A LONG FAREWELL TO İSTANBUL

Nov. 16, 2000
Hotel Park, İstanbul, Türkiye

We got up at 5:30 so as to make it to the service bus on time. There was no hot water, in fact no water came out of the hot tap at all. Without showers, we were ready quite early. Fortunately, Mel Gibson did not forget us and he drove us to the main road where we were eventually picked up by the airport service bus. Denizli airport is 60 kilometers away from Denizli and is actually not any further from Pamukkale. The bus ride took about an hour.

The flight to İstanbul took less than an hour. We took the Havaş bus to Aksaray and then took a cab to the Hotel Park. The first person we saw was Idris, our friend from the hotel next door, who was very glad to see us and carried our bags into the hotel for us. We got our old room back for the still outrageous price of $40/night. Our friend, Selim from Iraq, brought our bags up and his face broke into a wide grin when he saw who we were. We were both tired and went upstairs and slept until 14:30.

Deanna was hungry when we woke up, so the first thing we did was to go to the Karasu Restaurant and have kebap with sesame seeds. They remembered us there, too. It was market day and Deanna went off to explore while I ducked into a travel agency and bought a ticket to Paris via Austrian Airlines for only 123 million lire (about $200) , a whole lot better than the $448 I was quoted in Marmaris. Deanna ran into our friend, Serdar, from the bookstore. He was glad to see us because he was about to take the tourism department English exam and wanted our help to study for it.

From there, we went over to Doğan’s and visited with him for a couple of hours. Then we went back to get the laundry, which was closed, and pick up my plane ticket. We chatted with Serdar for a couple of minutes, but still could not decide on a time to meet. Then we went up the hill to get money and stopped at the Sultan Pub for a couple of overpriced drinks. We spent 9 million lire for four Efes darks and a dish of pistachios. Then we went back to the hotel and discussed reincarnation with Doğan and Refik until it got late and I passed out.

Nov. 17, 2000
Hotel Park, İstanbul, Türkiye

It was very cold in our room that night and we didn’t sleep well, so we didn’t get up until 8:00. We ate breakfast and then we went to the internet café for a couple of hours. We picked up our laundry and then went out to lunch at the Indian restaurant.

After lunch, we went to the Grand Bazaar. On the way, we stopped at a ceramic store near the Indian restaurant where we bought some tile coasters and I bought a square tile for my roommate and a plate with the Turkish star and crescent on it. At the Grand Bazaar, we looked at every large-stoned ring and every pair of gold earrings in the bazaar. I bought a tanzanite ring with a 15.3g stone and an 18 karat gold, hand-made setting for my mother. She wanted a big ring. I hoped it was big enough for her.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at an optician’s and Deanna ordered a new pair of glasses. Then we rushed back to the hotel to meet Doğan for dinner. We were joined for dinner by Doğan’s friend, Muğteran. Muğteran was from Malatya and he turned out to be the friend of Orhan’s who had introduced Orhan to Doğan. The world is very small. The four of us took the ferry over to Üshkadar for dinner at Doğan’s favorite restaurant, Kanaat Lokantası. The ferry ride was very beautiful. We could see the Dolmabahçe Palace, many, many mosques with lighted minarets, and the Maiden Tower. We had a very nice dinner and Doğan treated us. We had an interesting discussion with Doğan about why is was only interested in foreign women. He thought he had more in common with them, which could have been true, but mainly he wanted to be able to live with a woman before getting married. We walked to the ferry and back, which I really enjoyed. It was nearly midnight when we got home.

Nov. 18, 2000
Hotel Park, İstanbul, Türkiye

Chora

We got another late start and didn’t get out of the hotel until noon. We went up to the Aya Sofia to get money and Deanna spent an hour or so picking out eleven prints of Istanbul. We went up to Divan Yolu to pick up Deanna’s new glasses and then took a taxi up to Chora. By the time we got to Chora, it was 14:30. We got an incredible deal on god’s eyes from a merchant up there. I got five for 700,000 lire.

Mosaic at Chora

Chora was very beautiful. The church and the inner narthex were built in the eleventh century. They were decorated with panels of every imaginable color of marble, arranged in complex patterns. The church was englarged in the thirteenth century and it was then that the famouse mosaics were executed. An outer narthex was added across the front and a chapel was built along the southern side. The chapel was decorated with frescoes, including frescoes of faux marble on the lower walls. (The congregation must have fallen on hard times or spent all of their money on mosaics.) The upper parts of the walls and ceilings of the two narthexes were covered with golden mosaics. There were also three mosaics in the nave, but they seemed a bit isolated in that big expanse of ancient marble. Most of the mosaics were in good repair and, even where the tiles had fallen away, you could see the original designs because they were first drawn on the walls and then filled in like paint by numbers.

Walking Through the Jewish Quarter

It was too late to go anywhere else by the time we got out of Chora, so we took a walk along the city wall, where gypsies were grazing their horses in the park, and across the old Jewish quarter to the Bosphorus. We didn’t see any Jewish people (Kamil said they had moved to more prosperous areas.), but we did see lots of old Ottoman houses, some of which were falling down. The neighborhood was built on the side of a ravine and there were some nice views of İstanbul, although it was too smoggy for taking good pictures.

I wanted to walk along the Bosphorus, but Deanna was in one of her hunger rages, so we jumped in a cab and came back to Sultanahmet to eat something. After dinner, we rested for an hour or so and then Zakir came over with our carpets at 19:00. He was carrying them on foot (bless his heart!) and had to make two trips. We had intended to take him for dinner, but he was studying for his exams and didn’t have much time. We went out for tea and baklava, instead, and had a nice visit, most of which we spent trying to reassure Zakir that he would do fine on his exams.

After we said goodbye, we came back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening talking with Doğan and Refik in the lobby.

Nov. 19, 2000
Hotel Park, İstanbul, Türkiye

We got another late start, yesterday. Deanna spent until 13:00 packing her suitcase and carpets. For some reason, she was obsessing about it. She obsessed every time we got on a plane. I didn’t understand. By expanding my bag, I was able to get my carpet in.

Of course we had to eat before we could do anything and of course we couldn’t get anything quick. We ate in a restaurant above the Hippodrome.

We had planned to go to Dolmabahçe Palace, but settled for the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, instead, since it was 14:30 by the time we finished lunch. The Islamic Art Museum is housed in the former Ishak Paşa Palace. It contains something like 40,000 pieces of art, but the most amazing pieces were the carpets. There were some dating back as far as the thirteenth century. The designs had not changed much over the years. There was also a stunning room filled with huge carpets that were really mind-blowing.

The Blue Mosque

Downstairs, was an exhibit outlining a plan to turn Sultanahment into an archaeological park because it was once the site of a huge palace. How would they have decided what would go and what would stay? The Blue Mosque sits in the center of the proposed site.

From the museum, we went to the internet café for a few minutes and then to Serdar’s bookstore to sell our excess books and say goodbye. We went back to the hotel to read for awhile before dinner.

