Dean Christakos« Language notes from Turkey | Main | Reflections on July 4th »
April 18, 2006
Crossing the Border by Sea
This afternoon I departed from Turkey via Çeşme, having finally escaped from Izmir (getting to Çeşme from downtown Izmir is more difficult than you would think). I made it in time to catch the daily ferry to Chios and waved Turkey goodbye:
From the Çeşme, you can easily see Chios in the distance, as the island is only about 10km away:
After a relatively short trip of 45 minutes (compared to a bunch of 6-12 hour bus rides that I took through Turkey), I arrived in Chios, checked through customs, and was on my way. This is actually the first time I've entered a new country by sea (correction 4/24/06) and been required to go through customs. (I grabbed a ferry between Corsica, France and Savona, Italy back in early March but since it was intra-EU, there was no passport control or stop at the customs house)
The island of Chios lays claim to being the birthplace of Homer. It is also where my grandmother was born and the place from which all of her family left from in order to move to the United States. This is the first time I've visited the island, and I'll be visiting a group of different spots of particular family significance.
Posted by Dean at April 18, 2006 4:30 PM
Comments
I've been catching up with your trip blog. Sounds amazing! Can't wait to hear more stories and see more pics when you get back.
If you wanna try entering another country by sea, take the ferry from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia. It's a lot of fun, esp. going over the swells in the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
-Bets
Posted by: Bets at April 19, 2006 12:30 PM
It's a lot of fun, esp. going over the swells in the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
Well, this gives me an opportunity to mention to my readers that Juan de Fuca was Greek. :)
Posted by: Constantine at April 19, 2006 2:17 PM