The Mersin, Turkey to Latakia (alternative spelling: Lattakia; in Turkish: Lazkiye) Syria international ferry will restart on 28 June for the 2007 summer season.
In 2006 the ferry cost USD 48 one way and USD 96 return and ran Mondays and Thursdays, departing Mersin at 9 AM and returning from Latakia at 2 PM. I will update this post when I hear the prices and schedule for this year.
Thank you Christel for the tip!
UPDATE: The 2007 ferry schedule is the same as 2006’s: departing Mersin at 9 AM on Mondays and Thursdays and returning from Latakia in the afternoon on the same day. The cost is $65 one-way and $130 return, more than 30% more expensive than last year. Merlat sell tickets: telephone +90-324-237 1668.
NOTE: some advice from Adam in comments:
…these ferries don’t seem terribly reliable … the one on Monday 13 August 2007 was cancelled altogether. Check and double check, if you’re thinking of using it!
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I’m in Alexandroupoli for a short visit from Istanbul. Last night I stayed in Hotel Erika, not a bad hotel although its free wifi access was not operating, much to my annoyance (I’m in an internet cafe at the moment).
This is my first ever time to Greece. From the little I have seen, it shares many similarities with Turkey, as expected.
Some of the differences between Turkey and Greece I have observed (not ‘facts’, but generalised perceptions) are:
– Greece is slightly more religious. Many of the Greek flag poles have crosses on top of them, there are many small shrines on the sides of the road and every second TV channel seems to feature a Greek Orthodox priest.
– There is much more pork! I’ve stocked up on bacon, ham and salami.
– There seems less differences between men and women in Greece
– The average standard of living is higher here
– The alphabet and language are different – It is difficult not being able to understand and express myself as much here, although on the whole more people speak English.
– Prices are on the whole about 1&1/2 times to double those in Turkey
– The cafe/bar culture is much bigger
– Based on a tiny sample size of one, I think the Greek ‘yiros‘ is better than the Turkish ‘doner‘
I hope to visit Greece again in the future, see more of the sights and try more food and drinks.
Today I will go back across the border and eventually arrive to Ankara tomorrow in preparation for a fair on Thursday.
ADDENDUM: I forgot to mention a few things when I originally wrote this post:
– I found out the reason why the Greek yiros tasted better than the Turkish doner: the yiros was made of pork! When I found this out from the woman at the restaurant I bought a second yiros along with the pork sausage I originally intended on buying.
– Alcohol in the Greece is much, much cheaper than in Turkey. The supermarket prices are only slightly above those in the duty-free shops at the border.
– Easter was coming up in Greece. This may have been why there were so many Greek Orthodox priests on television. I did buy some Easter eggs to bring back to Turkey.
– In Greece there were outdoor cigarette advertisements. These are banned in Turkey.
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Sorry about lack of updates. I will report on my Oz-Dubai-Muscat trip sometime.
In the meantime, tomorrow afternoon there will be a total solar eclıpse in Turkey. Check Google News for all the reports.
Located in central Turkey, midway between Mersin and Ankara, Cappadocia (Kapadokya in Turkish) is an amazing area. In my opinion, it is one of the two absolute must-sees in Turkey, the other being Istanbul.
Although I have visited Cappadocia three times, I have never seen the sandstone chimneys, formations and caves under snow. Recently, friend C. Gizem sent me the following photo collage. The photos are of the town of Goreme under snow. One day I will witness this first hand…one day…
Prime Minister
Yesterday afternoon Zeynep was kind enough pick up Fabs and Isa from Cetinkaya (after some confusion) and myself from Magda’s place. As eluded to previously, we were going to the movies at CinemaxX, M1. On the way we were delayed at traffic lights for 10 minutes waiting for the Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan’s police flanked procession. On Sunday Erdogan was in Mersin and Adana at rallies promoting his Ak Parti’s local election campaign.
I have never before seen cars in Turkey stay still when the traffic lights were green!
People were not waiting out of respect for the Prime Minister either – several drivers tooted their horns impatiently.
Mona Lisa Smile
The movie we saw was Mona Lisa Smile, starring Julia Roberts as a teacher at a stuffy woman’s college, Wellesley during the early 1950’s. She came to the college with many ideas too radical for the traditional college that raised its students to be fine wives and mothers.
I enjoyed the movie and can recommend it. The huge screen (much larger than the cinema in Mersin) was an added bonus.
Issues Raised by the Movie
The film raised many issues with me, including:
-The role of women, men and marriage in society.
-The hypocrisy of the film setting (and earlier times in general) when everybody was publicly perfect with their lives and relationships, although privately misbehaving and cheating like people always have done and will do. The honour of the family was more important than acknowledging problems and doing something to solve them.
-The complexity of modern life with its lifestyle choices.
Local Parallels
Although, rich, upper class, 1950’s America and poor, current day Turkey seem as far apart as possible, I found interesting parallels, particularly with more conservative Turkey. In both these settings, tradition is very important and new thinking and ideas are not encouraged. Women face great pressure to marry the correct man and have his children.
Osca…
Coincidentally, this morning I found out an allegedly important awards ceremony sharing the same name as Oscar the Grouch had just occured. Next subject…
After the movies, Zeynep, Fabs and Isa left while I waited for my work mates to exit their movie Neredesin Firuze?, a Turkish movie. I sat at a table opposite the entrance to cinema 4 (Mona Lisa Smile was in 3). Out came Ahmet, Sevil, Nil, Nur, Asli, Sebi, Buket, Serkan and Iklim. For dinner we ate Iskender Kebap at ‘Kukla Kebap’, part of the M1 shopping centre food court.
Lost Telephone
After dinner I realised I had lost my telephone. After searching various places and asking different staff I had given up hope of finding it. Whoever had the phone turned it off and that was one of my main concerns. I thought the only motive for turning a found phone off was theft. However, as a last gasp idea, Serkan and I walked back to the very end of the cinema near screen 3 (where I had been sitting) and asked the woman at the food and drink counter. BINGO! 🙂
Someone had passed the phone in! To assure her it was mine, she asked for the pincode when she turned the phone on. The pincode worked and I had my phone back!!!!
Noodles
Whilst I was looking for my phone, Sevil and Nur were shopping in the massive Tepe hypermarket. Included in their purchases was a 350 gm packet of Chinese egg noodles – this was good news for Ahmet and I, exotic food lovers. We went back and he bought 8 packets and I, 4. At 1,495,000 TL they were quite cheap, too. Imported foods in Turkey tend to be either unavailable or very expensive. Import duties and low volumes caused by unadventuress local eating habits are to blame. Now for the stir frys and other Asian noodle dishes!
Overall, it was a memorable day!
