What should you not miss when sailing the Mediterranean ...

[Yellow bird]

Originally Posted by chuckr

Really?? We sailed into Mersin Turkey and travelled extensively through SE Turkey to some of the greatest archeological finds ever.

We are wintering in Israel and wow what a great place to winter over.

Our next stop is Egypt and maybe the Red Sea.

From there were head to northern Europe (may see you there) then south and if things calm down in Algeria we will stop there before going to Morocco.

We also spent 2 winters in Tunisia and drove over 5,000km around Tunisia and what a wonderful great and safe country.

But the best so far Israel.

Really!! [excluding Israel, which is safe]
They are countries in continuous evolution, the situation changes from one day to the next!

So, good luck on your journey.

P.S. If you read well, you will notice that I didn't tell anything about Turkey, I like it.

[odonnellryan]

Haven't read the entire thing, but why the Med? There are a lot of places to sail during the Canadian winter months.

I understand the allure of the Med, but seems like if you want to have an enjoyable trip there are two options: 1) change the destination 2) change the time of year you go to the Med

Since 2 can't be changed, what else has been considered?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by odonnellryan

Haven't read the entire thing, but why the Med? There are a lot of places to sail during the Canadian winter months.

I understand the allure of the Med, but seems like if you want to have an enjoyable trip there are two options: 1) change the destination 2) change the time of year you go to the Med

Since 2 can't be changed, what else has been considered?

The allure of the Med is the culture, the people, the food, the history, the sites. One does not go to the Med for the great sailing but the experience.

I've done the Bahamas and Caribbean which are great places to sail but after a while I felt done with that and wanted something different and more civilized. Third world can get old.

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by skipmac

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I may be wrong but think the previous comment was meant warn about security once you reached Syria, not in southern Turkey.

Not sure about Tunis outside Tunisia. I've read a number of warnings from EU cruisers about some areas outside the city.

Israel on the other hand was one of my favorite countries I've visited around the Med and would love to sail there. Tel Aviv was very nice but I walked by the marina there and didn't see an empty slip.

On the SE Turkey - if you read the warnings and listen and we did get one from the consulate in Adana - SE Turkey is a place one should not go. Nonsense - we drove and along the Syrian border and almost to the Iraq border stopping along the way to see some of the greatest sites we have ever seen. I guess I am using that as hey don't believe everything the gov't tells you.

As for Tunisia we drove and visited all of it and what a great country. The only thing we could not do was take a 5 day camel trek across the desert. All of them had been cancelled - this was the year of the beach shooting and before Tunisia got a real hold on the security situation and built a huge wall to keep the bad guys out.

As for Israel - we are working with the locals trying to get more people to come here for the winter. There are slips and they will fit you in.

[capsalom]

Do not forget to visit the Balearic Islands the pearl of the Mediterranean, I advise you to sail the months of April to October.