Blue Cruise

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blue Cruise a.k.a. Blue Voyage ("Mavi Yolculuk" in Turkish) is the term used for recreational boating tours along Turkey's spectacular southwestern coasts. The term has been introduced into the Turkish literature by a handful of Turkish writers of fame. These writers were Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı -alias The Fisherman of Halicarnassus, Sabahattin Eyüboğlu and his well-known family and the large circle of artists around him, Azra Erhat, the translator into Turkish of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and others united around the literary revue "Yeni Ufuklar" (New Horizons) in the 1950s and especially as of the 1960s.

"Blue Cruise" became a byword within Turkey's tourism industry and the tours defined within the term are among the most popular leisure and tourism concepts in Turkey. The term itself is derived from the title of a celebrated 1957 book (re-edited after further tours, for the first time in 1962 and then in 1979) by Azra Erhat.

A full Blue Cruise is generally admitted to start in Didim, or even Kuşadası, although the tours are often launched with departure in Bodrum, and it comes to an end with Antalya as the final port of destination. In general parlance, the term may also be used to refer to shorter tours as well, as long as they take place along southwestern Turkey's shores.