the definite impression that if we do meet on that ferry it will not be the first time we hook up. As an example, I'm trying (unsuccessfully so far) to figure out how I can arrange to take the Thursday evening flight from Kayseri to Izmir, the same flight Cheese will be on. We've already mentioned the possibility of taking a cooking class in Istanbul. And I haven't mentioned that I plan to stay in the same hotel in Cappadocia that she hopes to stay in.

Cheese and Weadles,

Now that the three of us know each other so well, please feel free to call me Mike. It's only at Fodor's that there is no space between my first and last name. :)

Another Friday possibility, Cheese:

Do Ephesus. Take the boat from Kusadasi to Samos. Fly from Samos to Rhodes.

Caveat: I have no idea if there is sufficient time, if there is an afternoon boat from Kusadasi to Samos, or if there is a flight from Samos to Rhodes.

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