What is Blue Cruise (Blue Voyage)?

Blue cruise is one of the most famous and unique attraction of a holiday in Turkey. It is also the least understood until you experience it. If you google “blue cruise” or “what is blue cruise?” the standard idea is renting a private yacht with captain and crew then cruising along the soutwestern coast of Turkey known as Turqoise Coast or Turkish Riviera. But this simple blue cruise advertisement type of definition miss the real meaning of the blue cruise.

What is blue cruise then? Blue cruise is simply a meditation. You basically cut your physical as well as the mental ties with the land. As your yacht sails away from the marina, your daily routine ceases to exist and a new, almost spiritual daily routine consumes you. This new parallel reality is a spiritual one: you are now in different existance and nothing outside this small boat matters or exists for you. This is an experience you cannot get from your ordinary cruise holiday on a large cruise ship.

In this sense, blue voyage, other translation of Turkish “mavi yolculuk”, is a better term than blue cruise to describe the experience.

The complete disconnection from your requirements and responsibilities and the freedom of absolutely doing nothing combines with beautiful and unhabited coves and clear blue waters as well as the mystical nights in the middle of the sea will bring you the most relaxing and refreshing holiday of your entire life.

This does not mean “action seekers” will be bored on a blue cruise. A typical blue cruise boat offers many activities today: from classical kayak tour, swimming and snorkeling to speed boats, jetskis and even bananas! You may also have an opportunity to hike on the land among ancient ruins littering the southwest coast of Turkey.

But the most mystical part of the blue cruise is the night. If you have not experienced it before, nights in the middle of the sea on a small yacht is a very unique experience.

So, as you may have understand from the above definition, blue cruise is probably the best that Turkey has to offer as a holiday destination. It is highly recommended if you are seeking a holiday experience where you can truely get lost.

Gulet

Gulet is “The Zen Temple” of the meditation called Blue Cruise. You can have a blue cruise experience on any type of private yacht but gulet, “The” sailing boat of blue cruise, is the type of boat which will truely give you blue cruise experience. This is the “boat” where all blue cruise experience has started.

Here we should also stop a little and give some background about the history of blue cruise: Yes, how did all this blue cruise experience has started?

A gulet on blue cruise along Southwestern coast of Turkey

The infamous beach resorts of Turkey were once far far away villages and sleepy fishing towns where nobody went. And then a court in Istanbul has  sentenced a writer named Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı to three-years’ exile in Bodrum. He loved the place so much so that  after serving the last part of his sentence in Istanbul, he returned and settled down in Bodrum where he lived for 25 years. He took the pen name of Halikarnas Balıkçısı (The Fisherman of Halicarnassus), name of the city in antiquity.

The Fisherman of Halicarnassus is the person who has brought the formerly sleepy fishing and sponge-diving town of Bodrum to the attention of the Turkish intelligentsia and their readers. This has led the formation of international tourist attraction the Turqoise Coast became today.

One of the activities Cevat Şakir enjoyed was taking his visiting friends to  tripon the sponge divers’ sailing boats, called gulets. These excursions became known as Blue Cruise (Mavi Yolculuk). He and his friends writers Azra Erhat ve Sabahattin Eyüboğlu has created the term. The first time blue cruise entered the Turkish literature was in 1957 with Azra Erat’s book with the same name.

Mavi Yolculuk by Azra Erhat

The original blue cruises were and many modern blue cruises are performed using gulets (Turkish word gulet comes from Italian word guletta which comes from French gouëlette or goélette meaning schooner).  If you will do one, try to have it on a gulet.

Modern gulets are of course not fishing boats. They are equipped with all the amenities a modern yacht can offer. Most gulets can carry eight to twelve passangers which makes a gulet cruise a very private experience. You can join tours with strangers or like many Turks do, you can rent an entire gulet with captain and crew for your group.

In practice, gulet is a full-service all inclusive hotel or a miniature cruise ship where every room offers fantastic sea view. This “hotel” moves from coves to coves, small harbours to small harbours and provides an intimate view of Turkey’s coast line which cannot be experienced with a cruise ship.

