6 - Bozcaada

Bozcaada is famous for its wind, cold seas, barren landscape and wineries. The town center is pretty cute and most people experience a love-or-hate affair with this lonely island. As we approached the island, we navigated towards a beach on the southern part. Yet swimming and enjoying a beach would not be possible ! There was a quite strong wind around 25 knots and neither my wife nor our infant baby would enjoy swimming in cold waters with the strong wind sweeping sand all over the beach. So we headed towards the harbour.

We spent two nights on this island. First was nice and the second was not. First was Friday and second, Saturday. My guess is that on the weekend different kind of people come to the island, these are less seasoned and less refined. All over the world we have these 'new tourists'. They are not travelers, adventurers, voyagers or venturers but only people visiting new places solely because they have the means to do so. They radiate a negativity as their response to a beautiful object/social scene is not to embrace it but a passive rejection or a rude reflection, maybe in an attempt to maintain the balances in their less developed inner worlds. They also live by popular values designed to either oversatiate through visual imagery or to inflate egos by materialistic measures, all an attempt to induce the individual to spend money 'to be someone/something'. I am not a sociologist so it is beyond me to establish urbanification theories. I just do not enjoy people who lack grace. Also I am upset that money is becoming the standart upon which self-worth is measured.

Anyway, to summarize Bozcaada we saw people with beautiful smiles on one night and the opposite on the other. If you intend to visit do so not on Saturdays. And a warning about the restaurants. There are two types here following two different philosophies. The first group are next or close to the shore and will see you as a one-time-only customer and thus they will overcharge. You will get so-so food and service but will pay a lot. The second group is the long-term thinking owners who wish to offer you a pleasent experience at a reasonable price so that you will visit again. The second group has established a business association that I can not recall the name.

During our time in Bozcaada we had non-stop 25 knots wind. This made us lose our desire to go to a beach and we were just spending time around. Next morning we left this island and headed straight south, 180 degrees towards Babakale. If you ever have the chance I would strongly recommend you to drive south from Çanakkale to İzmir to Bodrum. The scenery is wonderful plus there are lots of ancient cities including Ephesus and the Trojan horse. All along the Çanakkale shore there is thermal water. Sometimes it just floats away next to the road. People are very helpful too. Once I stopped at a cafe and asked for hot water for my thermos and when I wanted to pay for it the owner was offended. They see others as guests. 

Here are some photographs :

Bozcaada Harbour

Some cool guy who lives here, afloat with his (lucky) dog.

Just a cute detail.

Nice to walk among the narrow streets

We left Bozcaada the next morning and as we cruised down south towards the Babakale headland at 15 knots, we enjoyed some nice scenery then turned east/northeast and headed towards Assos. This lovely town looked quite attractive from the sea and we wished to stay. But it has a very small harbor where we could not fit in so we anchored 1 nm east of Assos and I immediately jumped into the water from the flybridge level before the engines were shut down. The feeling was so nice and I can still recall that moment. Deep blue water...not warm, not cold, gives such a fresh feeling that I felt as if I had four lungs but never used two of them until that moment.

It was fantastic ! We wished to meet some friends staying at Assos but they had partied until the morning and were still sleeping at 14:00 ! After some swimming we felt it would be better for us to go to Ayvalık and meet our friends some other time.