M40間諜米格魯的秘密日誌

While I was still living in Bodrum, Turkey, I had to exit the country once every 30 days due to visa restrictions. The easiest and cheapest way of renewing your Turkish visa is to go to any Greek islands off the Turkish coast, and return on the same day - in the case of Bodrum, the nearest Greek island is Kos.
But after a few times going to Kos on a day trip (plus Schengen hopping visa excursion), I thought it was time to try out other nearby islands too. So I looked at the map and visit all of them one by one.
Chios caught my attention because of two things:
1. Legend has it that Homer was born in Volissos, Chios. Whether this is true or not, is still being disputed by historians, but at least it has been recognised by all authorities that Homer had indeed spent a long period of time residing on Chios.
2. Chios is home to a very unique plant species: Mastic gums (a.k.a. Mastiha, or pistachia lentiscus var. Chia). This is a funny plant: although it could be found in many places across the world, only those grown in the southern half of the island of Chios release resin that has a special armoatic flavour when cut. Those that are grown elsewhere - even on the northern half of Chios - do not release any aromatic resin when cut. Until now nobody can explain why this plant behaves in such a way. Some Japanese scientists had transplanted some mastic trees with soils from Chios to Japan and still the plant refuse to yield any resin as soon as it is out of the southern half of Chios.
As a result, Chios has the virtual monopoly over the highly lucrative mastic trade eversince the Roman times. Despite being ruled by different Empires (Romans, Ottomans etc.), Chios was always given preferrential treatments and semi-autonomous status, thanks to its monopoly of mastic production. Chios mastic is also one of the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) products as well as a protected geographical indication (PGI) name.

A nice cafes in the fairly affluent Mastic village of Pirgi, southern Chios. The production of mastic on Chios has been controlled by cooperatives and 24 so-called 'Mastic villages' in the southern half of the island. Most of the mastic villages have a fairly well-preserved medieval village centre. Pirgi, for instance, is famous for its painted facades, frescos and walls that signify the mast amount of wealth accumulated from the mastic trade. Because the price of mastic has remained stable in the past decades, Chios is one of the few Greek islands that is not dependent upon tourism as its main source of income. As a result, there are neither big hotels nor well-developed tourist resorts on Chios. It was in fact fairly difficult to get any accommodation on the island which cost less than 40 euro per person per night.

Fresh tomatoes hanging on the balcony: this is a common sight at Chios mastic villages.

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After spenting one week in the really really beautiful village of Molivos on the island of Lesbos, I decided to move on to the next island - Limnos (Lemnos), because I read it somewhere that the harbour of Myrina at Limnos is one of the prettiest harbours in Greece.
Because the cheapest hotel accommodation I could find online prior to my arrival on Limnos was more than 70 euro per night, I thought it would make sense to look for cheaper alternatives once I arrived. This turned out to be a grave strategic error, as I found out (after walking around the whole town for more than an hour) that all hotels on Limnos were booked out because it was a major holiday week in Greece: even the most expensive hotel on the island, where I had to pay 90 euro for a single room, was fully booked. Since I am not the kind of person to stay overnight on a bench near the harbour, I decided to take the night ferry to Thessaloniki one day earlier than planned and sleep on the Thessaloniki-bound ferry instead.
The overnight ferry from Mytilini arrived early in the morning at 0700 and I was a bit disappointed by the view of Myrina. The harbour is quite pretty but it is not as beautiful as I had imagined: it looks more Irish in terms of flaire than Aegean (if you know what I mean). The white washed houses, with outdoor cafes (still closed when I arrived) and little lanes remind me of some seaside villages in County Kerry, Ireland. Even the shopfronts and the way houses are laid out around the town are really Irish-like. There are a few taverns next to the little fishing harbour but it was so early in the morning, everything was quiet.
Once I came to the conclusion that no accommodation whatsoever was available on this island on that particular day, I decided to enjoy myself a bit before the overnight trip on a ferry for a second time in two days. I found a nice cafe on top of the hill overlooking the pretty bay near Myrina and spent at least 3 hours there sipping coffee and admiring the scenery:

Another side of the bay, with hotels and guesthouses (all of them fully booked!) - and nice cafes and taverns along the waterfront. It would have been lovely to spend a few days on this island.

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Walking on the streets of Bozcaada reminds me of Lemnos (Limnos), the Greek island not too far away west of Bozcaada. Both places have a very typical North Aegean flaire, with wind swept cliffs, rocky pebble beaches, brightly coloured houses and a very wild, rugged landscape.

I love the stark sense of contrast and solitude as expressed by this photo.

A while ago there were talks of a direct sea link using passenger ferries between Bozcaada and Mytilini, Lesbos, but the plan fell through at the last minute, because the Turks refused to open up Bozcaada for international traffic, citing the lack of customs facilities at the little harbour. Unconvincing as the excuse was, it was evident to anyone with some knowledge of the troublesome not-so-distant history between Greece and Turkey that any direct sea traffic between Bozcaada and Greek territory would bring back problematic memories of events in the 1920s.