We went out to dinner with a friend of Deanna’s cousin, Larry, and her husband. They took us to a restaurant near where they lived. It was a large, upscale place that served Turkish food, but seemed to have a very cosmopolitan clientele. The mezes were very good. After dinner, Nesli and her husband took us on a drive through Taksim Square. The traffic was terrible even late on Saturday night.

Dec. 28, 2000
Sunnyvale, CA

Doğan at the Ferry Terminal

On our last day in Türkiye, we went to the Princes’ Islands with Doğan and six of his guests. We took the ferry and it was a long ride to Doğan’s favorite island because it was the last stop. The island featured lovely, Victoria era villas and lots of horse-drawn carriages. There was a quaint downtown shopping street. We went for a walk to look at the houses and then ate seafood in a restaurant near the ferry landing. We were very sleepy on the ride home.

Villa on Princes' Island

Princes' Island

Doğan had us over for dinner on his terrace overlooking the Blue Mosque. Bruce and Karen (from Hendersonville, TN) joined us and we had a lovely evening. We stayed quite late, and might have stayed longer, but I had to rise at 4:00 to catch my airport shuttle.

The Ferry Ride Home

I took the airport shuttle at 5:00 and caught an Austrian Airlines flight to Vienna at 7:00. When I got to Vienna, I was disturbed to discover that there was no 10:25 Austrian Airlines flight to Paris, but eventually discovered that the Air France flight at that time was the same plane. I managed to negotiate the Vienna airport entirely in German.

The Paris airport was more difficult. I came into the EU terminal (essentially the domestic terminal) and was leaving from the international terminal. I had to take a bus quite a distance to get there. I had two hours and I made it in plenty of time, having managed to handle all enquiries in French. I was feeling pretty good about my language skills by that point. My luggage didn’t make it from terminal to terminal in time, so it didn’t arrive with me.  I was a bit concerned about the duty I might have to pay on a $2200 carpet but it was delivered to my door without any interaction with customs.

The flight to Los Angeles was long, but uneventful. I arrived on time. Because I had no luggage, I got through customs without having to pay any duty. My friends Joe and Diane were there to greet me. Diane brought my birthday and housewarming gifts and I gave her the Diana pin I had purchased in Ankara. We visited for awhile and then Joe and I tried to go to Marina del Rey to get the bag I had left at Deanna’s. There was a sniper incident going on in the apartments near Ralph’s and the police weren’t letting anyone closer than Jefferson. I had two bags of clothes and neither of them were doing me any good.

Michelle and Sophie met us at the El Torito in Pasadena and I had my first meal of Mexican food. I was in heaven, complete with margaritas. I stayed three days and spent Thanksgiving with the Futerman/Markman clan. Joe lent me his car so I could retrieve my bag from Deanna’s and I had a nice visit with my friend, Peter, while I was there. I flew from Burbank to Oakland the day after Thanksgiving and my mother and Uncle Fred met me and took me back to Benicia.

EPHESUS, PAMUKKALE, AND APHRODESIUS

Nov. 13, 2000
Artemis Guest House, Selçuk, Türkiye

The Artemis Guest House charged only 7 million lire for a double room, but they made up the difference by charging for breakfast. This was a fine arrangement, however, because they had a varied breakfast menu from which to choose and the food was good. We had fried eggs and tasty, if greasy, Turkish sausage. 

Meryemana

After breakfast, they gave us a free lift to Ephesus and then, for an extra 8 million lire, we convinced the driver to take us up to Meryemana, the Virgin Mary’s house, which was 7 kilometers further up a very steep hill. He took us up there and waited for us. The house, which was begun in the first century (of course) and added onto in the fourth and seventh centuries, was restored in the mid-eighteenth century when an invalid German nun, who had never left her country, had a vision and exactly described the location where Mary’s final home would be found. Her name was Anna Katarina Emmerich. When local Christians examined the spot, they found the foundations of a first century house. Thus, the place became a shrine for Christians and Muslims, who also revere Mary as a prophetess. 

Shrine at Meryemana

The house was set in a light-filled forest and there was a spring that was rumored to have healing properties. We got there just in time for mass, which was said in many languages, outside the shrine, on a terrace. The Italian version was celebrated by an Italian nun. There were several likenesses of Mary inside the shrine and lots of flowers. It was a pretty and tranquil place. 

After our visit to Mary’s house, we rode back down the hill where the driver let us off at the upper gate to Ephesus. We spent several hours wandering down through the site.  At the top was a small theater called the Odeon and the remains of what was once the water palace. There was also a large collection of columns which had been the original St. John’s basilica, from early Christian times. Before the road turned, we came to the temple of Domitius and Domitius’ palace, which once housed the largest marble statue I had ever imagined. Fragments of the statue were housed in the Selçuk Museum. 

Curetes Way

Turning the corner, we headed down Curetes Way, passing Trajan’s fountain and the Hercules gate. Further along, we passed the terraced houses, destroyed something like four times and now covered by a permanent, and unfortunately locked, covering. We then passed the impressive baths of Skolastika, the temple of Hadrian, and the humorous public toilets (men only, of course.) At the corner of Curetes Way and the Sacred (or Marble) Way, stood the famous Library of Celsus, which had become

something of an open air art gallery.  It was flanked on one side by the impressive south gate to the agora, which was a green field with lots of white column fragments and cypress trees.

Trajan's Fountain

The Public Toilets

The Library of Celsus

 

The Sacred Way

Turning the corner, we passed the brothel, which Deanna insisted was actually a temple of Aphrodite, and finally came to the large theater, which once sat 25,000 people. Ephesus was a city of over 200,000 people and its ruins were extensive, even more so because the city was moved a couple of times as the harbor silted in. 

The Theater at Ephesus

Nov. 13, 2000

Koray Motel, Pamukkale, Türkiye 

I had really been looking forward to the walk back to Selçuk from Ephesus but, as usual, Deanna insisted on taking a cab because she was hungry and refused to eat the fast food at Ephesus. The Selçuk Museum contains all of the statues and friezes found at the Ephesus site. They were unremarkable except for the gargantuan pieces of Domitian and the two well-preserved Artemises with their many breasts or eggs or bull’s testicles depending on who you asked. The museum also had a few ancient Greek marble backgammon tables and the remains of an ivory frieze that once adorned a piece of furniture. The carved ivory was very fine. There was also a bas relief of sacrificial bulls that once adorned Domitian’s altar (they worshipped the emperors as gods, back then.) The bulls were my favorites. 

