It’s easiest to get to the Greek Islands from Athens/Piraeus. Ferry connections starting in Turkey will be tricky, But here’s a travel information website that may help you get started: http://www.turkeytra… It may be best to fly from Istanbul to Athens and start ferry hopping from there, particularly to get to Santorini. Use www.whichbudget.com to see which low fare airlines fly which routes — see if you can fly directly to one of the islands you want to visit.

If you have time and interest in Greek ruins I highly recommend Ancient Ephesus near Kusadasi, (one of the ferry ports you’re likely to use if you leave from Turkey) Turkey. IMO, the Turks do a better job of preserving and showing Greek ruins than the Greeks.

Remember that ferry companies usually switch from summer to winter schedules in mid-September which makes island hopping much more difficult.

Junw001,

There’s plenty ferries connecting the two countries, but they only connect the nearest points between the two countries. Thus, only islands closest to Turkey (like Kos, Rhodes/Rodos, Samos, etc) have direct ferry service to Turkey. From these islands, you can catch other ferries, or flights, to other islands and/or the mainland.

But it will be tricky, as oldlady noted. Any given island doesn’t necessarily have direct ferry service to any other random island. The islands are grouped into regional chains…geographically, historically, regionally-culturally, and as political administrative regions. Thus, many islands will only have ferry service to other islands within their same chain (not to islands in other chains), and onwards to Athens. This isn’t always the case, though. More-populated islands, like Rhodes and Crete, or heavily-touristed islands like Santorini and Kos, will have decent ferry connections to islands in other chains. At the other end, tiny islands with tiny populations will only have ferry service to a large neighbor. So, all the islands and the mainland are interconnected, but a random island pair won’t necessarily have a direct route.

Here are some of the ferry routes operated by one company (Blue Star Ferries): http://www.bluestarf…

Here’s a more comprehensive website of different companies: http://www.ferries.g…

Here’s an airline that has a decent inter-island network (in the Aegean): http://www.skyexpres… especially for Rhodes

So, you can ferry from southwest Turkey to Rhodes, spend time in Rhodes (highly recommend that island), then ferry or fly to Santorini, then on to the mainland, or island-hop some more. It’s certainly possible.

If you choose to, you can also fly from Izmir to Athens, direct, with Turkey-based Pegasus Airlines. Of course, you can also fly Istanbul-Athens, but that would require backtracking.

No. Preservation and presentation are two different things. The Greeks (like the Turks) have always done an excellent job preserving ancient and medieval monuments. Trust me, the Greeks take a massive pride in their ancient and medieval monuments, which [until fairly recently] received all the attention at the expense of more recent historical monuments (post-medieval). The reason why you were left with the impression that the Greeks “don’t do a good job preserving Greek ruins” is because they didn’t do a good job in presenting them. No matter how much preservation and care they put into their historical monuments, they will appear derelict and uncared for if the surrounding landscape isn’t maintained. And that was the problem, as well as user-unfriendly museums in the past. These issues have improved dramatically in the past decade, with much emphasis now being put into landscaping and museum presentation.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

Here’s the ancient site of Messênê (in the Peloponnese region), after they put any emphasis into landscaping: http://en.wikipedia….

I couldn’t find a “before” pic, but here’s a picture from the transformation process, when they started working on the landscaping: http://en.wikipedia….

Now, if you’re talking about the preservation of ancient ruins over time (over the centuries, through the Middle Ages), yes the Greek ruins in what is today part of modern Turkey, survived the ages more intact (generally speaking), than the ones that are now located within the borders of the modern Greek state (except for Athens, where the ruins are spectacular). This is just historical randomness. The Ottoman Empire in 1870 didn’t give a hoot about the Greek ruins at Ephesus.

Good point to look at the schedules. I could be wrong, but I wanna say I’m 90% certain that “winter” schedules don’t kick in until October. September is still tourist season. Not high season like July-August, but shoulder season like May and June.

Thank you, oldlady. will look into the websites and dig more. Ephesus is a great suggestion, heard a lot about it.

Luv_the_beach, you are so generous in providing so detailed information concerning all related subjects, very helpful and insightful, thanks a million.

I checked some of the transportation options, seems there are no direct flights from Rhodes to Santorini, and the ferry options are also very limited or poorly scheduled for this route. I am a bit reluctant backtracking or detouring, so I am debating whether to make a stop in Rhodes.

I liked Rhodes. It’s big enough to have a lot of variety — modern city and nice beaches, lots of Medieval crusader history and architecture, early Christian history, as well as some ancient ruins and history. It also has an interesting vibe, different, IMO, from the islands closer to the Greek mainland. It’s not a picture postcard quaint and pretty Greek Island with the white buildings and blue roofs, though —or if that view exists, I missed it.