KUSADASI A GREAT MARINA TO HAVE THE BOAT IN THE WINTER

This is a post originally published in my facebook page in Portuguese, but since it relates to information regarding one of the best places to winter a boat on the Med, I guess it may be of interest to many of you and I decided to publish it here as well: 

I liked Kusadasi so much that I'm going to leave the boat here for the winter. It is an old place, like all the excellent natural ports, with a poetic name: “ birds’ island”. This island closes the natural harbour and is crowned by a Byzantine castle, well, today it is a peninsula because a pedestrian walk connects it to the mainland. 

The place has been inhabited continuously since history is recorded and certainly many tens of millennia before that. The news of the first settlement dates back 5000 years and the nations who lived here were numerous, however it was always a small port, in the shadow of the great port of Ephesus. 

Only when Ephesus silted and became unusable, already in the low middle ages, did Kusadasi gain importance and become the main port of the region attracting Byzantine merchants but also Venetians and Genovese. The Italians called it “Scala Nuova”.

Today Kusadasi, a city of 70,000 inhabitants, is decidedly geared towards tourism, which is its main economic activity and the Marina, which is excellent, reinforced the quality of the tourist offer that until then focused on the proximity of Ephesus and Pamukkale.

 

Unlike most of the marinas that are turned to themselves, with shops and restaurants isolated from the urban mesh, here there was a master hand creating an aerial pedestrian walk with beautiful views that allowed under it a great number of stores, facing not the marina but the main street and furthermore creating, in the centre, a new square shaded with awnings and full of esplanades. 

This hub originated a second urban centre because on the other side of the avenue the old commercial establishments were quickly replaced by new, better quality developments, especially bars, restaurants and hotels. 

We therefore have a city with two centres, a modern one and a traditional one, with a succession of Turkish bazaars mixed with jewellery, the usual Turkish confusion that after an adaptation period becomes interesting. 

And not less interesting are the prices that maybe because of Covid crisis are practically as low as in Finike, the traditional option for live-aboards, a place that compared to Kusadasi looks like utterly provincial. 

My annual contract with Kusadasi Marina, after some bargaining, ended up costing, after several discounts, only 400 euros more than it would cost in Finike and the marinas are unparalleled in what concerns surroundings or facilities, with relevance to the sanitary facilities that in Finike are clean but have already many years of use and here are new, with double size showers, luxury hotel finishes .... and air conditioning. 

Also available a room with several washing machines and a staff of unmatched sympathy and helpfulness. I checked the technical services, asked for prices for various interventions (anti-fouling and hull valves) and everything seemed fine and no more expensive than in Finike and the prices in Finike were very good. Regarding arriving here there is an international airport in Izmir, at about 1 hour distance. 

Another thing that is important to me is a cheap hotel to stay while I am preparing the boat either for the winter or for the “saison”. We found one near the marina, on the main street for 350 TL with breakfast and dinner included (40 euros for two). I found that too good to be true and went for dinner there ... and what if I tell you you really eat well ?! 

I'm delighted with my new base port and I've already made new friends, Emiliano Pasqualetti who knew me from the blog came to visit me and brought with him a friend, Sílvio Pennetti, both friendly and very interesting, Italians living in Izmir with the boats in the marina. 

Silvio made a point of offering me a beautiful and huge Italian flag, because the one I had on the boat, already in bad condition and which I was preparing to replace with a similar one, was not the appropriate one, because it was not a “navy” flag , as it should be. Well, anyway, beautiful flag. Thanks Silvio! 

If someone is interested in making this their base port, I can get to "friends" the same discount that I negotiated for myself. I made this deal with the marina manager, who is a friendly and competent lady because there were some French friends who had been with us at Finike that were interested (and who already decided to stay here). 

This special price is therefore extended to all followers of the blog who want to stay here this year: 28,935 TL for a 41 feet including two traveler-lift services, electricity and water. For this price I have to talk before with the manager and introduce you. You will not only benefit from the discounts I have managed but will have also a 13 month contract (instead of 12 months) being the extra month free (I also benefit from another month in my contract). 

In addition to the quality of Kusadasi the great advantage is that when making a contract with a marina of the Setur group we are entitled to stay free (up to one month) in any other of the 10 Setur marinas that are spread along the Turkish coast and one on the Greek island of Lesbos (Mytilene). 

In the last contract, we seized this opportunity and stayed several days at each marina, taking the opportunity to get to know the places, renting a car to tour around the region. And we will continue to do so, the next one being Çesme where we plan to arrive by the end of the week and then maybe go all the way to Istambul ( Kalamis ve Fenerbahçe Marina ) to visit the city. 

I have been sailing in Italy, Greece and Turkey for the last 8 years and this is one of the nicest deals I have been offered. Nice marinas at that price you can find some what you cannot find is the possibility of having 10 marinas at your disposal for the price of one. I thought you would like to know.