A Bare Boat Holiday Cruising Turkey And Greece This page last updated on 04/02/2008 Dear Homo Sapiens, There is no need to continue reading this page.
What follows is intended for search engine robots and spiders and not necessarily for human beings.
Further information concerning holiday cruising in Turkey and Greece may be obtained by clicking on
the blue links immediately above. Thank You. You must be searching for a sailing yacht holiday
cruising Greece. Perhaps for an oak-framed, chestnut-hulled, yacht holiday cruising Turkey. Are you
considering a yacht charter cruising the eastern Mediterranean? Or a yacht charter holiday cruising
from Greek Aegean island to Greek Aegean island? Whichever or all of the above, how about holiday
cruising aboard a roomy charter yacht with accommodations for twelve. A yacht familiar with the west
coast of Turkey and neighboring Sporades and Dodecanese islands of Greece. A yacht such as Elifsu II
cruising in the wakes of Ottoman sea captains, reis. Salih Reis, for example, parted Aegean
waves from 1510 to 1512 and from 1520 to 1526 and again in 1539. Yes, have a holiday cruise tracing
500 year-old wakes. That's right, have a family-and-friends holiday cruise aboard a crewed sailing
yacht exploring the crossroads of history. Have a holiday cruise aboard a charter yacht proceeding
leisurely from one historically intriguing locale to another, exploring Salih Reis' many tracks.
Salih was born an Orthodox Christian of Greek parents in about 1488 on Homer's Plain of Ilium
stretching south from Troy in what is now NW Turkey. Bordered on the west by the Aegean and within
sight of Tenedos and Lesbos, Greek men of Ilium took naturally to the sea. By 1510 Salih was
skippering his own brigantine in lawful trade between the islands and the mainland. Perhaps inspired
by the Barbarossa brothers of Lesbos, he was soon able to trade his brigantine for a small galley
called a galliot and to trade further afield. Taking yet another page from the Barbarossas he quickly
graduated from lawful trade to brigandage, preying on Latin Christians with which the Aegean was then
amply populated at the top. For three hundred years following |
the 1204 Latin sack of Constantinople and expropriation of the Aegean,
Latins had been undying enemies of resident Orthodox Christians. During the Spring and early Summer
of 1512 Salih Reis preyed on a line of Latin-held Cyclades islands including Mykonos, Paros, Sifnos,
and Milos while en route to the island of Djerba in Libya, Homer's island of lotus-eaters. There he
allied himself with Aruj Barbarossa and commenced raiding sea lanes along the coast and among the
islands of Spain as well as between Spain and the Spanish Kingdom of Naples and Sicily. He also
participated with the Barbarossa brothers in the siege of Algerian Bougie. Four years later Aruj
Barbarossa was to become Bey of Algiers, but in 1518 was to lose his life in combat with the Spanish.
For the next two years Salih Reis assisted Khizr Barbarossa in consolidating his brother's African
dominion and maritime affairs after which he was for a decade to consolidate his own family affairs,
disappearing from the pages of history. Returning to Barbarossa service in 1529, there was a lot more
to the history of Salih Reis; he was to distinguish himself in battle off Formentera that same year,
and again in fleet action off Levkas nine years later. He was also to raise a son, Mehmet, later Bey
of Negroponte, who was to become an Ottoman commander at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto. Fascinating
stuff, history at the crossroads of history. Charter a crewed yacht to cruise in Salih's wake under
an Aegean sun reflecting on an azure sea. Starting in Bodrum. Or Gocek. Are you searching for Gocek
in Turkey? Well, Gocek may be found in the NW corner of that large gulf thirty miles ENE of Rhodes
Town, 15 road miles from the international airport at Dalaman. There or elsewhere we can put you
aboard a crewed sailing yacht for a holiday to remember. We can put you aboard a holiday cruising
yacht able to show you Alexander's Path down the coast of Lycia, able to show you Cleopatra's Route
up the coast of Turkey and among Greek islands, and able to show you where these paths and
routes crossed Salih's wakes. Elifsu II, a superb crewed yacht available for charter in Turkey.
Contact Blue Cruise Yacht Charters today at