After spending the entire trip looking at every gold earring in Türkiye, Deanna finally bought a pair of imitation gold reproductions of the Anatolian mother goddess. After the museum, we started to walk up to St. John’s basilica, but Deanna got hungry, so we had to abandon that idea. She wanted to eat mezes at the first restaurant on the street, but they had nothing but fish, mushrooms, and aubergine, so we compromised by having some mezes, first, at another place and then going back there so she could eat fish. The first place was fine. We each had a beer and our friend, the kitten, joined us again. The bill was 4.5 million lire. We had yogurt with spinach, tomatoes with chili, lavosh, and fried pastries with our beer. Then we went to the second place. We didn’t look at the menu but ordered from the case. We had fried mussels and calamari, one bowl of bean soup, and Deanna had a kebap. We split a small bottle of wine, which was 4 million lire. I asked about that in advance. When the bill came. It was 16 million lire. We hit the ceiling. We had been paying 2.5 million lire for calamari, etc. He charged us 4 million each for the (inedible) mussels and the calamari. Then he had the nerve to charge us for the bread we didn’t eat and add a 1.6 million lire service charge. We were both indignant. I would have paid the bill without the service charge and taken it as a lesson to always ask prices before ordering. Deanna refused to pay. She put 12 million lire on the table and stomped out, leaving our purse behind for me to retrieve. 

We went back to the hotel and spent the evening reading and wondering if the jandarma were going to come beating on our door. Selçuk saw a lot of tourists because it was the city nearest to Ephesus and we learned that they were prone to take advantage, there. 

We managed to leave Selçuk without getting arrested and took a three hour bus ride to Pamukkale. We ended up going to a motel run by the family of the guy who runs the bus agency. They were very friendly and helpful as long as you weren’t in a hurry. Unfortunately, we were. Deanna had suddenly conceived a desire to get to İstanbul a day early and she insisted that we get plane tickets from Denizli to İstanbul before we did anything else. The fact that I thought going to İstanbul on Thursday was too soon would not dissuade her from going on Wednesday and wasting two and a half hours of Monday to confirm it. The brothers who ran the motel had offered to take us to the travel agency in Denizli, which they did, but they kept us waiting until 14:00. Deanna refused to eat while we waited, even though I was already protesting that it was going to get dark before we got to the pools at Pamukkale. By the time we drove to Denizli and back, it was 15:00. 

The Path Up to Pamukkale

Upon our return, I proposed that we go to the pools while it was still light, but Deanna pulled the “fainting from hunger” routine, again. On top of everything else, the restaurant was slow. We didn’t get out of there until 16:20 and the direct light was already gone. We stomped away up the hill toward the pools. The development along the top of the pools had been removed and the Turks were trying to restore the pristine whiteness of the site. Unfortunately, this meant that one had to remove one’s shoes and walk up the often rocky slope in bare feet. Picking our way up the slope was slow, but the view was lovely. The pools are actually artificial, but they have been covered over with calcium salts and look very much like snow. The people picking their way gingerly up the path looked like penguins. There were a few shallow pools along the way but the famous ones are at the top and I wanted to get there before it was too dark to photograph the blue color of the water. 

The Cascading Pools

There are two sets of pools. The scalloped ones cascading down the face are on the left and there are some shallow reflecting pools on the right. We went to see the cascading pools first. I was concentrating on taking a photo when Deanna apparently told me she was going inside a nearby ruin. I did not hear her. When I finished taking my photo, I turned around and she was nowhere to be seen. I figured she had gone back up to the parking lot at the top with all the other people, so I picked my way back up there. She wasn’t there. At that point, I figured she was down in the ruins but, if I had limped back down there again I would not have gotten to see the other side. Not knowing for sure that she was down there and still angry about getting such a late start, having to leave early, etc, I put my shoes on and went over to see the other side. The other side was really fascinating. It didn’t look like much from below, but that was the side that once contained the hotels.

The Shallow Pools

The wide, shallow pools reflected the sunset like mirrors, interrupted by the ridges of stone between levels. On top of the ridge, only the marble floors remained where once there were big hotels. The remains were not unlike the mosaics and tile floors found in Roman and Byzantine homes. Most amazing, were the immense and elaborate empty swimming pools that once graced the hotels. These pools were quite deep (6-8’) and covered acres. They were decorated with columns and statues, bridges and walkways, all painted white, of course. It was no wonder that the water diverted to fill them drained the site and led to its degradation. They were then empty and conduits carried the mineral laden water in one side and straight out the other to cascade down the slope and, eventually, restore the pristine, white surface. 

Sunset on the Pools at Pamukkale

It was completely dark by the time I got back to the parking lot. Deanna was not there. Knowing how she hated walking in the dark, I assumed she had left without me. As it turned out, she had taken a cab but I never thought of that. I picked my way down the hill. It was easy to see where to go because the ground was white and there were brilliant flood lights illuminating the site. Unfortunately, it was hard to see when near the lights because they were blindingly bright. Just before the point where I could put my shoes back on my poor, battered feet, I was walking along the wide, concrete wall of the last pool when I slipped on some calcious mud and fell into the pool. That was not exactly how I had envisioned going swimming at Pamukkale. I dripped all the way back to the motel, nearly hypothermic and dreaming of a hot bath, to find a spitting mad Deanna in the bathtub. I supposed she was frightened that something might have happened to me, but I was cold and wet and not exactly in the mood to be yelled at when the whole mess was really no one’s fault. She insisted I pay half of her cab fare. We still weren’t speaking when I wrote this. 

Nov. 14, 2000 

Koray Motel, Pamukkale, Türkiye 

Everything seemed to be back to normal the following morning and Deanna even refrained from using my towel to soak up the water from the leaky toilet. We had breakfast at the motel and then expected to go to Aphrodisias. We were supposed ao go on the 9:30 bus but it was cancelled due to lack of interest. Then we were supposed to go at 10:30 with three other people from the motel, but they backed out. We ended up hiring a minibus for 25 million lire, which was double the cost of the bus, but less than we usually had paid to hire a driver. He took us to Aphrodisias, waited for us for two and a half hours, took us to lunch, and then brought us back. 

Tetrapylon at Aphrodisias

Aphrodisias is a pretty place where all of the public sculpture is dedicated to Aphrodite, philosophy, and poetry. They have reconstructed the tetrapylon and planted grass around it and it is an attractive site. Kenan Erim, the Turkish professor from NYU who spent twenty nine years excavating the site, is buried nearby. I was drafted to take pictures of three tourists while we were there. 

The Stadium at Aphrodisias

From the tetrapylon, we wandered over to the huge, oblong stadium that once seated 30,000. Aphrodisias might have been the city of love, but one end of the stadium still had a special enclosure for gladitorial contests and wild animal fights. 

The Ruins of the Temple of Aphrodite

The temple of Aphrodite was rearranged and expanded into a basilica by the Byzantine Christians and a palace for the bishop was erected next door. On the other side of the palace is a pleasant, little odeon, perfect for chamber concerts, which still contains most of its original marble facing. From there, we walked past the agora and several pomegranate trees to Hadrian’s baths and then on to the theater, which is built into the side of a small hill.  The hill has been determined to be artificial. Having been constructed atop the ruins of a prehistoric settlement. The theater is quite well preserved and had the only complete stage that we had seen. Behind the theater is the gymnasium and collonaded playing fields. We also went to the museum, which contains the sculptures found at the site, remarkable only for the preponderance of philosophers over victorious emperors. (Not a bad thing.) Our driver was adamant that we not eat lunch in Aphrodisias and took us to a pide restaurant where we got a very quick snack. (Pide did not qualify as a meal for Deanna.) Then our driver took us back to Pamukkale. I was out of money by this point, but there was not an ATM in all of Pamukkale. 

