Mystical Türkiye
Türkiye is our 11th country with our boat over the last 18 months.
We successfully checked out of Greece and paid an agent to do our check-in into Turkey.
We have not been in a Marina for some time. D-Marin Marina in Didim is really nice, its green, has lovely yachts and well lit port & starboard entry markers.
The Marina also has restaurants and a nice Hotel with pool, which we were allowed to use. We watched an English couple getting married there. Check out one of the weeding guests Punk hair. Haven't seen it for a long time...
Below a map of our anchorages in Türkiye to date
Didim
We visited the Temple of Apollo (an ancient Greek temple.)
Sven marveling at the falling pillar supported by rocks.
An Apollo temple visit was followed by a beer for Sven and Turkish coffee for Caroline. The coffee house had a lovely view onto the temple.
Well, it gets the best of travellers. We both have been in Türkiye (and similar places) many times and know the drill. A lovely Turk, who has worked in Germany told us, that he just wanted to practice his German. He confirmed that he clearly understood, that we will not buy anything. We were in no rush and accepted a home made Orange flavoured tea in his shop. To cut the story short ....after 30 min of exchanging pleasantries, he asked us "which carpet we liked best if we were buying" . The indicated carpet (which we clearly stated we would not buy) was quickly wrapped up in paper and put into a plastic bag (price was dropped from Euro 650.- to Euro 50.-.) Well, he was really good ...but was a bit taken back when we did not take the already wrapped up carpet we did not want. We really like the beautiful Turkish Kilims but we live on board and have no place for things like this.
The Turkish shops are amazing.... but...
We have no space on the boat...
we have no space on the boat....
lucky for us we have no space on the boat!
We did not have the patience to negotiate a backgammon game we liked and went to have a Turkish breakfast instead.
First stop after breakfast was Ephesos, an ancient port city with well-preserved ruins. The city was once considered the most important Greek city and the most important trading center in the Mediterranean region. The Turkish ice cream sellers are performers. This is not just a simple ice cream you buy. This becomes a "catch the ice cream" game between seller and buyer.
House of Virgin Mary: Catholic pilgrims visit the house based on the belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, lived there for the remainder of her earthly life. The Catholic Church has never pronounced in favour or against the authenticity of the house, It is a holy site for Christians but is also a place for those who want their wishes to come true (wishing wall shown on picture)
Notice what we did?
Most cars here are white, meaning of course less heat absorption and emission!
A long sloppy painted fence, in the middle of the city main street, adds some character... and, believe it or not, we both like the squat toilets. We find squatting over a hole easier, than hoovering over a toilet ring you have no intention to sit on. Streets are full of fake items, including Birkenstock costing Euro 5.- (feels like being in Asia).
Drove to Sirince, a village with 600 inhabitants and only 6 km away from Ephesos.
A Turkish lady cooked our meal over the open fire
Lucky for Sven he can snooze anytime, anywhere. He enjoys sprawling out on a bench, using me as a comfortable pillow. As always, he fell quickly into a deep sleep accompanied by deep, happy snoring. A cat tried to get some affection from me but still unsatisfied, aimed for higher grounds.
Warning: Foul language (R-rating) and not suitable for children under 18 years of age
Unfortunately I missed to capture the snoring bit beforehand!
One of the many lovely houses in the village.
Locals trying to sell their handmade items.
Sirince also has lots of shops in the village centre. There were mainly Turkish travellers in late September, but it is not very busy anymore.
Love the Turkish coffee made in sand. The fine coffee grinds and water are added to a special wide-bottomed pot called a cezve, then mixed and placed in the hot sand. The sand creates an even heat, and the coffee foams to the top almost immediately. The cezve is removed and added to the sand three to four times and served in a small cup.
Colourful scarves
Dried vegetables and soap for sale
Interesting wines, ranging from banana to orange flavoured. We bought a bottle of Cherry flavoured wine, 12% alcohol for appro Euro 6.- . You cannot stop but drink the entire bottle. Very dangerous. Check out the warning at the back of the bottle!!
Sven tells me that this cherry flavoured wine is not for women who don't want to get fat (see 2nd picture...)
Cave of the seven sleepers of Ephesus recalls the story of 7 young men who sought refuge in a cave outside Ephesus to escape persecution under Decius, around year 250. The group refused to obey the greedy king, which had forced his entire kingdom to worship idols he selected himself instead to pursue their faith in God.
They woke up only 200 years later. One went to town trying to buy food with an old coin. He realised what had happened and went back to the cave to inform his friends. They all went back to sleep and never woke up again.
