Bozcaada

Before leaving Çanakkale, I had to snap a shot of their much-worshiped WWI mine laying ship Nusrat, prominently displayed in the harbour.  I only found out later that it's a replica.  The ship laid mines in a position they expected the allied fleet to use during attack, and its mines destroyed three allied ships during the main March 18, 1915 attack.  Strange, it looks harmless enough.

We grabbed a fast catamaran ferry to the island of Bozcaada, the smallest of the two Aegean islands owned by Turkey.  (The rest are owned by Greece.)  It's a Turkish tourist destination, not many Euros or others go there.  Which is fine by me - it is small, charming, friendly and super relaxing.  It also has a growing wine industry (most of the arable land is used for vineyards) - wine has been produced here for millennia, but they really only got their act together for modern, higher-quality wine recently.

Umm, a nice Venetian fortress overlooking the harbour in the little (and only) village on the island?  Yes please.

Glass of "red poppy syrup" (poppies grow wild everywhere), that tastes a bit like sweet red wine?  Definitely.

Shoreside bench with a fortress view?  Sure!

Wednesday market with fresh local produce, cheeses and wines from the island?  Of course!

Open-air breakfast/lounge area provided by our hotel, with local kirsh cherries, strawberries and wine from the market, and homemade dolmes (grape leaf-wrapped rice) from our host?  Heck yes.  (View of the harbour washed out in the photo.)

Dinner of mezze (small shared plates) in the Greek quarter (hard to believe a village this small has a Greek side and a Turkish side, each a few blocks wide).  With a big glass of raki (equivalent to ouzo, pastisse (e.g. Pernod), etc. - typical Mediterranean aniseed-flavoured liquor).

Ooo, finally a real Turkish coffee instead of Nescafe!

Harbourside view, with the wee fishing fleet.  Will probably become a haven for yachts and cruise ships in a few years with the impending enlarging of the harbour and the push to "develop" this quaint little island more.  (Some would say too much.)

Greek quarter restaurants pre-dinnertime.

Yes, we actually could have eaten there - it's not a painting!

Surveying the Aegean.

Hotel had an extremely relaxed dog, Miller, who "guarded" the front door to escape the sunshine.  Always nice to have a dog friend nearby who likes being petted.

Note: Turkey is FULL of cats.  They run rampant in Istanbul, and to a slightly lesser degree everywhere else.  But weirdly they don't seem to be a problem - they don't beg very forcefully, they stay out of your way, only quarrel occasionally at night, and seem to be relatively healthy.  Dogs need licences, however.  But on Bozcaada there were quite a few seemingly owner-less dogs around - but all were calm, friendly and reasonably well-fed, and seemed to be fixtures in the village.

Indeed, our first day in Bozcaada was remarkably good.  We finally hit a "vacation" moment instead of all the "travelling" we've been doing.  We planned to stay another day, in order to check out the beaches on the far side of the island, and maybe taste some wine.