The Theater at Aphrodisias

We went to the Meltem Pensiyon (recommended by the Artemis Guest House folks) to have a beer and use the internet. They had Efes dark, but a very slow connection. We sat for awhile with Ebe, everyone’s grandmother, who knitted slippers all day. Deanna bought a pair, but I had the excuse of, “para yok, para ATM” (no money, no ATM.) They let me off the hook since I made my excuse in Turkish. We talked for quite awhile with an Australian girl named Kim who was working there and we got to watch the BBC news for the first time in at least a month. We left the Meltem about 19:00 and headed over to the Gürsoy Restaurant where we were the only customers. The two men working there kept us company and we conversed in an odd melange of Turish and English. By that point, we had either learned to understand simple Turkish or become telepathic. We got along OK. They were very generous and brought us fries and fruit and an extra glass of wine free of charge because we liked Türkiye and had been there so long. We left before either of them could propose and came back to the motel. Mohammed, who called himself Mel Gibson ( maybe a slight resemblance), promised to take us to the airport service bus in the morning. He was coming for us at 7:10 and the plane didn’t leave until 9:50, so we thought we’d make it.

TÜRKIYE’S MEDITERRANEAN COAST – KAŞ TO SELÇUK

Nov. 6, 2000
Yavuz Oteli, Antalya, Türkiye

Yesterday, we went back to the Owl Bookstore and traded in the books we had read for some new ones. We then went to Turkish Airlines to see about getting tickets home. Deanna decided to go to Philadelphia and not use her ticket back from Paris. Turkish Air only flew to Orly and my ticket home left from Charles de Gaulle Airport, so I went over to the internet café and found a Lufthansa flight for $367, but was unable to book it because they didn’t do electronic tickets and I didn’t have time to go to a travel agent. Deanna had arrived at the internet café, by this time, and I left her there so that I could pick up the laundry. It was getting near to 13:00, when Nevsut was going to pick us up to take us to the otogar.

I was hurrying through a part of Kaleiçi where I had never been before when I heard a foreign voice say, “Hi, Baby.” I ignored it and kept going. I heard the voice say, “Hi, Baby,” a second time, but I was late and hurried on. Then I heard, “Rene,” and I looked up to find Chris and Yvonne eating lunch in a garden café. We had a quick chat and I dashed off to the laundry. I received the laundry and arrived just as Nevsut pulled up in Bayram’s taxi. I checked out and Deanna eventually showed up ten minutes late.

Of course, Murat had not given Nevsut the money for the bus tickets to Kaş. Nevsut offered to pay for them, but we told him that the ride to the otogar (worth more than the 6 million lire fare to Kaş) was enough, since he wasn’t the one who cheated us. He gave us his cell phone number and told us we could call 24 hours a day if we needed him. We said goodbye and went to get something to eat before the 14:10 bus. Deanna had a hamburger and I, having stuffed myself on Esra’s omelette and gözleme, just went to the büfé to get some cookies for the bus. I met a nice Kurdish guy at the büfé who was from Diyarbakir. We chatted for so long that Deanna thought I was trying to buy the büfé.

We took a minibus to Kaş. It took nearly five hours and we went back to all the places we had been on the gulet. We even stopped in Finike next to the hamam we had considered visiting. Deanna was dissatisfied with our bus seats (she thought they would be sunny) so she sat on the other side of the bus and talked to a Turkish woman who had been a radio operator on merchant ships. It turned out that she ended up on the sunny side and I got two seats to myself nearly the whole way. It was a long ride and it was dark when we got to Kaş. We came over a range of mountains and down a long, steep hill into town. I was worried that the bus brakes might burn up before we got there.

Kaş

We tried to go to the White House Pensiyon, but it was closed. November first marked the end of the tourist season in Türkiye. We ended up going to the Ateş Pension, which was recommended by one of the touts at the otogar. It had its plusses and minuses. The staff was friendly and we had a big room with a nice balcony and two clotheslines. I had a comfy, big bed with two pillows but Deanna’s bed was pretty awful. There was plenty of hot water coming out of the faucet, but none of it could be convinced to come out of the shower.

We walked down the hill and had a nice dinner in a restaurant by the water with three begging cats for company. We could hear loud music and, after dinner, we followed it to its source, which turned out to be a wedding down near the harbor. There was a huge horseshoe of resin chairs, four or five deep, with a band at the open end and people dancing in the center. The wedding party danced and the whole town watched. The band was great. There was a fiddler who was truly possessed by the music and a fellow with a bass drum who mingled with the dancers. Deanna would have stayed there all night, but I was too tired to stand there and breathe cigarette smoke all night. We left after 45 minutes or so. I fell asleep immediately when we reached our room.

The Amphitheater in Kaş

I was blasted out of sleep by the muezzin at 5:15. He awakened the neighbor who coughed all morning and it was just got noisier and noisier after that. Some large piece of machinery made a racket that resounded from one side of the canyon to the other.

Olive Grove in Kaş

We had a quick breakfast on the nice terrace with an ocean view and then ran off the see the sights. Kaş is a beautiful, little harbor surrounded by steep mountains. There are islands off the coast and the views are spectacular, although there are no sandy beaches. I really liked Kaş and would have liked to stay to enjoy the big bed, clotheslines, and internet connection at the pensiyon. Deanna, however, was determined to leave, so there was no way for me to resist. We took a quick walk around town and went out to see the amphitheater. The theater was in an olive grove with a great view of the sea. I took a number of pictures, since it was as typical a Mediterranean scene as I could imagine.We left Kaş on the 11:30 bus to Fethiye.  At first, we followed the coast. We passed through Kalkan, a pretty coastal town, Patara, and Xanthos, which was once the capitol of the Lycian state and still boasts a couple of Lycian pillar tombs, though it was mostly ruined by the Romans in 42 A.D. From Xanthos, we drove to Uğurlu and then took the turnoff for Fethiye, arriving just after 14:00.

I wanted to either eat in the otogar and then hop the 14:30 bus to Marmaris, so we’d get there before dark, or stop over night in Fethiye. Deanna wouldn’t hear of either of these ideas, so we argued a bit and then ended up doing exactly what she wanted to do because she generally ignored my suggestions. She had traveled so much by herself that she really didn’t consider the fact that I had opinions, also. After two months, I was getting tired of being accommodating. We walked two kilometers to the center of town so that she could have lunch. At least the food was good. I had sausage with cheddar cheese baked in an iron dish. We walked a little way up the hill to look at some elaborate Lycian rock art tombs on the way back and then followed a rushing stream all the way back to the otogar, just in time to climb on the 16:00 bus to Marmaris.

