Days Five - Nine: The Cruise

Fetiye.

Gretchen has reserved a boat cruise for us with Before Lunch Cruises.
http://www.beforelunch.com/  Their website has some wonderful photos.  The boats are usually called gülets.  This was my second gület cruise, the first being in 1995 when Hatice, Veli, two of their best friends and my best friend Kati and I visited Turkey.


"BeforeLunch" is owned by Roz, an Aussie, who spends half the year in Turkey and the other half in Australia. So she has summer year-round.   Her ship The Roz had nine or so cabins and could sleep our 15 plus the captain and the crew of two.  Ahmet was our captain.  

[You have to be aware that "Ahmet" is often a name given as a nickname to males and may have no relationship to their actual name.  In many Turkish jokes, Ahmet is the name of one of the characters. Like Sven and Ollie in Swedish jokes.]

We had our cook whose name I never learned and who moved too quick for a photo, and we had "Freddy Mercury."  Now this was Freddy Mercury without the brush mustache but certainly with the nose and the prognathic upper teeth.  Don't know if he sings or not and doubt that he had Freddy's predilections but he sure looked like him.  He was the second hand and did a lot of the work of raising and lowering the anchor, tending the sail and operating the dinghy.

It is Before Lunch because that is when the boat leaves and returns to the dock in Fetiye.

We got to the dock with our luggage at 10:30 as instructed.  We had checked out of our villa, piled into the minivan and assaulted the ATM.  Roz wanted cash.  So cash it was to be.  The boat has returned from its cruise but needed time for cleaning and restocking so we could not board until about 11:30.  Plenty of time to enjoy the waterfront and the really charming covered shopping area.  It was shaded by vines in some parts and by umbrellas suspended about ten feet off the ground.  Both methods provided some nice relief from the sun.  

Fetiye is a port town, a fishing port that has an interesting mixture of old and new, or preserved antiquities and modern ocean-going vessels.  There is a Lycean sacophagus right on the grounds of the municipal building.  There is a Crusader fort of the Knights of St. John up on the side of the mountain overlooking the harbor and just next to other Lycean burial chambers carved of the cliffside.  If you make this hike, do it late in the day when the sun is heading down.  Less hot and the light for photographs is a lot better. 


We left the dock after a brief and practical orientation to the boat and where we would be going.  The plan was to motor to several of the islands near Fetiye.  We would stop, anchor and then they could let down the ladder for swimming and snorkeling and take interested persons over to the island for exploring and hiking.  

In the daytime we went to islands, dropped anchor, had lunch and at another island had supper.  These islands are quite dry but do sustain trees and brush.  Ahmet is dedicated to the environment.  Cans and bottles were separated by us for recycling,  There was a can crush to compact the cans.  On one island there had been a restaurant.  It closed and was abandoned, leaving behind all the garbage and equipment.  With each of his visits, he takes a little more away to restore the island. He also has installed and marked trails for exploring.  

And the exploring was good.  

Putting the broken ankle to the test.  I broke my ankle last November.  As far as I know it has healed 
but bones may take a year to get to as normal as they will be.  I still have a plate and ten screws in my ankle.  So, we set out on a hike at this unnamed island.  It turned out to be a hike. Probably over a mile on a steep and pebbly path.  Veli had to turn back:  it was really hot and he had a heart attack some years back.  Atılgan made his dad go back and attentive and caring man that he is, he walked his dad back down the hill.  So I figured that having survived that climb--both ways--I had put my ankle to the test.

This island held treasures.  First, there was the abandoned Lycean temple at the top of the hill.  The Lyceans were seafaring, Ahmet says, but built these temples, perhaps as beacons (or like the cairns that dot the hills

pocket door with rock slab in right channel

of New England and of the United Kingdom).  The ruins of this one showed an pocket door cut into the back of the base of the temple.  It did not fool anyone and had been broken into--who knows when or how many times.

in center the excavated amphitheatre with slope for seating
and to right a cluster of oaks growing in the rostrum

Climbing on, there was an abandoned village.  Carved stone was strewn everywhere.  I thought maybe Hellenic but then I saw this carved cross and wondered about that.  As I walked on I caught up with the rest of the group.  They were visiting the shepherd who inhabits the island along with his wife.  They keep chickens and "India Birds" and harvest the olives.  His home looked simple from the outside.  The only evidence of modernity was a solar electricity collector and a satellite dish.  The rest could have been 15th Century.

India birds

marble fragment with cross -- see my foot for comparison

Ahmet added that he has also worked with this man and others to dig and install a large cistern on the island.  I was not clear on what was supposed to be stored in the cistern.  Ahmet also got a large bag of oreGANo which grows on the island and which the shepherd had harvested for him.  Aside from his olives and sheep the only other apparent source of income was the implements carved from olive wood that he offered to tourists like us.  There was an intriguing photo of a girl aged 7-9 hanging up in the covered patio where we set.  I wondered about that photo and that girl.