Blue Cruise Route in Turkey

Blue Voyage is offered along the Aegean and Mediterranean coastline. There are different routes including Bodrum, Gocek, Gokova, Knidos and Marmaris ports. A full Blue Cruise generally starts in Didim or Kuşadası, although tours may also depart from Bodrum or Marmaris. They usually terminate at the port of Antalya.

Blue Cruise Map – Source : www.chevvytours.com

Lake Abant Natural Park

One of the best getaway destination from Istanbul for a short break is Lake Abant Nature Park.  The lake and densly forested surroundings offer great natural beauty and is easy accessed by car.

Abant has two major hotels right next to the lake: Buyuk Abant and Taksim International Abant Palace. Buyuk Abant Hotel offers fantastic lake view from its rooms facing the lake and is especially a great place to stay when the lake is frozen and it is snowing. 45 of its 197 rooms offer lake view and they are quite in demand and more expensive than forest viewing rooms. Both Buyuk Abant Hotel and Taksim International Abant Palace offer indoor swimming pool which is a great place to swim in hot water while enjoying the snowy lake view.

If you plan to stay in Buyuk Abant Hotel try to book delux or lake view rooms on or above 3rd floor to get a clear view of the lake (lower level rooms have trees between lake view and them). This hotel is also very famous with its restaurant.

The room prices in these two Abant hotels are quite dependent on the season and the days of the weeks you are staying. Expect to pay double the weekday price during weekends. And book online where you usually find better prices than directly booking with the hotel. You can check the room prices in these hotels here: Buyuk abant Hotel and Abant Palace.

To enjoy Lake Abant, you do not need to stay right next to the lake. The 21 km road going to the lake from main Istanbul-Ankara motorway has many hotels and motels catering to all budgets. Actually, you can even go to Abant without staying there. There are many daily Abant tours from Istanbul.

If you have visited Abant before in winter/summer, try to visit it in summer/winter because it is quite a different experience in all four seasons. It is best to visit Abant during winter and it is probably one of the most romantic places in Turkey to visit.

Lake Abant Natural Park in winter. Every season offers different and fantastic natural beauty but it is still best to visit Abant in winter.

How to get to Lake Abant?

If you have your own transportation you can easyly access Lake Abant by car through a 21 km road leaving from the İstanbul-Ankara motorway O-4 E80 or the highway D.100 at the level of Mount Bolu. Lake Abant is three hours’ drive from Istanbul and Ankara.

Top 10 not-to-do in Istanbul

You will see a lot of "things to do in Istanbul" or "top 10 things to do in Istanbul" kind of lists everywhere. Here we are giving a counter list. It is easier to write a to-do list for Istanbul for travelers, but every city has its own culture and rhythm that some disappointments may happen while visiting the city. As a resident of Istanbul, it is my duty to warn people in advance, before they come to avoid do these things which anyone can easily do..

1) Do not take Metrobus at rush hour
Metropolitan Istanbul is a huge area and millions of people travel inside the city each morning and leave it in the evening to arrive their work or home. Tens of thousands take the metro-bus, a speed bus service which has it’s own lane on the motorway. It is a great option to pass through Bosphorus and commute from Asian side to European side or opposite, since it can effectively bypass the heavy bridge traffic. It’s way too far being kind at rush hour since you just leave yourself into the human stream and find yourself inside the bus. It’s mostly difficult, sometimes impossible to get off the bus when you get to your station.

Believe me, it is not a nice and comfortable experience. Just look at the photo below, you will see why.

Metro-bus and the rush hour crowd. Source - Istanbullies

2) Don’t expect drivers to stop for pedestrians
Istanbul is suprisingly safe for its size and chaos but the most dangerous aspect of it is still there to watch out : the traffic. Drivers in Istanbul, like the others in Turkey, would not stop because you’re about to cross the road. Stripes are useless, drivers are unfortunately ignorant about this. I hope this will change in near future (cross your fingers!). Even if it is green for you, check twice if there is a car still coming.

Are you thinking to use a bike in Istanbul? Just another not-to-do in Istanbul! (I do it regularly but if you don’t have time to get used to, just don’t do it)

3) Don’t buy souvenirs without bargain
What you've heard is true, Turkish people are so friendly and most of the time, they offer everything they have; except professional relations. I mean, if you’re in a shop, the owner will probably overcharge you because you’re a tourist. The same person, with the same reason, will help you to the end if you need help on the street. (Well, like you do in your hometown, be aware of forgery and bad behavior!)