Our original idea had been to take one gulet from Antalya to Fethiye and another from Fethiye to Marmaris. While the weather remained pleasant, all the gulets had stopped sailing as of November first. We had been lucky to get as far as we did.

Both buses that we took that day were minibuses with tiny seats and no springs. We jolted, rattled, and jarred our way for another three and a half hours to Marmaris. It was too jerky even to read and made for a pretty boring ride, especially after it got dark.

From Fethiye, we drove to Dalaman, an ugly, agricultural town with nothing to offer but an airport. We drove through pine covered mountains most of the way, through Ortaca and Köyceğiz, and then turned off for Marmaris at Gökova. The road got better after we took the turnoff. Prior to that, I thought we’d never make it.

We arrived at about 19:30 and the otogar was very dark and quiet. We had to beg for a taxi to take us into town. We dropped our bags and went out so Deanna could get some dinner. Most places were closed at that time of year, so we had to walk quite a way before Deanna could find anything she wanted to eat. There were a lot of independent dogs running around Marmaris and many of them appeared to have Basset Hound ancestry. We ate by the harbor and then came back to the room to do laundry.

 
Nov. 8, 2000
Yavuz Oteli, Marmaris, Türkiye

Marmaris

We got up, yesterday, and had breakfast in the hotel dining room. They tried to serve us fried eggs, but the yolks were broken and they stuck to the pan. We walked west down the main street to Diana Tours to see about plane tickets, ferries to Rhodes, and trips to Pamukkale. We were escorted by a lanky, black lab. Diana Tours wasn’t much help. They couldn’t sell me a plane ticket and, as Turkish Airlines only flies to Orly, I guessed I couldn’t make arrangements until we got to İstanbul. The ferries to Rhodes had stopped running regularly. We would have had to stay two nights and we had neither the time nor the desire to pay for a Greek visa, so going to Rhodes was out. We discussed what order to visit Bodrum, Pamukkale, Aphrodesius, and Ephesus and decided that it would be best to go to Bodrum first.

From the travel agency, we wandered across the street to a very nice internet café. The connection was fast for Türkiye, but I still accomplished nothing in three hours spent there. I was unable to secure a plane ticket because I could not mail the ticket to my home address and none of the airlines would do electronic ticketing. I almost managed to do it through American Airlines, but their website blew up every time I tried to price a ticket from İstanbul. Maybe I would be able to get a cheap charter flight from İstanbul to Paris, one way. I could not send any email messages, so I was unable to take care of any business.

After spending three frustrating hours at the internet café, we walked across town in search of lunch. Down toward the marina, we discovered a Chinese restaurant that actually served pork. Since we had to stop and look in every jewelry store (I never want to look at another pair of gold earrings!) along the way, it was 15:00 by the time we got there. We splurged on a lunch of Peking duck, fried rice, shrimp noodles, soup, and sweet and sour pork. It wasn’t great as Chinese food went, but it was a nice change and well worth the 20 million lire. We remarked that it was sad that of the four best meals we had eaten in Türkiye, three were Chinese and the fourth was Indian. Mustafa’s mantı got my vote for best Turkish food. The restaurant had a nice view of the harbor and there were four orange kitties of varying sizes to keep us company.

The Marina in Marmaris

By the time we finished lunch, the sun was starting to set. We walked along the bar street, which was pretty much shut down during that season, and over to the Netsel marina. We decided to go and see Jean and Rob, a sailing couple from England that we had met in the street in Antalya. When we met, we had instantly recognized each other as sailors and they told us to drop by if we came to Marmaris. As we started around the marina in search of L-62, we ran into Jean on her bicycle. She was going shopping but figured she could conclude her errand and return before we could walk all the way around to their boat.

We strolled through the marina and checked out the luxurious shore head facilities (too much beer with the Chinese food) and the immense cruising fleet. Eventually, we found Schiehallion, despite the fact that none of the slips were numbered. What did we expect in a country where most of the streets were unmarked?  Rob invited us aboard amd Jean arrived just after we did. We had a beer in the cockpit and then moved into the main salon for a second one. The boat had rather a low budget interior, but the layout was nice and there were teak decks even though the interior cabinetry appeared to be formica or cheap veneer. We had a nice visit and looked at Rob’s watercolors. He was quite a talented painter and sold miniature watercolors to tourists during the season. He gave each of us a card with one of his paintings on the front and their address on the back. They seemed very happy living aboard in Marmaris. Oh, it would have been nice to be part of a cruising couple!  Maybe someday …

It was 20:00 by the time we got back to the neighborhood of our hotel. We stopped for some dessert and then I went to the internet café while Deanna went back to the room. I stayed for almost three hours and managed to send most of the messages I needed to send, as well as catch up on my travel news series. It was after 23:00 by the time I got back to the hotel.

Deanna didn’t feel well the next morning, so I got up and went to the castle while she slept in. It was a beautiful, warm morning and I had a nice walk along the beach into town. As of that week, everything in Marmaris, at least, was closed down. Restaurants and bars were closed for the winter, many shops were vacant, and the whole place, which was down to about 10% of its summer population, had an aura of desertion, especially before 10:00 when nothing at all was open.

Marmaris from the Castle

I went to the bus company to see if there was a later bus, since I knew I could never get Deanna on the 10:30 one we had planned to take. Then I went to the grocery store and bought her a bag of salt so she could gargle regularly. I wandered around the bazaar and was able to window shop without being hassled, since everything was closed. I would have loved to buy a leather jacket, but I didn’t like any of the styles I had seen. Eventually, I worked my way up to the castle, which had been closed when we passed it the day before. 

Marmaris has an excellent harbor and so had been important militarily. Lord Nelson once organised the British fleet, there, for an attack on the French in 1798. The castle was built by Süleyman the magnificent in 1522 when he amassed 200,000 troops in Marmaris for an attack and seige of Rhodes. Being a mere 500 years old, it was in excellent condition. It is an attractive building with a commanding view of both the harbor and town, although it cannot be seen from afar because it is now buried in the covered bazaar. The walls are lined with crenellations, each of which has a little point on it. The castle is ostensibly a museum, but there isn’t much of interest other than a couple of rusty anchors and some granite cannonballs. The interior is a lovely garden, though, with lots of lantana and bougainvilla. I was the only visitor and the keeper was quite surprised to see me. At that time of year, all foreigners were assumed to be residents, since the tourist hordes had departed. While it was inconvenient for sightseeing, it was nice not to have everyone trying to sell me something.  I had a pleasant walk back to the hotel through the deserted bazaar and along the shore. I was escorted by a shaggy-haired, black Basset Hound mix who bounced and barked playfully all the way back to the hotel.