Day Four: The "Dead Sea"

Day Four:  The "Dead Sea"

The Olüdeniz Bay has even more of that turquoise water.  A spit of sand projects out across the bay creating a lagoon behind it that has not waves; therefore the "dead" (waveless) sea.

Today it was under 100 degrees, even on the sand.  We rented some umbrellas and some lounges and took turns resting under the shade.  Or under the shade at the snack bar.  

"Chips" are a very popular snack in Turkey and often accompany the meals .  We call them French Fries for some reason.

Hattice and Kaan were seeking shelter 

under the shade of the snack bar.

There is a high cliff above the beach.  This is a site for paragliders.  There are a few deaths every year.  For me, not an attraction, but others might like to do this.  There is enough of an adrenalin charge just riding on the highways.  Obviously this is NOT my photo of the paragliding.  No way. But it does provide a great perspective on Olüdeniz and the quiet waters of the lagoon.

After the beach, we dropped the Toker contingent off at their resort.  We were all leaving the next day for our cruise.

It was a great advantage to have the kitchen in our villa.  We cooked up much of the groceries we had bought and enjoyed good vegetarian cuisine with the freshest produce imaginable and the ripest fruit.  Forrest, who was a "trooper" throughout the entire trip, found his feeding and nap schedule totally in chaos but really did remarkably.  I know this because I slept next door.

Day Three, Dalaman

DALAMAN, Day Three July 21

This was a day to enjoy the beach.  This part of
Turkey is the center of the Turquoise Coast. 
Truly named for the color of the water.  This is dry country but enough moisture comes off the water to sustain the reforestation of the hills with conifers.

The loggerhead turtle has its nesting grounds in this area.  It is an endangered species so that sections of the beach are off limits to protect the egg-laying sites.

Pomegranates are a principal crop here.  On our way to the beach we stop at a sort of native preserve and pomegranate juice place.  There is a curious collection of birds and a place where the turtles come up to be fed scraps of bread.  There are some turkeys pinned up as well as a peacock.  Now here is a question:  what do Turks call the turkey?   

They call it "the India bird."  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97541602  The early colonists referred to virtually everything from that part of the world as "turkey" and called the American fowl the Turkey coq.  Poor understanding of both geography and zoology.  So we saw the India bird and then drove on to spend a great day at the beach.  It was 40˚ C. Now the sands at 104˚ F are pretty rough to walk on. But my the water felt so good.  It was quite a lot saltier than the waters around New England.  I am not sure why.  Logically it seems to me that the waters around the world should all equilibrate in saltiness.

Another good day.
 
Sean and Forrest at the turquoise waters

Day Two: Dalyan to Fetiye

 So on Day Two July 20 we wake up.  My room is cool.  Kathy's room was cool.  Sean, Gretchen and Forrest had a non-working A/C and were understandably too tired at 2:30 AM to do anything about it.  I dressed and walked out onto the street, turned left and walked 100 ft to the edge of the inlet.  Boats parked along the side.  Across the river and up the side of the mountain was this sight:  Lycian ruins of ancient tombs carved into the sides of the cliff to receive the bodies of the wealthy and the royal.  These tombs are everywhere along this south coast of Anatolia.  The Lycians were 6th Century BCE and recorded in Egyptian and Hittite writings.  The Dalyan river is what I am looking over and above me on the other side of the mountain lie the ruins of Kaunos.
The ancient city looks out over what was once its port.  One of the themes of many of these coastal cities is that they are no longer coastal.  Centuries of silt washing down the rivers have pushed the coast further away.  Examples are Kaunos, Ephesus and Troy, all allowing a view of the ocean but now several kilometers away. 
   We pack the car and head for Fetiye.

Fetiye is where we will meet up with our Turkish family.  But first we have to find our housing.  This is a challenge.  Large and legible street signs are unknown in Turkey.  What signs there are are perched in mysterious places on the sides of buildings, under overhanging foliage, of posts parallel to the route you are driving.  The font is about the size that you could read from a donkey cart but not from a car traveling at even a slow speed.  It is hard.  Streets sometimes do not connect.  When the street reappears the numbering may start all over again.  Sean had smartly loaded some maps into his smart phone and these were a help.  Our "villa" was supposed to be near the town square; problem is:  the town square is filled with the weekly market with tents, awnings, stalls and hundred of people.  95 degrees out but time to get out and walk looking for an address.  Found!
   Gretchen found our villa through AirB&B.  Perfect. Pool, kitchen, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, washer, dryer, balconies outside each bedroom, the living room and the kitchen.  Really nice.

   After we settled in, we went to explore the open market.  The cheese seller with maybe eleven kinds of fresh sheep and goat cheeses. The produce stands with fresh,  RIPE, tree grown fruit, nuts, watermelons, spices.  My first task was to find a gift for Beth and I got her some Turkish pantaloons from this seller.  Loaded with fruits and cheeses, vegetables, gorgeous tomatoes we went back to prepare snacks for our arriving guests. 



