Mella;177153 said:
I paid 40 lira for the ferry ticket and €10 (roughly 20 lira) for port tax. So, altogether 60 lira. You can purchase ferry tickets to Samos from a number of the travel agents around Kusadasi, some already include the port tax into the price, whilst with others you have to pay on arrival at the harbour.
The boat leaves Kusadasi at 9.00am, and you should arrive 30 minutes prior to departure. If you have booked with a travel agency then transport from your hotel to the port is usually included.
Walk right through the Scala Nuova Shopping Center heading right until you arrive at the Cruise Ship entrance. Once you're at the Departure gates, you will see passport control where your passport will be stamped (whether or not you want a new visa on the way home) and you will be issued with a boarding card. You'll find the Duty free shop where you can purchase goods, but remember you will have to lug the bags around Samos for the day, so perhaps it's better to go there on return to Kusadasi.
We were 140 tl for two of us, booked through an agent, this was including the tax and the pick up/drop off. This was ok I felt, we would have had to get a taxi at that time of the morning which would have been 30tl.
When we went through our passports were taken from us by the rep and handed to a young boy who ran off with them, then the rep left!!!
We were a bit concerned (to say the least, I though John was going to run after the lad)
We all sort of wandered aimlessly to the departure gate, where there were 100 students from Uraguy (sp), and all had about 3 cases and bags each. We stood in the queue for ages behind these students, then saw the rep, who had our passports.
All in it was very disorganised for us, but Im sure everone else knew what they were doing
Im not complaining, just posting this as advice for anyone else who books through the agents.
The students were great on the journey, singing and playing music most of the time.
Well we finally got there, I have not seen my cousin for 15 years, and her daughter for 17 years. It was a fantastic day and very emotional, who knows when or if we will see each other again.
I cant advise much on the town its self, it was clean and with lots of shops, though I found them to be very expensive. We had a fantastic lunch with some very nice wine, great company and fond memories.
The actual ferry journey was smoother than I expected, and I spent most of it peering out to sea (I love the sea). Though I still cant figure how it takes so long to go such a short distance??? It feels like a bit of a time warp.
