Quite a few people asked me the following questions when planning their trip to Turkey: How exactly does a car & passenger ferry that peddles between Turkey's European shores and Asian coastal towns work? What happens when they are on a direct bus from Istanbul to Canakkale: Do they need to buy a separate ticket for the ferry? Can they get off the bus during the ferry crossing? Do they need to get off the bus when boarding the ferry? So I thought it might be useful to write an article, with photographs illustrating the procedure of using the car & passenger ferry from Eceabat on the European side of Turkey to Canakkale on the Asian side, when you trave on board a direct bus between Istanbul and Canakkale.
First of all, the above photo shows how a car & passenger ferry operated by the ferry enterprise Gestas (http://www.gestasdenizulasim.com.tr/) that is responible for the route between Eceabat - Canakkale looks like. This type of ferry travels between Eceabat and Canakkale every 20-30 minutes from early in the morning till very late at night. If you are passenger on a bus from Istanbul or Izmir, just stay on the bus while the bus waits outside the embarkation point, in the queue to drive the bus onto the ferry. If you are a foot passenger getting on the ferry from Eceabat, first buy your ticket from the ticket kiosk located at the entrance to the harbour, then wait at the gate until the harbour security guard opens the gate for passenger disembarkation.
Above picture shows how cars and foot passengers on board a Eceabat-Canakkale car and passenger ferry disembarking from the ferry upon arrival at the harbour of Eceabat.
This photo show how long distance buses from Istanbul wait in the queue outside the harbour gate for their turn to drive onto the car ferry. When the ferry arrives from Canakkale to Eceabat, the harbour officials will first let all Eceabat-bound cars, buses and passengers disembark, while all Canakkale-bound traffics will have to wait until the ferry is cleared of all cars and passengers. Then the harbour officials will open the Canakkale-bound gate and direct the buses and cars onto the ferry.
After al Eceabat-bound cars and buses have left the ferry, it is time for the Canakkale-bound traffics to drive onto the car deck of the ferry.
This is how it looks like on the car deck of a Eceabat-Canakkale ferry. All bus passengers are required to remain in the bus when the bus drives up onto the car deck. They do not need to buy a separate ticket for the ferry crossing, as the price of the ferry crossing is already included in the bus ticket. Once the bus is safely on the car deck of the ferry, bus passengers can get off the bus and move freely on board the car ferry. On the top deck of the ferry is a passenger lounge with a small snack bar offering hot beverages and light snacks.
The crossing time between Eceabat and Canakkale is about 20 minutes. Shortly before the car ferry arrives at the harbour of Canakkale, all bus passengers need to return to their bus for the disembarkation, as the buses will not wait for their passengers once it is their turn to drive off the car deck. They will drive straight off the car ferry and out of the harbour gate. In case you really miss your bus and are stranded on the car ferry, do not panic. About 200m outside of the harbour gate of Canakkale to the right, you will find the ticket office of several bus companies such as Truva, Kamil Koc, etc., which is also a regular stop for most bus companies coming from the direction of Eceabat. All buses from Istanbul-Eceabat-Canakkale-Izmir will stop there for a while for Canakkale-bound passengers to disembark, as well as to pick up Izmir-bound passengers. Just hurry towards there and board your bus (make sure it is the right bus before you board).
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
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