Forrest met his Turkish Cousins.  Here with Cem and Marcus.

After getting acquainted and reacquainted, having some snacks and swimming in the pool, the 15 loaded into cars to go into the main part of Fetiye to see the town and to have dinner.  Here are Sean and Gretchen at the portside in Fetiye.  We enjoyed a great dinner of traditional Turkish cooking.  We thought it was all excellent but were not aware that the Mantı  was substandard.  Hatice was upset and promised to cook us proper Mantı (a kind of small ravioli).  It was really great to be drinking Efes beer again and to try Efes Dark, a brew that was new to me.  We said good night and we headed back to our villa and Atılgan et al. went to their resort area a little further out of Fetiye. 

The McCloyTurkey trip July 2014

http://www.nationsonline.org/maps/turkey-map.jpg

In 2013, I asked Sean and Gretchen if they would like to join me in a trip to Turkey.  I had been there in 2012 for two weeks and wanted to go back, see other places and spend more time with our Turkish Family.  They enthusiastically agreed and invited Kathy Earle, Gretchen's mother, to join us.  If they had any qualms about traveling with Forrest (then about three months old), they did not show them.

Some Background

Sean was an American Field Service exchange student in Turkey in 89-90, his senior year in high school. Gretchen's family spent a year in New Zealand as exchange teachers.  The Toker family hosted Sean in their home in Bursa. Atılgan (notice the soft "i" without a dot--I just learned how to do that in this kind of text box!) Toker was Sean's AFS brother who lived with our family in Rhode Island about three years later.

• 1995 Steve and (then) Kati McCloy visited Turkey for a month
• 1998 Steve, Kati and Sean visited Bursa
• 2006 Steve briefly visited Istanbul at the end of a trip to Transylvania/Rumania with a church group.  Then we met İrem and Cem (pronounced Jem), Atılgan's wife and son.  We met his sister Demet Toker Olesen and her husband Jens and sons Sinan (Nicolai) and Yiğip (Marcus).
• 2012 Steve and  Richard spent two weeks exploring parts of Turkey including Bursa and Ankara. We spent time with Veli Toker (paterfamilias) but Hatice (the mom) was in Zurich being a grandmother to Nicolai and Marcus.  We also met baby Kaan.

  

  Aboard the "Ros" in Fetiye

Back row:  Steve, Atılgan, Jens
Middle row: Cem and Marcus, Kathy, Sean
Front row:  Hatice, Kaan, Irem, Forrest, Gretchen, Demet Veli and Nicolai

DAY 1-----travel  Logan Airport in Boston to Dalyan, Turkey

Dalyan is in southwestern Turkey

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Mu%C4%9Fla_districts.png/375px-Mu%C4%9Fla_districts.png

Not much to say about a ten-hour flight with a four hour layover in Istanbul and another flight to Dalyan.  Except:  Turkish Airways is awesome.

You do what you need to do is to survive.  Sean and I were on a separate flight from Kathy, Gretchen and Forrest who were flying in from Vienna.  They landed about 15 minutes after we did.  While Sean and I were collecting our baggage and looking around for the rest of the crew, my phone magically rings and it is Atılgan who has driven up from where his family were staying in Fetiye to meet us!  And wonderful Cem was with him!   This is so typical of the kindness, the thoughtfulness of this man. 

  The original plan was for us to take a taxi to our hotel in Dalyan and then drive back to the airport to collect our rental car the next day.  It turned out that our hotel was a lot less convenient to the airport than it had seemed during the planning phase--it was in Dalaman about 30 km away--and so we thought maybe at nearly midnight we might be able to pick up the rental.  Europcar was very accommodating including driving with us to get a child seat.  The only thing they could not supply was a GPS.

So we set out for the CARIA PREMIUM HOTEL

We are bone-tired, we have no GPS but we do have verbal directions from the Europcar guy.  We finally pull into Dalaman, it is after 1:00 AM and no one has enough Turkish to ask directions.  But a guy on the street indicated more or less where he thinks it is.  We go there and, yes, it is the Caria.  But the other Caria.  The host climbs into the minibus and directs us to the cousin hotel.

This is what I wrote in my review for TripAdvisor:  Late arrival from airport. We found the "cousin" hotel and the clerk hopped into the car to guide us to our hotel. A great boon to the tired traveler. It was a good value with a clean room, A/C and hot shower. Generous bottle of water and quiet.

Time to sleep.

TURKEY 2014

August 16, 2014, Providence RI

First, it is supposed to read "Travel&Thoughts"  but I hit the wrong key.
Second, I want to try to share my travel experiences and the many photos we all made.
Third, I am not sure about blogging. I did a blog of my trip to China in '06 but could never get access to it afterwards.  All that was lost.  You think you will easily remember log-ons and passwords; I do not.
Fourth, I hope that we will figure out a way to pool all our photos of this trip because I know that others saw of things and photographed their own vision.