Drink in a beautiful place after visiting the seven sleepers of Ephesus. Tried fresh blackberry juice with the result of Caroline's teeth looking like she chewed on betel leaves.
One lady was making and cooking breads,. Another peeled piles of tomatoes. cooked them in pots over the open fire then bottled them.
Another early start the next morning. We drove through villages where we could only see Turkish men drink tea (no women). This culture and the Turkish Tea house tradition has been around for years. I am sure that the women are happy to catch up with female friends, kids and family and have their men out of the home. It is their life, their tradition and their culture. We decided to sit outside in a coffee style place to embrace the culture. (Caroline was also the only woman here)
After breakfast we were ready to drive to the Dilek National Park for a walk.
There was a big lagoon with very shallow waters, with many Flamingos and other bird life enjoying it. We could read the sign at the entry of the park, but as everything is only in Turkish, we did not understand it.
We should have postponed our walk until later. We both really liked Bafa Lake. We drove as close to the monastery ruins as possible. The rocky mountain ranges look amazing and we came across many old ruins. Elderly women in the the Kapikiri village were trying to sell handmade items to us. The locals are lovely and all want to chat.
According to the legend, it was here that the goddess Selene fell in love with the shepherd Endymion and she asked Zeus to keep the young shepherd in perpetual sleep and bore up to fifty children from her nightly encounters with the sleeping young man!
We asked this lovely fisherman what the foul smell was He told us that it comes from rotten plants, but also a far away cotton factory which is spoiling the water. Some cotton is grown around the area.
We spoke to these ladies on the way up, so was lovely to cross them again.
Ladies waiting for us to pass so they can sell home made crafts to us.
We saw many pig signs and unfortunately also a dead one on the road.
Turkish people typically consume beef, lamb, fish, and poultry.
We had a bumpy ride from Didim to our next anchorage. View of the Waves from the toilet window.
Our new neighbour. The boat is called Solaris and is owned by Russian Politician, Billionaire and oligarch Roman Abramovich. He is the former owner of the Chelsea Premier League football club in London, England.
Consulted Wikipedia to find out how he made his billions. Who needs a TV!
Bodrum
Known in ancient times as Halicarnassus was once home to the Mausoleum (also known as the tomb of Mausolus) and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (It was destroyed by successive earthquakes from the 12th to the 15th century). Some of the old stones were used when building the castle.
Nice anchorage in front of the castle.
Nice backdrop to do some silicon replacement on plate bottoms and enjoying the night view from our lounge.
Very convenient, attached dinghy in front of our breakfast table before visiting the castle.
We were the first at the castle and alone for 90 minutes!
On the castle wall looking down.
The castle was surprising and the displays very modern (including films and drawings about different pieces, events and history).
The view from castle onto our boat.
Enjoyed the old town of Bodrum with its Bazaar like streets. Lucky, that we visited Bodrum end of September and not in August....
The last pictures is one of the many backgammon games we looked at. We are keen to get one for some Winter entertainment.
Çökertme
A lovely small village. We had a late lunch/early dinner and stayed on anchor overnight.
Knidos
Archaeologists date the ancient city of Knidos back to the first half of 2.000 BC.
It was amazing to anchor right in the middle of this archaeological site but even better to walk around. (Thanks Karin and Heinz for this and many other tips)
The amphitheater at sunset with our boat in front.
and at sun rise the next morning.
Walk around before sunset.
Spot the difference
These two human figures were carved on this limestone block showing man holds woman's chin (he is not strangling her), and the woman the man's phallus. This is a love scene (Hieros Gamos/Sacred marriage). It dates back to 550 B.C.
The 2nd picture was the sign above the rock explaining the history (minus the hand and its content) which is clearly visible on the stone carving.
Quick paddle with our SUP to the restaurant.
These photos were taken 10 minutes apart after drinks. What a stunning display of changing colours.
And another nice treat the next morning.
No name bay (a bay near Mugla )
Sven wanted to find a bay just for us, which he did.
We walked 7 km to the next village. A dirt road led us past some lovely green trees and houses.
At night we gazed up at the star-studded sky and the milky way (no city lights interfering),
Datça
Our next anchorage was in Datca, a lovely place with a nice harbour and sooo many lovely places to eat and drink.
The atmosphere between mosque prayers and the music from bars and restaurant was truly lovely. Every restaurant had beautiful lights everywhere.
It has become more challenging to find english speaking people. Instead of asking for Turkish chicken sish, we try to find restaurants where we can just point. This way we get to try a bit of everything!
