After buying Turkish Delight and pancakes with the last Lira in our pocket from İzmir bus station, we took the buses to Çeşme.. After about 2 hours, we were going to leave the borders of the Republic of Turkey and enter the European Union borders from the Greek island of Chios.
While watching the environment for the last time on İzmir Çeşme Highway, Greece I was eagerly awaiting the beginning of my adventure.. It has been a dream for me to go to Greece, to watch Athens from the Temple of Athena in Athens since I was little.. The situation I was in was really exciting.
When the August heat of Izmir and the unfavorable conditions of the bus combined, it was impossible not to be scorched in a pile of metal.. After about an hour’s journey, we got off the bus at the closest point to Çeşme Port.. After grabbing our suitcases, we started running due to time constraint.. I couldn’t bear to lose one day of my visa, which I could only get from the Greek Consulate for 14 days under difficult conditions, due to missing the ferry.
We were running with all our might.. When we arrived at the port, a large group of Greek tourists were waiting in the passport queue to return to their country.. We bought our tickets from the ticket agency on the right.. Since I am a Turkish citizen, I was able to pay the 15 YTL fee that I had to pay when I went abroad, after I found the officer of the Ministry of Finance while wandering around the port after a long struggle.. Still, I was happy because I had paid a fee of 70 YTL to go abroad the previous year.. It was not possible for me to explain this fee issue to my Greek friend.. For what purpose would a country receive money from its citizen going abroad? I didn’t want to understand that either.
After I got my stamp, I got in line with my identity card and passport to exit.. Foreign citizens and Turks were in different queues.. After chatting with the police in line, he said, “If you have a mind, you will not return to this country.”. Tourists, who scrambled with chocolate, perfume, liquor and cigarettes in the tax-free sales section, were waiting for the ferry’s departure time.
We left the harbor and headed to the seaside where the ferry would depart.. Shortly before departure, all the passengers were sitting on the shore and watching the sea.. It was time for departure while we were eating the marshmallows we had just bought from the tax-free sale.. Anyone could understand from afar the poor quality service provided by a Turkish transportation company at a very high price.. However, since there was a monopoly between Çeşme and Chios, we did not have the luxury to change these prices.
After getting on the ferry, we put all the big suitcases we had at the entrance, and then we went upstairs to take a 40-minute journey. we sat in our seats. Even if I said seats, do not think about the seats on the cruise ships we saw in the movies.. City line ferries in Izmir Bay remain quite luxurious next to this ferry.
As we looked at the sea on the metal armchairs we were sitting in, I thought that if this metal pile sank, we would be no different from refugees.. However, the journey will be quite short and at the end of it I will be in the country of my dreams, Greece.. This thought gave me some relief.
Loud engines kicked in. Cesme-Chios ferry journey started smoothly.. We were taking our last pictures of Izmir with my camera with Alex.. While I was looking at my cell phone, I was checking if the phone was picking up.. I thought we would have left Turkey if the phone didn’t pick up.
With the Turkish flag waving behind us, Çeşme We saw Chios before us, taking advantage of the open air.. Extremely high mountains greeted us. After a short while, we got very close to the island and were able to perceive life up close.. I got my first shock when the ferry docked at the island’s so-called port.. After the port we saw in Çeşme, this port looked like abandoned train stations in American cowboy movies.
All passengers were directed to a single door. We waited for half an hour in the middle of the torture with our suitcases in our hands.. There was only one passport police. There was another cop checking the suitcases after we passed. However, he did not contribute to the progress of this queue.. Because everyone had to get their passports stamped one by one by the passport police.. The tension inevitably increased when I came face to face with the police.. A word from the police was enough not to let me into Greece.. I extended my passport. He asked me if I knew English. I said yes. Couldn’t understand anything from his broken English. Alex stepped in and spoke Greek. He showed me and explained that he was a guarantor.. We came to another sullen officer after the police officer had stamped my entry. Alex said “put your suitcase open on the table” without giving the police a chance.. I opened the suitcase, the police said, after checking everything with their hands, go ahead.. I was in Greece now with the negative image at the entrance. A country 9 nautical miles from Turkey.
My Greek days started in Chios.