First advice: Don’t buy souvenirs from the main tourist areas! But if you have to, do bargain! I’ll write another entry about how to bargain with Turkish people, but for a brief explanation, I can surely say that the price of many things is twice of the real price.

4) Don’t wear one layer clothe on season change periods
Weather of Istanbul is super unpredictable. This is especially true in spring and autumn, it can change from 10 degrees to 28 degrees during the day, it may rain, shine after and then a wind storm may begin. Worse, it may snow in Sultanahmed while it is quite shiny and warm in the Northern parts of Bosphorus (at the same time!)

It’s best to wear a t-shirt, then a sweatshirt, then a thin jacket and if you’re going to stay out at late night, it’s better to have a coat with you. Of course you can check weather forecast but you’ll thank me after you experience a day out in April.

5) Do not wear the colors of big football clubs
Istanbul is home to the biggest football clubs in Turkey and a minority but significant number of their supporters are hooligans and can be dangerous for people dressing the colors of other clubs. Since it is common for a hooligan mind to attack first and judge later, they may just attack you because of the colors you wear look like rival club's colors, long before realizing that you are just a tourist.

6) Do not fall into tourist scams.
When it comes to tourist scams, Istanbul can easily play to top 10 in the world. Some common scams are Blue Mosque scam "guides", taxi scams, overpricing, bar/club scams, accounts of bar/club scams, Lira/Euro scams and shoe brush scams. Here in Wikitravel Istanbul Travel Guide page, you can find an updated list of these scams as well as some establishments to stay away.

7) Don’t think that Istanbul is just Sultanahmet and Taksim
Even though old town of Istanbul is amazingly beautiful and Taksim area is full of fun, there are many districts of the city which has lots of attractions to see. Never skip Asian side, which has a more authentic lifestyle and a cool youth. Uskudar will offer you a historical atmosphere with a nice Bosphorus coast. If you want to experience a boat trip and a nature walk, don’t miss out Prince Islands.

8) Disrespect to Turkish Flag
Well, you probably know that disrespecting a countries flag in that country is quite a stupid idea, but in Turkey some "normal" behaviour for you can still be considered as disrespect such as wearing a flag as a part of your clothing.

9) Do not bother with Taxis
You will ofcourse need taxis a few times but try to minimize this. Other than overcharging problem and various scams, with the heavy traffic in Istanbul, this is a slow way of transportation. If you plan your commutes outside rush hour and use rail system (which now even connects Asia and European side) as well as buses and boats, you will probably go around faster.

10) Don't pay everything with 50 TL
Many Turkish shop owners and taxi drivers will love to keep extra change as "tip", if you pay them 50 TL for something worth 10 TL or a little more. Keep 10 TL, 5 TL and 20 TL notes in your pocket and pay with them, whenever possible (especially in the taxis).

Bosphorus Cruise – Full Bosphorus Cruise and Short Bosphorus Tour

One of the things you must do in Istanbul is to take a Bosphorus Cruise. This unique experience will let you see both Asian and European shores of Bosphorus and Istanbul’s magestic silhouette from a fantastic angle.

But which Bosphorus Cruise you should take? You will be flooded with many cruise operators in Istanbul. Most of these are private Bosphorus Cruises and they are usually disappointingly short, expensive tours on small boats. The best Bosphorus Cruises in Istanbul are those 2 tours operated by Istanbul’s Sehir Hatlari: 4 Seasons Bosphorus Tours.

Sehir Hatlari operates 2 Bosphorus Cruises: Full Bosphorus Cruise and Short Bosphorus Tour.

Full Bosphorus Cruise takes 6 hours. It starts from Eminonu Terminal ( immediately east of the Galata Bridge) and stops in Besiktas, Kanlica, Sariyer, Rumeli Kavagi and then reaches to Anadolu Kavagi which is at the northern entrance of Bosphorus to the Black Sea. The Istanbul liner (large conventional ferry boats unique to Istanbul) will stop here several hours before sailing back to Eminonu.

This tour is very popular among foreigners and locals so be there early for the queue. In the high season there are 3 departures per day. The cost of Full Bosphorus Cruise is 25 TL per person.

