Accessible Greece Malta Cyprus Turkey: The Eastern Mediterranean where Europe, Asia and Africa meet is an interesting region, with a rich past having been the cradle of Western civilizations.
Some countries: Greece, Malta and Cyprus are part of the European Community while Turkey, the most populous nation in the region is not part of the European Community and is on the border between Europe and Asia, represented by the Bosphorus, the stretch of sea which connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
Greece:
Greece is the nation to which the West is indebted for its cultural development.
The country is very mountainous and, in general, not very accessible.
But the cities have been made accessible with public works that allow the visit of the main monuments.
In Athens, the Acropolis has been made accessible via an elevator while other areas such as Plaka are quite problematic due to the uneven pavement and so are many of the archaeological areas.
Accessible services are available as well as in Athens, Crete (where there are resorts specialized in customers with reduced mobility), Mikonos, Rhodes, Katacolon near Olympia, …
Many wheelchair-bound tourists visit Greece by cruise ship, and excursions accessible by ships are available in major Greek ports.
In some locations, accessible tours by regular cars are available for people using manual, folding wheelchairs who can sit in a car seat if helped.
There are resorts that are accessible and with the possibility of accessing the sea for swimming.
Malta:
The small Mediterranean island is usually visited by tourists who disembark from cruise ships.
Excursions are possible with accessible vans and with guides in the desired language.
There are also accessible accommodation facilities for stays of several days.
Cyprus:
Another small island-nation, or rather bi-national, since the northern part has been autonomous for many years and under the protection of Turkey.
On the island there is a family-run resort with accessible rooms, a swimming pool accessible with a lift, its own accessible vehicles for transfers and excursions.
The owner, who is disabled himself, organizes tourist, recreational and sports activities suitable for disabled people.
It is very popular and needs to be booked very early.
Turkey:
Great country between Europe and Asia.
Istanbul, the main city of the country, is quite accessible even if there are differences in height, if public transport is not very accessible and if the pavements are often uneven.
It has accessible hotels, accessible vans with driver, multilingual guides.
Turkey tours are possible which include Istanbul, Ankara (the Capital), Anatolia by accessible van, accessible hotel accommodations and guide in many languages.
Also in Istanbul, Izmir, Kusadasi, Antalya are possible excursions by van accessible from cruise ships.
In Antalya there are accessible resorts for beach stays.
For information and clarifications please do not hesitate to contact us
AccessiblEurope Team
Destinations directory (Internal links):
1. Accessible Italy
2. Accessible France
3. Accessible Spain and accessible Portugal
4. Accessible UK and Accessible Ireland
5. Accessible Germany
6. Accessible Belgium, Accessible Netherlands and Accessible Denmark
7. Accessible Norway, Accessible Sweden, Accessible Finland and Accessible Iceland
8. Accessible Hungary, Accessible Czech Republic and Accessible Poland
9. Accessible Switzerland, Accessible Austria
10. Accessible Greece, Accessible Malta, Accessible Cyprus and Accessible Turkey
11. Other Europe accessible countries
Accessible tourism websites:
1. AccessibleItaly.it (Accessible tours and stays in Italy)
2. AccessibleAsia.com (Accessible tours and stays in Asia)