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Bozcaada - this small island plays an interesting role in the geopolitics of Northern Aegean. One of the two bigger Turkish islands in the Aegean, Bozcaada is located off the coast of Turkey, near the strategic point of entry to the Dardanelle and the Sea of Marmara.
Bozcaada - still known in Greece by its Greek name of Tenedos - was already under Greek rule when the First World War broke out in 1914. However, in the aftermath of Greece's defeat by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's Turkish republican army in 1922, the island of Bozcaada and Gokceada (Greek name=Imbros, just off the western coast of Gallibolu Peninsula) were handed over to Turkey as part of the peace settlements. Under the conditions set out in the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, Greek-speaking residents of Tenedos and Imbros were exempted from the compulsory population exchange that had affected millions of people all over Greek Asia Minor and the eastern Aegean.

Because of the island's strategic location, a castle and fort had been constructed by the Venetians who held the island prior to the arrival of the Ottomans to ensure the control of shipping movements in and out of the Dardanelles. For a brief spell during Greece's War of Independence, Bozcaada was 'liberated' by the Greek army prior to its return to Turkish control in 1923.
The Venetian Castle of Bozcaada is also the island's most famous landmark. There are still some Greek-speaking citizens of Turkey on Bozcaada, although their numbers have decreased dramatically since the 1960s. Most of them have left for Australia or return to Greece. Those who chose to remain are usually older people.

Due to Bozcaada's Greek heritage, there are many pretty old houses in the town centre with a Greek touch. This one is the Ege Hotel, which used to be a Greek primary school.

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The Aegean town of Ayvalik and the surrounding villages are known for their excellent olives. The region around Ayvalik is one of the biggest centres of production in Turkey of top-grade olive oil.  But the town also has a long history, an interesting heritage, and is a popular seaside resort for Turkish tourists.

The harbour front of Ayvalik: this part of Aegean is very windy, even in the summer. There are direct ferry services to and from Mytilini, capital of the Greek island of Lesbos. However, schedules are prone to change and/or cancellations due to strong winds and rough seas, even in the summer. There are also direct ferry services 2-3 times a week from Mytilini to two other Turkish ports: Dikili (south of Ayvalik) and Foca (near Aliaga and Izmir).

Like so many other towns and villages on the Turkish Aegean coast, Ayvalik used to be a predominatly Greek-speaking town, before the enforced population exchange of 1923 changed the lingustic landscape of the region. While Greek-speakers were resettled on other Aegean islands, Turkish residents of northern Greece (near present-day Thessaloniki and the Greek province of Macedonia) moved to Ayvalik. Thus it is not uncommon to hear Greek spoken on the streets, even though the speakers are ethnic Turkish Muslims.
Many city dwellers from Istanbul visit Ayvalik on weekends to enjoy fresh seafood and run away from the bustling life in a big city.

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Assos is an ancient harbour town on the Northern Aegean coast, just 2 miles down the hill from the Roman ruins of Behramkale. It was founded by settlers from the Greek island of Lesbos. Do not confuse this Assos with its namesake in Greece: the Assos you are going to read about is located in present day Turkey, about 1.5 hour by bus from the city of Canakkale.

There are several nice boutique hotels in the small harbour of Assos. Most of the people that stay overnight at one of the nice hotels are well-off tourists from overseas who are on a private tour on the way to Izmir and Central Anatolia. Assos is a favourite stop due to its stunning scenery, the relatively well-preserved Roman ruins on the hill top, and the fact that it is located just 1.5 hours by bus from the city of Canakkale. After a long day visiting all the War Memorials on the Gallipoli Peninsula, it is a good way to unwind at this small village.

Local Police Station (Jandarma). In Turkey, Jandarmas (equivalent to Gendarmarie in France) are the para-military forces responsible for security in country districts in Turkey. Here is the Jandarma Office in Assos, located in a traditional building.

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Most of Samos' vineyards are planted with Muscadet, the famous white varietal that makes a sweet, flowery, almost honey-like, white wine. The colour of this wine is golden and has a relatively high alcohol content for a white wine (more than 12%).
The vineyards of Samos are located on the hilly slopes facing the sea. During the day, long hours of sunshine make sure that grapes have sufficient natural sugar contents essential for the sweet Muscadet wine, while the cooling sea breeze that blows from the Aegean provides for ideal growing conditions during the hotter months of the year. As a result of hot sun and sea breeze, the natural sugar contents of Samos' white Muscat grapes is among the highest of all white varietals.

A typical wine village in Central Samos. Viticulture is one of the most important economic activities on Samos. A bottle of top-class white Muscadet from DOC Samos (Samos Wine of Origins) can fetch up to a hundred euro in luxury restaurants in Athens and other major cities in the world.

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Kokkari is a small fishing village on the northern shore of Samos island. It is very tacky to say this, but I sort of fell in love with Kokkari as soon as I saw the place

It is a very strange feeling: sometimes you look at a place, and you know immediately you are going to like it. There is some kind of strong emotional attachment, even though I had never been to Kokkari before.
The little village of Kokkari is now a popular seaside resort, full of little cafes, bars and seaside restaurants, obviously there must be a lot of people who also love Kokkari very much
The village is about 10km outside of Vathi, there are frequent bus connections to and from Vathi's central bus station, and you can also go by taxi (about 10 euro one way).

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