Visa Run to Greece | MY Doramac

Hi All,

We biked off for lunch in Turunc, a town about an hour from the marina. We’d biked through on other trips and stopped once for gas since it’s the only station between Marmaris and Bozburun. We decided to make the trip today, but won’t need to go back. Looking down from the mountain just outside the town is a spectacular view. Looking up at the mountains is quite lovely too. But it’s really mostly a tourist spot with lots of hotels and restaurants lining the beach. And lunch at our Marmaris chicken wrap place Aciktim is better!

This past Wednesday we went to Greece. Here’s the story.

Rhodes June 29, 2011

Wednesday we went on a visa run. Our 90 day Turkish visa will expire mid-July but we won’t be setting sail for Cyprus until August. Since we are planning a motorbike trip the first weeks in July that might overlap our deadline, we needed to renew before we took off. So we did what most folks do; we took the ferry from Marmaris to Rhodes, Greece. That involved checking out of Turkey, checking into Greece, checking out of Greece and checking into Turkey purchasing a new 90 day visa in the process. We were able to do that because Turkey isn’t an EU country. We are only allowed 90 days total within a 180 day period in EU countries. That will be a problem if we take the boat through the western Med at some point, and though the boat can stay longer, we have to leave…not something we would do. But that’s a worry for some other time. We chose to stay just for the day because I’m not ready to “do Greece” yet. There’s still so much to see in Turkey I just don’t want to think about learning about Greece. And it’s tourist season too, so too crowded to bother with things. We’ll see and learn about Greece some other time. This was just a go, hang out, eat lunch and come back with the new stamp sort of trip.

The ferry left Marmaris at 9 AM. We were to be at the port by 8 AM to for checkout procedures. To make sure we got there on time I’d set the alarm for 5:30 to make sure we’d have enough time to futz around, do email and get ready. We hopped on the motorbike about 7:30 am and got to the port about 10 minutes later. The man at the entry gate answered our questions before we’d even asked them so that was simple and there was no problem leaving the bike for the day. We couldn’t take it with us because that would have involved too much money and paperwork, so it stayed behind.

This red 1958 Chevy was continuing its life as a taxi and lots of folks posed and took photos outside the Marmaris port building as we waited to go through the departure procedures.

The ferry ride reminded me of our trips from China to Hong Kong on visa runs, but there was no horribly violent Jackie Chan film. (The same first 50 minutes of the film was shown each time we took the ferry so we never saw the end!) There were no films at all so I just snoozed for the hour it took to cross the 22 miles from Marmaris to Rhodes. The ferry was quite full: lots of Brits on holiday.

We walked off the ferry and through immigration to get ourselves stamped into Greece.

Walking from the ferry terminal to Old Town

Our first stop was at one of the “not working” ATM machines. We needed to get some Euros since they don’t take dollars or Turkish Lira in Greece. They will take Euros in Turkey so if we had any left that would be no problem unlike our Maldives money that no country will touch with a ten foot pole!

I had read about the synagogue on Rhodes being the oldest in Greece, so we did make a plan to see that. It actually was quite near the gate closest to the port where we disembarked.

“East from Hippocrates Square, the Bourg embraces Ovriaki. This was the Jewish Quarter (“La Juderia”) from the 1^st century AD until German occupation in 1944, when the Jewish population was transported to Auschwitz. East along Aristotelous is Plateia Evraion Mart’yron (Square of the Jewish Martyrs), named in memory of all those people who perished in the concentration camps.” DK Eyewitness Travel The Greek Islands

The oldest synagogue of Greece is located in Rhodes

http://www.jewishrhodes.org/html/

“The rich history of the Jewish People on the island of Rhodes Greece starts many centuries ago. Known as the Rhodesli today, that is the Jewish of Rhodes, some live in Juderia Quarter, next to the pier of the cruise ships in the Old Town of Rhodes, and others live abroad. The history of the Jews of Rhodes, which is presented in the Jewish Museum of Rhodes, is marked by the Holocaust of the Second World War.

The Jewish Community obtained a great power especially during the Ottoman Empire, as that time all Jewish communities were considered self-governing bodies. Their private and communal life was organized according to their laws and traditions and all these centuries of their presence in Rhodes they played an important role in the spiritual and economic development of the island. In fact, in 1927, a Rabbinical College was established that worked till 1937.

However, the anti-Jewish laws posed in 1938 by the Italians, who were that time ruling the Dodecanese islands, forced 2,000 out of the 4,000 Jews of Rhodes to immigrate. In 1944, all Jewish men, women and children of Rhodes were concentrated and they were transferred to the concentration camp of Auschwitz. Out of the 1,673 Jews of Rhodes that were transferred to Auschwitz, only 150 survived the end of the war.

Today, the Jewish Community of Rhodes is small but they want to preserve and remember their history. With the initiative of Mr. Aron Hasson, a Rhodesli living in Los Angeles, USA, and with the help of all the Jews living on the island, the Jewish Museum of Rhodes was established in 1997 and it is housed in the Kahal Shalom Synagogue.

"I saw there was a need for the visitors to Rhodes to understand that there was a Jewish community devastated by the Holocaust", told us Mr. Hasson, explaining his idea to create this museum. "It is located in the 6 rooms adjoining the Kehila Shalom synagogue. The 6 rooms of the museum were built by the Crusaders. The Kehila Shalom, also known as the Kahal Shalom, is the oldest Jewish synagogue in Greece, established in the 1500’s. Our exhibits are valuable. We have two Jewish burial stones from 1593 and 1655. We also have a 15th century old Torah on display and a few costumes worn by Rhodesli Jews dating from the 19th century. Most of the exhibits were collected by me from Rhodesli Diaspora families (families from around the world). They consist of artifacts and photographs".

Today only 25 people form the Jewish Community of Rhodes.

The Jewish Museum of Rhodes is open daily from April to October, 10.00 am to 03.00 pm, Saturdays closed. It is located in Drossatou street, Old Town of Rhodes.“ http://www.greeka.com/dodecanese/rhodes/news/interviews/778.htm

Aron Hasson is an attorney in LA. His four grandparents were born in Rhodes but emigrated to the US between 1912 and 1920.

Kahal Shalom Synagogue

Black and white stone walks can be seen throughout Old Town Rhodes.

A couple from Israel has brought their grandsons to visit.

I spoke with them later. He told me that the man welcoming all of the tourists is a Holocaust survivor as he’d noticed numbers tattooed on the man’s arm. He then said, “That’s life.” His wife responded immediately saying, “That’s not life!” They got into one of those tragic/comic dialogues that only Jews can have with lots of opinions and no end.