Nov. 10, 2000
Hotel Seçkin Kondalar, Bodrum, Türkiye

The Harbor at Marmaris

Deanna declined to get up when I got back to the hotel and the next bus didn’t leave until 14:15. When I finished writing in my journal, I went for another walk through the deserted back streets of Marmaris. Eventually, I worked my way over to the main street and took a walk through the big, Targetlike department store called Tanşas. I wanted to buy an Ibrahim Tatlises CD but the only copy they had was open and scratched. I couldn’t find anything else to buy. From there, I wandered through the bazaar where a few stores were now open. I looked at leather jackets, but the women’s styles were all blazer-like and they wouldn’t let me look at the men’s. Prices were good, but the leather wasn’t very nice. I sat in a pastanesi and ate a few cookies and then walked back across town to the internet café, where I spent a productive forty minutes taking care of business. Then I went back to the hotel to make sure Deanna got moving in time to make the bus, since I had already bought the tickets and I knew she would demand lunch before we left.

We took a taxi to the bus station and had soup across the street, which left us just enough time to catch the service bus to the otogar. Once again, we were forced to take a minibus, but this one was a lot nicer and the roads were mostly better. It still took longer than advertised (We sat for 40 minutes at the Muğla otogar.) and we arrived in Bodrum after dark. The cabbies were unenthusiastic about taking us into town and the one we did get muttered to himself in Turkish the whole way. We tried three pensions and found them all closed before we came to the Hotel Seçkin Kondalar. It was a pretty nice place, except that the hot water was inconsistent, but they were only charging 18 million lire at that season, instead of the usual 40 million lire.

Bodrum

We walked across the western half of town (Bodrum has two bays, separated by the spit containing the castle) and back before settling on a restaurant called the Mausoleum. They were out of most of the attractive things on their menu, but I managed to get some reasonably decent chicken curry.

The following day, I had no energy at all. There was no hot water in the morning, so we had to wait until they turned it on and we barely made it to breakfast by 10:00. We walked around the western bay at the usual snail’s pace and so didn’t arrive at the castle until after 11:00. Since they closed from 12:00 to 13:00, we decided to wait until 13:00. We walked to the end of the harbor to see about ferries to Kos for today, had a cool drink, and then took a walk across the east side of town. Things were pretty quiet over there, too. I bought a bracelet for a friend’s daughter, a crystal mosque for my mother, and a small watercolor. Bodrum may have been Deanna’s favorite place, but I found it an ugly city built in a pretty location. The castle was attractive, but the rest of the buildings were white and square with flat roofs, rather than the usual red tile ones. It looked like Visitacion Valley on the Med coast. I much prefered Antalya, Kaş, or Marmaris. The dogs of Bodrum were very well fed. Many of them were downright fat. They lay in the sun and never even acknowledged our presence. There were no escort dogs in Bodrum. Even the cats didn’t beg much.

Nov. 10, 2000

The Castle in Marmaris

Hotel Seçkin Kondalar, Bodrum, Türkiye

We got back to the castle about 13:30 and stayed until they closed at 16:00. The museum of underwater archaeology is contained within the castle and they had a couple of replicas of wrecks and lots of the recovered cargo. The castle was large and had seven gates and five towers. There were wonderful views of Bodrum from the parapets. Apparently, they had landscaped since the last time Deanna was there and she complained, all afternoon, that it had been ruined. I thought it was rather nice. The castle was built by crusaders in 1522 and was lost to the Turks almost immediately. Unfortunately, it was built out of the stones from Mausoleus’ tomb (mausoleum) which was once one of the seven wonders of the world. The crusaders weren’t great preservers of indigenous culture.

We hadn’t eaten lunch, so we stopped at a café so Deanna could eat. There, we met a Turkish archaeologist who spoke English with an Australian accent. He worked with Dr. Bass, the guy from the museum that Deanna had wanted to work for. He put her on the phone with Dr. Bass and they conversed until the guy got agitated about his cell phone bill. She managed to get his phone number.

From there, we walked back to the hotel and went to bed since we were both exhausted. I woke up about 21:30 and didn’t get back to sleep until 1:30. I was tormented by mosquitoes for the second night, as Deanna insisted on leaving the unscreened window open as well as the screened one. Fortunately (for me,) she was bitten numerous times, so she finally consented to shut that window.

Ruins on Kos

We got up early and took the ferry to the Greek island of Kos. The ride took about an hour. It was warm and sunny and the water was blue, but the scenery was mostly barren. They wouldn’t exchange Turkish lire for drachmas, so we had to get money out of an ATM. We got 10,000 drachmas, which was about $30. They couldn’t change the bill at the castle, so we never got to see it, which was a shame since it looked very pretty from the entrance. We saw the 2300 year old plane tree of Hippocrates. Actually, it was a shattered old sycamore, whose branches were supported by a steel scaffold. The fountain for the nearby mosque (now a bar) was nestled under the foliage. It resembled a tomb. We wandered around the harbor area and saw the agora and ancient Greek and Roman cities. They became cities of cats when the local cat ladies came to feed and commune with their charges. We walked across town to the altar of Dionysus and the restored Roman house. This house was begun in Hellenistic times and finished about the third century, A.D. It was quite large and resembled a warehouse from the outside. Inside, it had three courtyards, one collonaded with a peristyle and two with cisterns. Most of the floors were decorated with mosaics and there was still some evidence of the painted plaster that once adorned the walls and columns. It was quite a palace.

Roman House Interior

Roman House Exterior

By the time we finished seeing the house, we had just enough time to eat lunch and see the castle. We walked back to the castle area but there were no Greek restaurants open so Deanna, who refused to eat fast food, dragged me clear back to the Roman house where there was a Greek restaurant serving very mediocre food. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to see the castle by the time we got back.

We got back to Bodrum about 16:00 and went back to the cafè, hoping to get Dr. Bass’s email address from our Turkish/Aussie friend. We had a beer and waited until about 17:00, but he never showed. Then we walked back to the hotel.

It must have been the anniversary of Ataturk’s death because there were wreaths and speeches around his statue and all the flags were at half mast.

 
Nov. 12, 2000
Artemis Guest House, Selçuk, Türkiye

The Remains of Mausoleus' Tomb

Yesterday, we got up and took a walk to Mausoleus’ tomb or “mausoleum.” It was once one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but was torn down by the Knights Hospitaler in 1522 so that they could use the stone to reinforce the castle. This was all in vain because they lost the castle to the Turks almost immediately, anyway. Crusaders of all types seem to go in for futile gestures.

There wasn’t much left at the site. There were some remains of the lower walls and drainage system and some steps from earlier buildings. There were also a lot of column pieces lying about. There was a nice exhibition room with all kinds of information about the mausoleum, which had fascinated men for at least the past 475 years.

