Accommodations:
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What follows is intended for search engine robots and spiders and not necessarily for human beings.
Further information concerning charter gulets sailing Turkey and Greece may be obtained by clicking
on the gray links immediately above. Thank You. You may be searching for an Italian sea view,
perhaps along the Amalfi Coast or from the back side of Isla Capri or of Calabria from the slopes of
Etna. Fortunately for us, however, you have found an oak-framed, teak-decked, mahogany-appointed charter
gulet sailing Turkey and Greece in considerable comfort. A motor-sailing gulet on Blue Cruise in the
eastern Mediterranean. Cruising among Aegean islands of Greece. Cruising along the pine-clad coast of
Turkey, the Calabrian Pine-clad coast of Turkey. Sailing through history at the crossroads of history.
Fortunately for us, yes, and fortunately for you, too. If you weren't thinking before of a charter
gulet sailing Turkey and Greece, think about it now. Think about a crewed motor-sailer with
accommodations for five couples. Think about the charter gulet Vista Mare II. Think about a crewed
yacht chartering Greece and Turkey in the wake of corsairs and privateers, in the wake, for example,
of Aruj Reis. Cruising the coast of Asia Minor and among neighboring Aegean islands. Aruj Reis (Aruj
Captain) was the eldest of six children born on the Aegean island of Lesbos, the Greek or Albanian
father a former Ottoman janissary, the mother Greek perhaps with Andalusian roots. Four of the six
children were boys, two later known as Barbarossa, Aruj the first. Born circa 1473, Aruj got his sea legs
fishing the waters off Lesbos and his habit of command |
in service to the Mamluk sultans of Egypt. He may have learned even more as an oarsman in
the galleys of the Hospitaller Knights of Rhodes. Ransomed in the Spring of 1503 for far too little by
Prince Korkud, son of Ottoman Sultan Beyazid II, Aruj had been prior to his capture a scourge of the Latin
Aegean, his victims Venetians and Genovese and, occasionally, his future captors. Motivated by a wish to
improve his circumstances, he had also been influenced by a history of Latin persecution and despoliation
of all things Greek, including the Fourth Crusade sack of Constantinople and subsequent establishment of
Latin duchies throughout the Aegean. Commissioned and financed by Mamluk Sultans Janbalat and al-Ghawri as
well as by Prince Korkud, Aruj went from Lesbos caique to command of a galliot (small galley) with 18 oars
to a side, and from command of a galliot to command of several galliots. Operating out of Egyptian
Alexandria, he rested his crews between forays among the small islands just south of Naxos in the Cyclades.
Reflecting an inbred rage against Venice's fatal 1204 knife in the Byzantine corpus, from these islands
Aruj and his brother Khizr depicted at left wreaked havoc on everything Venetian including Naxos and
neighboring Paros, nearby Ios and Santorini, and the larger Venetian island of Crete among others, doing so
much damage and growing so much bolder that by the time of his ransom in 1503 Latin pickings in the Aegean
had become less attractive than those in the western Mediterranean. And so Aruj Barbarossa moved on to even
greater fame, that year seizing the island of Djerba in Tunisia. From Djerba and later Tunis he and brother
Khizr raided the Amalfi Coast and Italy's offshore islands as well as the coast of Spain and shipping in
between, in 1504 taking two large Papal galleys near Elba commanded by Paolo Vettori of the Florence family
of state and churchmen now famous for their violins. The ransom demanded was 200,000 gold ducats. Each year
it was more of the same. By 1510 Aruj Barbarossa and his brother commanded ten fast galliots and had achieved
a remarkable presence from Djerba to Algiers. Six years and at least one return to Lesbos later Aruj founded
the kingdom of Algiers and became its ruler. While the Barbarossas had moved on, Prince Korkud continued to
finance a string of anti-Latin privateers, including the Curtogoli brothers, Acsac the peg-legged Zoppo, and
Sinan of Smyrna, brother-in-law of the Barbarossas. Korkud, paradoxically, was more widely known for patronizing
the arts than for patronizing privateers. He also was a writer of poetry and musical compositions. He had even
designed a tambour called a ru h-efza for which he wrote eight pieces of music. Furthermore, he wrote at
least seven treatises in Arabic concerning Islam. Himself a 1510 target of the Hospitallers, narrowly escaping
death or capture while at sea between Alexandria and Antalya, Korkud met his end in 1512 at the hands of his
brother Selim, a victim of the Ottoman Empire's fratricidal succession policy. Why not charter
Greece and Turkey in the wake of Prince Korkud? Or in the wake of Aruj Reis? While you holiday in
style and comfort aboard a prestigious yacht. While you proceed from pine-encircled cove to remote
island. Why not have an extended-family holiday aboard a crewed sailing yacht cruising through history
in these waters. Or have a group of friends holiday with you aboard a charter gulet proceeding
leisurely from fascinating locale to fascinating locale. Perhaps cruising into the Venetian Cyclades as did the
aforementioned corsair captains. Starting in Bodrum. Are you searching for Bodrum in Turkey? Well, it is eleven
nautical miles NE of Kos Town on the north shore of the Ceramic Gulf. There or elsewhere we can put
you aboard a charter gulet with an experienced crew able to show you tracks left by Aruj Barbarossa,
able to show you tracks left by Prince Korkud sailing to and from Antalya, and
tracks left by his other ghazi captains all over the Aegean and eastern
Mediterranean. Vista Mare II, a superb charter gulet sailing Greece and Turkey in comfort. And
knowledgeable, as well, of local history. Contact Blue Cruise Yacht Charters today at