A fore-and-aft rigged three-masted schooner planked in
Burmese teak,
A Smaller Gulet Cruising The Turkish Coast Crewed Yachts Cruising The Turkish Coast This page last updated on 02/26/2010 Dear Homo Sapiens, There is no need to continue reading this page. What follows
is intended for search engine robots and spiders and not necessarily for human beings. Further information
concerning gulets cruising the Turkish coast from Fethiye may be obtained by clicking on the gray links
immediately above. Thank You. You may be searching for a relaxing yacht charter in Turkey. A relaxing
charter perhaps originating in Fethiye, a natural seaport known as Telmessos after Alexander and as Telebehi
before Alexander, a relaxing charter cruising the beaches and pine-shrouded coves of Turkey's ancient Lycia.
Or you may be searching for a relaxing gulet charter along the Turkish coast's ancient Caria, one cruising the
azure Aegean between Fethiye and Miletus. Or you may be hoping to do both during the same holiday. Well, both
can be done. How about doing one or both aboard a large schooner-rigged charter yacht with accommodations for
eighteen guests. And yet a yacht with room enough for privacy. You might in fact decide to cruise the
aforementioned coast of Turkish Lycia, a coast stretching from Fethiye to Phaselis in the Gulf of Antalya. You
might stop on the way at Greek Kastellorizon, once a prosperous coaling station with a population of 9,000,
now dwindled to 300. Or you might decide to sail Cleopatra's routes along the Turkish coast of neighboring
Caria. While you holiday. While you swim the coves Cleopatra swam, while you laze on beaches where Cleopatra
lazed. Do any or all of this while you and family and friends are treated as was Cleopatra. Like Egyptian
royalty! Can you imagine cruising the coast of Turkey as did Egyptian royalty in the first century before the
Christian era! Or as did Murat Reis in the early 16th century! Sponsored by Pontic Greek royalty! Can you
imagine having a group of friends holiday with you aboard a schooner-rigged charter gulet proceeding leisurely
from royal locale to royal locale! Along Cleopatra's two tracks. Along Murat's several tracks. Murat was a
Slav from Ragusa, modern Dubrovnik. Born in about 1497, and a handsome youth, he was kidnapped at the age of
ten and presented as a slave to the sultan in Istanbul. There he is believed to have become a favorite of
Beyazit II's number one concubine Ayse Hatun, the mother of future Sultan Selim I. Originally a Pontic Greek
before being enslaved herself, Ayse Hatun sponsored Murat's palace education in letters, languages, and crafts,
all at the elite Endurun Kolej for the more promising pages and janissary recruits. There, of course, he
received training in military science and martial arts, as well. Upon Ayse Hatun's death in 1510 or soon
thereafter Murat appears to have convinced his masters he might be of more value at sea. Taking with him a
sixth sense acquired along the Adriatic's Dalmatian coast he moved first to Ottoman shipyards on the Golden
Horn and then to maritime schools at Gallipoli in the Sea of Marmara. While the |
annals of history make only passing reference to Murat as a young man,
it is apparent that from Gallipoli he leveraged his palace education to move up the galliot officer ranks,
rising to command of his own galliot with which he raided Latin-held islands in the Aegean, including
Kastellorizon and Rhodes then held by the Knights of Saint John, the latter 40-odd nautical miles WSW of
Fethiye. Are you searching your map for Fethiye? Well, this town opposite Rhodes is about 110 nautical miles
SE of Bodrum and within an hour of its own international airport at Dalaman. There or elsewhere we can put
you aboard a charter gulet for the holiday of a lifetime. We next hear of Murat Reis in the late-twenties and
early-thirties as one of Kheir-ed-Din Barbarossa's captains commanding a large galley engaged in corsair
activities in the western Mediterranean, plundering coastal communities and overwhelming under-armed merchant
shipping. In 1534, though, Murat of Ragusa participated in the conquest of Tunis, personally leading a
contingent of troops into the city. Barbarossa was sufficiently impressed to then name him governor of that
north African city. Four years later Murat was with Barbarossa at 1538's Battle of Preveza, helping to beard
the famous Andrea Doria. Recognizing Murat's contributions to naval success in the Mediterranean the sultan
himself in 1539 named Murat governor of Tagiora near Tunis, and made harassment of the Knights of Saint John
at nearby Tripoli and Malta his primary responsibility. The military career of this onetime court favorite
continued remarkable, not peaking for another twelve years when he was prominent in permanently wresting
Tripoli from the Knights. Murat of Ragusa is believed to have died in bed at Tagiora in about 1560. Between
Tripoli and his death he plied the Aegean annually to personally deliver his reports to Sultan Suleiman in
Istanbul, leaving with earlier tracks innumerable wakes for the student of history. Some of these tracks lead
southeast to Kekova Roads, perhaps the most scenically stunning of Turkish coast waypoints and replete with
history of its own. What happened to the Roman cistern depicted above? It was more or less as depicted when
painted by Luigi Mayer in 1792. Where is it today? Not many know! A mere handful! Because the Cacamo (Kekova)
cistern partially exposed to Luigi Mayer has been completely buried most of the years since. In 2009, however,
archaeologists began to bring those sixteen Gothic arches to light once more. Would you like to see them?
Kayhan 9 can show them to you! In Fethiye we can put you aboard a fun charter gulet for the holiday of a
lifetime. And we can show you Murat's tracks down the coast of Lycia to Kekova Roads, show you the Cacamo
cistern and much more, and show you Murat's tracks back up the coast of Turkey and among Greek islands. Kayhan
9, a superb three-masted schooner cruising the Turkish coast from Fethiye. Contact Blue Cruise Yacht
Charters today at