Here is Full Bosphorus Cruise Timetable. As we have written it is a long 6 hour tour but a very good one.

If you do not have time for the long one there is also a Short Bosphorus Tour. This is a 2 hours tour which also departs from Eminonu and after stopping at Ortakoy returns from Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. This tour basically covers southern Bosphorus, which hosts almost all of Istanbul’s famous historic artifacts.

Short Bosphorus Tour is 10 TL per person and here is the time table.

Below, you can see the Sehir Hatlari Bosphorus cruises on the map.

Istanbul Sehir Hatlari Bosphorus cruises map

If you cannot take these 2 tours there is a private company named TurYol which operates 1.5 hour Bosphorus Cruises which will cost 12 TL. This tours are more frequent and they return from Fatih Bridge. They are transportation only so no tour guide. If you would like to go for private Bosphorus tours, it is better to buy it as a part of a full-day Istanbul tour package.

There is also a night cruise in Bosphorus by Sehir Hatlari but this is a summer only cruise and only operates on Saturdays. Named Moonlight Cruise (Mehtap Gezisi) the boat departs from Bostanci and visits Kadıköy-Eminönü-Üsküdar-Beşiktaş-Rumeli Kavağı and stops over Anadolu Kavağı for 2 hours. Highly recommended if you can catch one because Bosphorus and Istanbul looks much different in the nights.

Best places for scuba diving in Turkey

Best places for skuba diving in Turkey are Bodrum (in Muğla) ,Kas (in Antalya), Dalaman  (in Muğla), Fethiye (in Muğla), Ayvalık (in Balıkesir).

If you enjoy scuba diving you can find beautiful underwater world in Kas ( in Turkish Kaş ).
Kaş which is a district of Antalya Province of Turkey. It is 168 km West of the city of Antalya.
You have to arrange boat trip for diving from a local diving club that you can find easily. These boats have all kinds of diving equipments such as diving suits and B.C. You can hire them on daily basis. You can also enjoy your lunch on boats that is included to trips.

In Kaş, there is a big pebble beach which faces the Greek Island – Kastellorizo, in Turkish :Meis .
On the right and left hand side there are two caves  in the sea. Both caves are not deep and can be entered from 7m to 9m. Divers can ascend in the caves which are both quite big. One of the caves is called “cold cave” because its always 14 degrees Celsius. Even when the water in the hot season is 30 degrees.

* Güvercin Ada, good for both experienced and beginners. You can make wreck and reef dive.

*Light House: There is an Ottoman Ship Wreck at 22m depth. Also a reef dive is possible in this area. Groupers are Kaş’s local fishes. The depth of dive is usually arround 18m.

*İnce Boğaz: It is at the side of the Peninsula. The other side is the biggest natural  Bay of Turkey, Bucak Bay. Carettas prefer this place. Flat rocks lays in the dive site 20m

*Stonehenge: It is an antique shaped stone dive max. 20m to 26m. You can also see caretta here.

*Hidayet Bay: There are two diving areas. One is great for training because it is quite shallow and the other is about 35m deep that 2 star divings can enjoy. You can see a lot of grouper fish and stingrays.

*Üçkaya: The top of the reef starts at 7 meters and goes all the way down to 35 meters and more. The best is 25 meters max. There is rich underwater life in this area.

*Panorama ,Işık Reef and Heybeli:  These three diving areas are very interesting but are quite far away. Divers usually go on to these sites on special request .

*Canyon: The Canyon is an amazing site to dive at. First, you are in a flat area which goes only 5m to 10m and then a sudden depth starts which resembles a canyon. It’s an impressive site to sea. There is a French cargo shipwreck at 25m and its propellers are at 40m. There are also caves and under rock areas which make the dive even more exciting.

*Flying fish : It is a reef, which starts at 5m and goes very deep. There is an Italian war plane with 3 propellers that crashed for unknown reasons during the Second World War and fell. The engine of the plane becomes visible at a depth of 40 meters, the other parts and the tail go down to the depths of 60 meters. Around the wreck there is still some unexploded ammunition. Except for the engine, the other parts of the plane lie under the sea complete, but of course time has done a lot of damage to the fuselage.