Hello, all you!
This is an useful (I hope) info for those who want to skip Istanbul (mainly), also the land border Greece - Turkey and all potential hazards and encounters with refugees coming from Asia and Africa.
Yesterday I've heard that a ferry company will open a new route between Greece and Turkey, here's more info and link to the company's website.
So, the ferry plies between Thessaloniki (Greece) and Izmir (Turkey).
Some useful spellings just in case:
Thessaloniki (in English) - ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ (in Greek) - Selanik (in Turkish)
Izmir (in English) - ΣΜΥΡΝΗ (in Greek) - Izmir (in Turkish).
N.B. This bugger ΣΜΥΡΝΗ is pronounced Smyrna or Smyrni or whatever.
https://www.levanteferries.com/gbr
The interface language could be changed by pressing the corresponding flag and name of the language on the top right corner, there are 3 options - English, Greek and Turkish.
Booking a ticket - on the top there are 2 options: (1) Ionian islands routes; (2) Izmir - Thessaloniki
go for the 2nd option and voila, do whatever you want and need.
Wish you all safe travels, no stray dogs and no flat tires!