Schooner-rigged Samarkand was built for exploring
Turkey and Greece.
Another 4-Cabin Luxury Yacht Exploring Turkey And Greece A 5-Cabin Luxury Yacht Exploring Turkey And Greece A Sister Yacht Exploring Turkey And Greece This page last updated on 03/01/2012 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 luxury yachts exploring Turkey and Greece may be obtained by
clicking on the blue links immediately above. Thank You. You may be searching for a charter
yacht exploring Turkey and Greece. You may similarly be thinking of a luxury yacht charter in the
Aegean or eastern Mediterranean. |
Or you may
be searching for Samarkand, Alexander's 4th century BC pit stop and Timur's 14th century AD Silk Road
capital. If the former, that is, should you be searching for a charter yacht exploring Aegean Greece and
Mediterranean Turkey, you might consider the new 87-foot motor-sailing yacht Samarkand, a luxury charter
sailing yacht cruising Turkey and Greece, cruising one of the world's last remaining tree-fringed coasts,
cruising from remote Greek Aegean island to remote Greek Aegean island. Just as in the 4th century BC did
the 120-foot triremes accompanying Alexander in his march down the same coast, and just as from the
fourteenth century AD did the 135-foot red-hulled, black-prowed, galleys of the Hospitaller Knights of
Rhodes. Also known as the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, the Hospitallers had originally sailed up
the Mediterranean coast of Turkey in 1306 having been evicted from the Middle East in 1291 and having
found an interim haven in Cyprus unsatisfactory. They were searching for a new home and after minimal
resistance these Latin knights took the island of Rhodes from the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire. Their
subsequent relocation beyond the capital city's walls of the schismatic local population added to a
pre-existing Latin-Orthodox antipathy continuing to this day and prominent 15 years ago in the Serbo-Croatian
War. Conscription of local Greeks as galley oarsmen didn't help, either. Not satisfied with one island the
Hospitallers also took neighboring Khalki, Tilos, Simi, Kos, Kalymnos, Leros, and an island off Bodrum
they called Arco known today as Kara Ada, renaming most of the others as well. Then in 1344 Grand Master
Helion de Villeneuve with a pair of Knights galleys sped up the Aegean coast and with Papal and Genovese
assistance wrested ancient Smyrna from Aydin Turks, thus establishing a Hospitaller presence on mainland
Anatolia. They were still there when Timur (at left) arrived from Samarkand in December 1402, but were
dead and gone a month later. Timur or Tamerlane had earlier in 1402 been warned by Ottoman Sultan Bayezit
I of catastrophic consequences should he set foot on territory deemed Ottoman. Which he promptly did,
marching the length of Anatolia leaving death, destruction, and mountains of skulls in his wake. Known as
Yildirim, or Thunderbolt, Beyazit proved a flash in the pan. His defeat at Ankara and
subsequent execution began an 11-year period in Ottoman history known as the interregnum during which the
Ottoman state remained dysfunctional while Timur or his son Shahrukh ruled in Anatolia. Timur returned to
Samarkand in 1403 and to death and entombment (photo at right) in 1406 . Again searching for a
foothold
on the mainland the Hospitallers took
advantage of the interregnum in 1407 to wrest Halikarnassus (Bodrum) from its local Mentese rulers and to
build there the massive castle of St. Peter so well preserved today. They remained in Bodrum, which they
called Petronium, for the next 115 years. As for Alexander, his chroniclers allow that it was at Samarkand
he began to drink too much. Interestingly, it was at Samarkand that Shahrukh began to drink too much. And
it was at Samarkand Alexander began to polish off suspect lieutenants. Shahrukh, too. One small chapter at
the crossroads of history. Come explore the crossroads yourself, breathe the aroma of pine-shrouded coves
dotting Turkey's Turquoise Coast, bask under a warm Aegean sun after swimming in its azure sea, join in the
search for a perfect tzatziki, climb to an ancient acropolis re-fortified by these same Knights, enjoy the
luxury of a catered yacht charter in Greece and Turkey. Surely this is the holiday for which you search.
Rare comfort under sun at the crossroads of history. Try it! You'll like it! Samarkand, a superb crewed
yacht charter exploring Greece and Turkey. Contact Blue Cruise Yacht Charters today at