Day 5 – Chios to Alacati Turkey
Kalimera! We had an early start to the morning with our alarms going off at 6:30am. Today we were catching the 8am ferry from Chios port to go to Turkey for 3 days & 2 nights. You can actually see Turkey from the Chios port and it’s about a 20-30 minute ferry ride depending on the winds. We packed up 1 large suitcase with enough clothes for all 3 of us for our short stay in Turkey and drove to the port. We stopped for coffee and spanakopitas before checking in and going through border patrol. The whole process was quick and easy – we booked tickets through Ferryhopper, scanned them at the gate and then had our passports scanned and went through the security all within 20 minutes. We boarded the ferry and the only bummer was there were no outdoor seats on this boat so we grabbed 3 seats by the windows. I took a mental note to book Sunrise Lines next time since that boat had outdoor seating in the back.
We arrived at Cesme 25 minutes after our boat departed, and walked through customs. It was a much more lax security screening compared to any airport. We grabbed a taxi and drove 25 minutes to our hotel, Biblos Beach Resort & Spa in Alacati. The main draw for staying at this hotel was that Alacati is supposed to have some of the best windsurfing, we also got $250 off our room by booking via the Expedia app and using my OneKey cash.
We were escorted to the lobby for check in by one of the bell hops and they gave us a green welcome drink called “Sorrel” made from a Turkish hibiscus style plant. It was very refreshing. Our room wasn’t ready yet so one of the workers offered to give us a tour of the property. The resort was huge, with 5 different pools, a private beach area for hotel guests, 3 restaurants, spa, kids arcade area, and lounge. The grounds were stunning and a lot of detail was put into creating the luxury aesthetic. After we finished the tour, our room was ready and we were given the keys along with a WhatsApp channel to text the concierge any questions or requests during our stay. We unpacked and changed into bathing suits – time to lounge by the pool and soak up some sun!
We ordered cocktails and a virgin piña colada for Leo and swam and relaxed. I was starting to get hungry but the lunch restaurant didn’t open until 1pm so we ordered fries by the pool to hold us over. Around 1:30pm we went to the Turkish mezze restaurant for lunch and grabbed a table by the koi pond. For lunch we ordered 2 eggplant dips and 1 Turkish yogurt dip that was similar to tzatziki. They were really good. Then for the main course Stelios wanted to try the Turkish meat platter which came with an assortment of different grilled meats, veggies, and wraps. I didn’t care for the meat platter but the boys liked it.
After a full lunch we walked around to try and find the ASPC Surf Club – I reserved us a group lesson tomorrow morning and wanted to see if we could get an earlier time slot. The worker happily accommodated moving us to the first morning time slot. After we walked to the private beach area at our resort and grabbed some lounge chairs. The water was refreshing but after an hour the wind picked up I was getting sandblasted laying out. We decided to pack up our things and on the walk back we passed the hotel ice cream shop that opened. I had a scoop of pistachio and coconut ice cream which was refreshing and delicious. I went to pay for our ice creams and the total was $40 for 3 ice creams?! We were definitely not in Chios anymore. Back at the room there was a notecard welcoming us to the hotel along with fresh figs, nuts, and a cake – a very nice gesture.
We all showered and the boys went to the arcade while I got ready for dinner, then we took a taxi to Alacati Old Town. The town was very cute, with cobblestone alleys with shops and restaurants, however one of the main walkways reminded me of Palermo where people were standing outside of the restaurants trying to convince you dine at their restaurant (I can’t stand that). One thing I noticed since we’ve been in Turkey is that there are a lot of large stray dogs just laying around the streets. They are calm and never bother anyone but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen that – in Greece there are a lot of stray cats but they are tiny and often curled up somewhere not laying in the middle of the streets. Odd.
Around 8ish Leo was hungry but our dinner reservation wasn’t until 9pm so we sat down at a cafe and he had a croissiant with Nutella and strawberries for a snack. The woman did not speak very good English which is another pattern I’ve noticed from today, there are a lot more Turkish workers who speak very little or no English at all compared to Greece where it feels like 90% of the people speak pretty good English.
At 9pm we arrived at Fava, one of the restaurants our hotel recommended and were sat a table in the outdoor garden. Fava is known for their meze dips and spreads so we ordered several, but the one our waiter recommended was our favorite – a creamy white dip with pomegranate in it. Theresa octopus carpaccio was also extremely tender and tasty. After dinner we walked around the town a bit more but at this point the streets were extremely crowded and some of the alleyways were narrow so only 2 people going in each direction could walk at a time. It reminded me of when we went to Oia and were moving at a snails pace to get through the crowds. Around 11pm we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel since we were waking up early for windsurfing tomorrow.