The mausoleum was built by Mausoleus’ sister and wife, Artemisia, who made quite a name for herself by defeating the Rhodesians by luring them ashore in one harbor and then sailing around from the other harbor and capturing all their boats. She then decorated all the boats as if for a victory celebration, sailed back to Rhodes in their own boats, and captured the island for Carria. This was reputed to have happened in the seventh century, B.C., so either she lived a very long time or someone has the dates screwed up. It was definitely all before the golden age of Greece, because someone wrote a diologue between Diogenes and Mausoleus, talking in the afterworld. Diogenes was chastising Mausoleus for being arrogant, saying that having the world’s greatest tomb didn’t count for much because he was still just a skeleton. The citizens of Bodrum were the only ones who could boast of the tomb. The only thing Mausoleus could say was that he had a greater burden resting on him.

Deanna and the Kitten in Selçuk

We went to the internet café across the street for an hour or so to transact business (The wire for my carpet finally got sent!) and then hopped on the bus to Selçuk. The ride took about three hours and we were mercifully traveling on a full sized bus. We got there about 15:00. We checked into the guest house and then went out for a nice lunch of mezes (Deanna had to have lamb chops, too, of course.) in a sidewalk café where an adorable, little ragamuffin of a kitten hopped into our laps and succeeded in chasing off two older relatives. I took a really cute picture of the kitten and Deanna rubbing noses.

After lunch, I bought the Ibrahim Tatlises CD I wanted and we walked through the Saturday market, which was already starting to break up. We went to the otogar to find out about buses to Pamukkale and stopped in the pastanesi there for dessert. Then we came back to the guest house where I watched a movie (Heat) for the first time since leaving home. The guest house had a great selection of DVDs, but the player wasn’t working. We had to settle for a videotape.

SAILING INTO THE ANCIENT WORLD

Oct. 30, 2000

The Gulet Kardelen, Adrasan, Türkiye

The Lower Düden Waterfall

Yesterday, we took our time getting up because we didn’t have much to do. We wandered down to see Bayram and Nevsut. We chatted with them for an hour or two while they filled the boat and then they took us to the Lower Düden Waterfall. We sailed east from the harbor, along seemingly endless suburbs of high-rises lining the cliffs almost all the way to the falls. There were a number of sunbathing clubs set into the cliffs along the way. The ride took about two hours. We chatted with a nice German couple most of the way.

We didn’t get back until after 14:00 and we had to meet Bayram at the hotel at 15:00, so we grabbed a quick Iskender kebap lunch and rushed over to the hotel. Bayram and Murat picked us up and took us to the private boat marina, about twelve kilometers east of Kaleiçi.

The Gulet Kardelen

We had been told we would sail on the Rana but, when we arrived at the harbor, they took us to the Kardelen. They couldn’t find enough people to fill the Rana, so they had switched us to a smaller boat. Unfortunately, the Kardelen lacked certain conveniences like towels and showers. Deanna had gotten it into her head that we had been promised two cabins, which we had not. When she saw our one little cabin, she pitched a fit. There wasn’t anything anyone could do and I was embarrassed because we had to live with these people. They got us towels and gave up trying to milk us for an extra $10 when I pointed out that we had already paid $15 extra for the Rana, which we didn’t get. Deanna also complained that we had to pay an extra $8 for transportation to Myra. Personally, I wouldn’t have picked a fight over $8. We finally stopped arguing and went for a walk around the marina and had a beer at an outrageously expensive restaurant with bad service.

When we got back, the other passengers came aboard. They were all from Belgium: a Flemish couple and a group of eight Walloons, five women and three teenage girls. They were nice but spoke very little English. We ate dinner and danced a little before retiring.

The Chimera

The next day, we had breakfast at the dock and set sail at 9:00. We lay in the sun and read all morning and then anchored in a small cove east of Olympus for lunch. Some people went swimming. After lunch, we continued to Olympus where we almost had a mutiny because we all wanted to see the chimera and that wasn’t in the program. We went ashore on the most fleabitten little fishing boat you can possibly imagine. I was certain the thirteen of us would sink it in the fifty feet to shore. The captain ran it up onto the beach and we leapt off onto the (mostly) dry sand. Fortunately, our captain saw the light and arranged a minibus to take us to the chimera. From the trailhead, we hiked a couple of kilometers up a steep hill to the site. Flames were still shooting out of the rocks there, just like gas fireplaces. These flames were the source of the idea of the Olympic flame. They used to be much bigger and were visible from the sea, hence the legends of monsters changing shape and breathing fire. By the time we visited, many of them had gone out. There was also a ruined Byzantine church, there, where you could see the remains of frescoes. We spent a few minutes examining the church and then hiked back down.

Dusk Near Olympus

It was much more difficult to get back on the little, ratty boat without getting wet feet, so I had to remove my shoes and socks. All of this had taken some time and, since the time had just changed, it got dark early. We got no tea and arrived in Adrasan after dark. There was a nice, natural harbor in Adrasan, but we never got to see it. We ate dinner and danced until 21:30 or so and then I went to bed. It was very dark and we could see many stars. It was strange to see them so close to the place where all of the constellations had been named.

The anchorage got rolly in the middle of the night and we left before dawn. We never got to see Adrasan in the daylight. When I arose, we were somewhere off the coast on the way to Demre.

 
Nov. 1, 2000
The Gulet Kardelen, Kaleköy, Türkiye

Lycian Tombs at Myra

We got to the harbor at Demre about mid-morning. After some argument and haggling, we agreed on a price of 7.5 million lire each to take us to see the sights. First, we went to the ruins of Myra where there is a nicely preserved roman theater and some Lycian tombs hewn out of the rock face. Next, we went to the Church of St. Nicholas. The church, which dates back to the third century, is now covered by a vast roof of corrugated fiberglass. There were elaborate mosaics on the floors and a couple of remaining wall mosaics. The tomb of St. Nicholas is there, although his bones have been removed to Italy. There is a nice statue of Santa Claus in the plaza overlooking the church.

The Church of St. Nicholas

The Tomb of St. Nicholas

We looked through the shops near the church and a bought a small plate for 2 million lire. It was odd to see an entire town devoted to Christmas in the middle of a Muslim country. We walked to the center of Demre and observed the kale from afar.

Our Anchorage

The launch which had taken us to shore was a vast improvement on the first one. It even had enough seats for all of us and didn’t smell of fish. We landed at an actual dock. This same boat took us back to the Kardelen about 11:00 and then we had lunch. After lunch, we motored up to Kekova. We anchored next to a small, rocky island and moored the stern to the shore. I went for a swim. The water was chilly at first, but warm enough to stay in once I adapted. I swam to shore and then did a lap around the boat. We spent the night there. The mate, Mustafa, made a wonderful dinner of chicken, mantı in alfredo sauce, and potatoes and carrots smothered in thick yoghurt. After dinner, we played cards with Chris and Yvonne, the Flemish couple.

