The stately lines and graceful exterior
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Further information concerning yachts charter sailing the Greek and Turkish Aegean may be obtained by
clicking on the gray links immediately above. Thank You. Are you searching for yachts charter
sailing the Greek and Turkish Aegean? For a yacht on which to holiday in Turkey? Are you dreaming of
a bare boat charter along the Lycian and Carian coasts of Turkey? Of sailing from one quaint seaside
town with bazaar to another quaint seaside town with bazaar? Or are you dreaming of a bare boat
charter in Greece? Of sailing from one snow-white blue-shuttered island town nourishing potted
geraniums to the next snow-white blue-shuttered town supporting miles of bougainvillea? Or is it both
about which you dream? The Greek and Turkish Aegean. How about realizing your dream aboard a charter
yacht with group accommodations? Room for you two and three like-minded couples. How about chartering
a sailing yacht to cruise |
Turkey's ancient
Lycia from Gocek. Or to sail Leone Strozzi's routes along the coasts of Lycia and neighboring Caria and
among Greek Aegean islands. While you enjoy those bazaars and potted geraniums. Would you like to have
such a holiday cruising here, at the crossroads of history? Surely you would like to holiday aboard a
charter yacht proceeding leisurely from one enchanting locale to another. Who wouldn't? One who didn't
was the aforementioned Strozzi. A Knight of Malta from the age of 20, Leone Strozzi never again had a
holiday. The son of Fillippo Strozzi and Clarice de Medici of Florence, the nephew of Pope Clement VII,
and the brother of Piero Strozzi, Marshall of France, Leone Strozzi believed himself destined for
greatness and, in memoriam, has been described as having had extraordinary valor and judgment at sea.
Placed in command of four Knights galleys at the age of 22, in July 1537 he engaged Sidi Ali Celebi (a
better poet than admiral) off Paxos, sinking one Ottoman galley, capturing another, and putting 10 more
to flight. Two months later he took two Ottoman galliots (small galleys), a fusta (small galliot), and
a brig north of Sicily, towing all back to Malta. That December, still 22 years of age, he was named to
command of all of the Order's galleys, but he had earlier rushed by brigantine to his father's
assistance. His father had become a victim of Cosimo de Medici, Duke of Florence and an in-law. But a
ruthless in-law. Leone Strozzi was too late; his father was to die in a Florentine
prison, and he was to flee with his brothers to France. There they came under the wing of Catherine de
Medici, Queen Regent, cousin, and childhood companion. By 1543 (age 28) Leone Strozzi had become
commander of France's Mediterranean galleys, France an ally of Ottoman Turkey, and, perforce, a
sometime enemy of the Knights of Malta. That year he joined 
Kheir-ed-Din Barbarossa in a joint assault on Genoa, and that year he was excommunicated
by the Knights. One year later he accompanied Barbarossa across the Aegean to Constantinople and was
received at Topkapi Palace by Sultan Suleiman. But it was an uncomfortable role for Leone Strozzi and
for the next six years he busied himself fighting the English off the coast of Scotland. It was not
until 1551 and 1552 that Strozzi returned to the Aegean, with three ships of his own frequently
engaging Turks off the coasts of Ottoman Lycia and Caria, and, privateering for his own account, taking
on Venetians in the Aegean. All of this would come to an end two years later at the 1554 siege of Siena.
There at the age of 39 he would take an arquebus ball from a soldier of the same Cosimo de Medici who
had done in his father. What caused this internecine struggle between Medicis? Have you a week to read
on? Or a year? Or would you prefer to cruise the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean? The crossroads of
history? Starting in Gocek? Are you searching for Gocek in Turkey? Well, it is in the NW corner of the
Gulf of Fethiye 42 nautical miles ENE of Rhodes Town and 15 road miles from its own international
airport at Dalaman. There we can put you aboard a bare boat for the odyssey of a lifetime. We can put
you aboard a charter yacht and point you toward the flat sailing waters of the Gulfs of Gocek and
Fethiye, show you Alexander's Path down the coast of Lycia, show you Cleopatra's Route up the coast of
Caria and among Greek islands, and show you Leone Strozzi's several tracks along our shores. Superb
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey yachts charter sailing the Greek and Turkish Aegean. Contact Blue Cruise Yacht
Charters today at