A Blue Cruise, also known as a ''Blue Voyage'' () or ''Blue Tour'' (), is a term used for recreational voyages along the

Turkish Riviera The Turkish Riviera ( tr, Türk Rivierası), also known popularly as the Turquoise Coast, is an area of southwest Turkey encompassing the provinces of Antalya and Muğla, and to a lesser extent Aydın, southern İzmir and western Mersin. The ...

, on Turkey's southwestern coast along the Aegean and

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

seas. The cruise is typically a week-long trip aboard the local gulet schooners, to ancient cities, harbors, tombs, and beaches in the numerous small coves along the country's Turquoise Coast. ''Carian Cruise'' is a lesser-known synonym used by some sources internationally, in reference to the term

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionians, Ionian and Dorians, Dorian Greeks colonized the west of i ...

— the name this region of southwest Turkey was called in ancient times.

History

The term ''Blue Voyage'', which is used in Turkey's tourism industry, has its origins in

Turkish literature Turkish literature ( tr, Türk edebiyatı) comprises oral compositions and written texts in Turkic languages. The Ottoman and Azerbaijani forms of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, were highly influenced by Persian la ...

, deriving from the title of a book by

Azra Erhat '') , notable_works = Turkish translations of Homer's ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' in collaboration with A. Kadir ( tr); Turkish translations of Hesiod's ''Theogony'' and ''Works and Days'' as well as works of Sophocles, Aristophanes, Plato, and Sap ...

, and was first introduced into

by a handful of writers, such as

Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (17 April 1890 – 13 October 1973; born Musa Cevat Şakir; pen-name "The Fisherman of Halicarnassus", tr, Halikarnas Balıkçısı) was a Cretan Turkish writer of novels, short-stories and essays, as well as a ke ...

(alias ''

The Fisherman of Halicarnassus ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

''). The author, who had been exiled to

Bodrum Bodrum () is a port city in Muğla Province, southwestern Turkey, at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Its population was 35,795 at the 2012 census, with a total of 136,317 inhabitants residing within the district's borders. Known in ancient t ...

in 1925, began taking trips with his friends on the local sponge divers' sailing boats, called gulets, and was moved and inspired by the local culture and natural beauty. These excursions became known as "Blue Voyages". Fellow author Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, together with his circle of family and friends, participated in Blue Cruises, as did

. The literary review "Yeni Ufuklar" (''New Horizons'') in the 1950s and 1960s contributed to publicizing the Blue Cruise, and numerous guidebooks were published in Turkish and German presenting romantic depictions of the voyage. Since that time, cruise tourism has grown to support a sizable portion of the local economy, and transformed

from a fishing village to a holiday destination.

Routes

The routes can be as short as traveling to a few coves for a couple days, or can be as extensive as traveling the entire length of the Turkish Riviera across several weeks. There are options to start a voyage in the Turquoise Coast including

, Marmaris,

Fethiye Fethiye () is a city and district of Muğla Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. It is one of the prominent tourist destinations in the Turkish Riviera. In 2019 its population was 162,686. History Fethiye was formerly known as Makri (). ...

and

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

en route to the smaller villages and coves like

Dalyan Dalyan is a town in Muğla Province located between the districts of Marmaris and Fethiye on the south-west coast of Turkey. The town is an independent municipality, within the administrative district of Ortaca. Dalyan achieved international ...

Gökova Gökova is a municipality (''belde'') in the district of Ula in Muğla Province, Turkey. It lies at the head of the Gulf of Gökova in a plain also known as Gökova. The ancient Carian city of Idyma, with its acropolis and necropolis, is locat ...

Kekova Kekova, also named ''Caravola''Bertarelli (1929), p.134 (Greek: '' Dolichiste''), is a small Turkish island near Demre (Demre is the Lycian town of Myra) district of Antalya province which faces the villages of Kaleköy (ancient Simena) ...

, and similar destinations, which constitute the more popular portions of the route. It is also possible to visit

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, and surrounding

Greek islands Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227. The largest Greek island by a ...

History

Routes

See also

References

Further reading