Kaleköy

The next morning, we had breakfast at our anchorage and then motored slowly over the ruins of an ancient city. It looked like there had been a series of warehouses along the shore of the island, but the buildings were now below the waterline. After we passed the ruins, we crossed over to a peninsula on the mainland and tied up to a dock at Kaleköy. Chris, Yvonne, Deanna and I climbed up to the kale, part of the old city of Simena. The village of Kaleköy was very quaint. It scrambled up the rocky slope to the kale and the ground was too steep for streets. There were only rocky paths and stairways. We climbed around the kale, which contains a tiny amphitheater, with an old woman in plastic shoes as our guide. She climbed easily up and down the rocks, carrying a basket of trinkets as she went. We bought a couple of beaded necklaces from her as a thank-you. We had a round of soft drinks in a café overlooking the harbor and then set off for our next destination.

The Kaleköy Harbor

View from the Kale

Nov. 1, 2000
The Gulet Kardelen, Üçağiz , Türkiye

Our captain brought us into the harbor at Üçağiz, where we wandered along the beach and saw a few more Lycian tombs. Deanna dropped her video camera which would lead to all of the footage being rendered useless. There were a lot of beachfront cafés, but most of them were closed for the season. We played with a couple of adorable puppies and then came back to the boat to read and await our fate. We were supposed to leave that day, but were also supposed to be in Kaş. Deanna refused to leave the boat unless they got us to Kaş.

Cafe in Üçağiz

Puppy in Üçağiz

Eventually, they decided to take us back to Antalya with everyone else. We discovered that we had paid as much as the other passengers, anyway. I had mixed feelings because we would waste another four days and have to go back to Antalya, but it might be the only gulet trip we would get, so maybe it was better to stay. I would have preferred some company other than the Walloons, though. They pretty much stuck together. They and the crew shared an awful taste for techno-pop. I was tired of dancing to bad music with a bunch of women.

The Captain and the Walloons

Nov. 2, 2000
The Gulet Kardelen, Finike , Türkiye

Our Lunch Stop

Today, we sailed after breakfast. We left the bay at Üçağiz and worked our way around the peninsula to a gorgeous, little bay where a fuel tanker was anchored. We rafted up to the tanker and took on fuel. When we left, all the boats in the bay honked their horns and made a huge racket.

All morning, we cruised back down the coast. A little after noon, we stopped in a pretty cove for swimming and lunch. It was pretty windy and I resisted swimming, at first, but ended up going in, anyway. It was cold, but I felt warmer when I got out. Lunch was a failure, today. I ate only a serving of couscous. The rest was vegetables boiled to mush in red grease and pickles.

Our captain went to sleep after lunch and slept until 15:00. I painted a picture of the cove. It was the first time I had painted plein air. Usually, I work from photos.

I found being on the gulet very boring. Chris and Yvonne were nice, and I would have gone nuts without them, but the eight women were very loud, had awful taste in music, and their behavior sometimes offended the crew. With no sailing to do, it got old motoring around when it was too cold to lie on the foredeck.

Mustafa served tea early, mainly to keep us from throwing the captain into the water to wake him up. Mustafa really didn’t like the leader of the Walloons and shook his head at her drinking, chasing after the captain, and topless sunbathing.

Our fellow passengers wanted to go to Finike, so we went there after tea. It was a dull place. We walked around with Chris and Yvonne, bought some biber (Turkish red pepper) in the market, and tried to use the internet cafe but could not get a connection. Deanna and I were not thrilled to walk around yet another Turkish town, so we left Chris and Yvonne and came back to the boat. Deanna went to take a shower at the marina and I stayed in to write.

 
Nov. 3, 2000
The Gulet Kardelen, Phaselis , Türkiye

We stayed at the Finike marina, last night, so I got up early and took a nice, hot shower. We sailed after breakfast and covered a lot of ground. I tried to read but ended up sleeping in the sun most of the morning.

We stopped for lunch in a beautiful cove with a nice, sandy beach. It was too windy to swim before lunch and I had hoped it would be calmer after lunch, but we left right away. The coast in that part of Türkiye was very beautiful, but pretty much the same everywhere. The steep, limestone mountains reach into the sea, creating numerous islands and caves. There are many pine trees. The water was unbelievably blue. Between the color of the water, the mountains, and the pine trees, I always felt like the water ought to be fresh. The scenery seemed more like Lake Tahoe than the Mediterranean coast.

Aqueduct Arches Being Restored

Theater at Phaselis

After lunch, we motored on to Phaselis. It rained on the way and our cabin leaked like a sieve. We moved the bedding and caught the drips in plastic bags until Mustafa could cover the cabin with plastic tarps. When it stopped raining, we took the shore boat to Phaselis. Deanna stayed behind. Phaselis is an ancient, Greek city founded in about the fourth century, B.C. The city is not large but is very lovely. The main street stretches from coast to coast across a peninsula. There are many large pine trees and their odor was heady after the rain. There are the remains of a small theater and hamam (bath) complex. There are also a number of arches from an old aqueduct that were being restored. I explored with Yvonne and Chris. Phaselis has three harbors, one of which has been in continuous use since it was constructed by the Phoenicians in the 7th Century, B.C. We waited for the Walloons, ate tangerines, and watched the sunset with the boatman. We returned to the boat at dusk, just as it began to rain, again.

Dock at Phaselis

It was very uncomfortable in the salon with all of us crowded in there. It was damp and stuffy and people insisted on smoking. I stood out in the rain for an hour or so. Mustafa took pity on me and fed me tidbits while he cooked. He made a delightful dinner of fried chicken, mantı, spaghetti, cacik, and potato salad.

After dinner, the francophones were playing stupid games and being very loud. We managed to ignore them and had a pleasant evening playing “43” with Yvonne and Chris.

Nov. 4, 2000

White Garden Pensiyon, Antalya, Türkiye

Chris at Red Island

We took our time leaving Phaselis, this morning, and we still got to Red Island by 12:15. I slept in the sun in the stern most of the way. I went for a last swim in the Med before lunch. The water was warmer than the air. It was chilly at first, but I was warm enough by the time I did a lap around the boat. We ate lunch at Red Island and then set out for the harbor about 14:00. Red Island is not far from the Antalya marina.

We packed up our things and settled our bills with the captain. We said goodbye to Mustafa and gave him a tip of 10 million lire each. We planned to take the shuttle bus to Antalya at 16:00, but they refused to take all twelve of us, since we weren’t employees. They would probably have taken some of us if there was room, but there was not. We took a cab with Chris and Yvonne to the White Garden Pensiyon. The owners, Metin and Esra, were very surprised and happy to see us. We introduced them to our friends and showed them around. We dropped off our baggage, took our clothes to the laundry, and then tripped off to show Chris and Yvonne Kaleiçi. We took them to the tower and then down to the harbor. We introduced them to Bayram’s brother, Nevsut, and then they left to go explore while we went to talk to Murat. It didn't take much convincing to get Murat to buy us tickets to Kaş. We left and went for a beer at a bar overlooking the harbor. Then we went back to the Chinese restaurant, where everyone was very glad to see us. We gorged on garlic calamari, curry beef, spicy eggplant, and gyoza. We returned to the White Garden and it felt like coming home. We would finally travel to Kaş the following day.