It pays to be a Kiwi
Monday 25th of June
Most of today was taken up with getting to Kusadasi. From our little village, it was a bus ride to Samos (town, not to be confused with island, aka Vathy) and then several hours in the midday sun waiting for the boat to depart. For the second day in a row, we hit Samos during siesta-time so there was little to do other than huddle in a café. The boat ride to Turkey only takes 1 ½ hours and it was fabulous to be out at sea and have the sea breeze. The water of the Aegean is amazingly deep blue but the air is always hazy (pollution, I’m told).
On arrival in Kusadasi, we discovered that it pays to be a Kiwi. As soon as you get off the boat you are required to pay a €10pp port tax (and you don’t argue with the man with a gun… not as big as the Greek guns, but a gun, none-the-less). Then you have to line up to get a visa and it turns out that you have to pay more at this point. If you are unlucky enough to be Canadian, you get to pay €60pp. If you are fortunate enough to be a Kiwi, you pay…. NOTHING!!!! Which was just as well- we need to restock our pile of Euro J At this point, you also have to surrender your passport and wait. And wait and wait… It was a little disconcerting to part with our passports but seeing as the 40 people ahead of us all had, we didn’t see a lot of other options.
When you tell people that you are going to Greece and Turkey, you get a lot of stories about the person who was trying to get a cab to the accommodation they had booked, got picked up by someone claiming to be from there and ending up who-knows-where. So when we were rushed at by a man as soon as we exited the terminal, we were pretty dubious… “that man over there, he is waiting for you, he is here to pick you up…” Fortunately, after some negotiation, we discovered that he was legitimate and we have ended up in a fantastic ‘pension’ (b&b / backpackers). It is run by Turk Yusuf and his Aussie wife Sandra and they are both fonts of useful knowledge.
When you come to Turkey, it seems that getting fleeced in some way is almost a rite of passage and we managed it even before we landed. The nice lady at the tourist bureau in Samos sold us a €25pp tour of Ephesus. It all sounded fine until we got to the pension to discover that they run a FREE daily shuttle. Doh! Anyhow, off to Ephesus tomorrow- hope the bus is air conditioned!!
Most of today was taken up with getting to Kusadasi. From our little village, it was a bus ride to Samos (town, not to be confused with island, aka Vathy) and then several hours in the midday sun waiting for the boat to depart. For the second day in a row, we hit Samos during siesta-time so there was little to do other than huddle in a café. The boat ride to Turkey only takes 1 ½ hours and it was fabulous to be out at sea and have the sea breeze. The water of the Aegean is amazingly deep blue but the air is always hazy (pollution, I’m told).
On arrival in Kusadasi, we discovered that it pays to be a Kiwi. As soon as you get off the boat you are required to pay a €10pp port tax (and you don’t argue with the man with a gun… not as big as the Greek guns, but a gun, none-the-less). Then you have to line up to get a visa and it turns out that you have to pay more at this point. If you are unlucky enough to be Canadian, you get to pay €60pp. If you are fortunate enough to be a Kiwi, you pay…. NOTHING!!!! Which was just as well- we need to restock our pile of Euro J At this point, you also have to surrender your passport and wait. And wait and wait… It was a little disconcerting to part with our passports but seeing as the 40 people ahead of us all had, we didn’t see a lot of other options.
When you tell people that you are going to Greece and Turkey, you get a lot of stories about the person who was trying to get a cab to the accommodation they had booked, got picked up by someone claiming to be from there and ending up who-knows-where. So when we were rushed at by a man as soon as we exited the terminal, we were pretty dubious… “that man over there, he is waiting for you, he is here to pick you up…” Fortunately, after some negotiation, we discovered that he was legitimate and we have ended up in a fantastic ‘pension’ (b&b / backpackers). It is run by Turk Yusuf and his Aussie wife Sandra and they are both fonts of useful knowledge.
When you come to Turkey, it seems that getting fleeced in some way is almost a rite of passage and we managed it even before we landed. The nice lady at the tourist bureau in Samos sold us a €25pp tour of Ephesus. It all sounded fine until we got to the pension to discover that they run a FREE daily shuttle. Doh! Anyhow, off to Ephesus tomorrow- hope the bus is air conditioned!!
1 comment:
Good to hear of your adventures. Happy travels.
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