September 23 - The Towns of Turkey

Exploring the Bozburun Peninsula - or - Driving More Winding Mountain Roads with NO Guardrails

Right off the bat, I must confess that I have not driven even one kilometer in any country, except of course if you count being a back seat driver, then I have driven many. Although the roads in Turkey probably have some of the best signage and are generally new and wide and easy, out here on the Peninsula they seem about 1 1/2 cars wide though two cars have to pass, one usually being a truck. But Steve, not only an intrepid driver, never complains about the roads or the routes or the wrong turns. 

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The navigation gets a bit difficult, as most roads and houses look the same, but the real problem is that the left turn you took this morning at the donkey.....well, the donkey has moved up the road to where the goats were and the goats have chased the chickens and the sheep herder has taken his sheep down the hill to the water, so no wonder you missed your turn. And although that is not really why we miss turns, we do pass all those animals and more everyday on our forays to new towns.

Yesterday, we drove to Selimiye,  a much bigger town than Sogut. There are hotels and apartments to rent on the water, a marina and lots of boats. We camped out at a waterfront restaurant's private jetty, renting two sunbeds, one umbrella and the use of one very slippery wooden ladder down into the sea for swimming for 20 TL ($10 USD ) for the day.  And by the way, if I have failed to mention this before, the weather is picture perfect every single day - 29 or 30C, sun, no clouds and no humidity. 

Since Selimiye is a long 35 minute drive for us novices (it should take 20), our plan was to have a very late lunch around 5 P.M. (because we are still too young to say early bird dinner and there are no special prices) on the water and get back to our place before dark. We easily found the restaurant, Sardunya,

and got a seaside table, a shepherd salad, grilled haloumi cheese, grilled octopus and grilled shrimp, heads on. 

There were sailboats and yachts pulling in for dinner with chic looking Europeans and Turks embarking. Just as we were finishing up, a boat pulled out way too fast and before we knew it the wake came right over the dock and soaked my feet, Steve's feet and splashed up onto the table and wiped out our camera. We're pretty sure they'll be no more photos this week and I guess it is THE sign it really is time to return home.

( .....I'll struggle by using the mini I-pad these last few days...SS )

Today we headed off to Bozburun, another charmer of a small marina town, where we hoped we could find not only a Post Office, but a P.O. that took packages - after all we are in a place where not every town even has an ATM. Lucky again, after the worker made a couple of phone calls they took our package and although our reciept looks very unofficial, they are supposed to send it all the way home for only $40.00.

Next errand to do......another haircut for Steve.

We found a barber easily and he spoke a bit of English. Steve, thinking that in Turkey 'the barbershop' might be one of those men only domains, sent me out shopping where I discovered a tiny shop with a tailor cutting and sewing and ironing great looking shirts and cotton caftans.

I'm not sure you will ever get to see Steve in his blue and white striped one, but I know it will be his new comfy loungewear in Santa Fe. 

....If you come into the harbor at Bozburun, wouldn't you love to be greeted by the ICE CREAM BOAT!!??!!

Back to another 'ho hum' day at the pool watching the islands across the sea turn blue as the sun heads west and we dip into the pool, then the jacuzzi and back to the sunbeds....what a life! We eat fruit and fresh dried figs and delicious Turkish cheese and the best black olives (I usually only eat green ones) I have ever tasted. We listen to podcasts under the umbrella (me) or basking in the sun (Steve). And while we do all this, there is complete quiet and serenity and then we hear the muezzins calling everyone to prayer - the sound of Turkey for me. 

We head to 'Manzara' for dinner,

not down at the water but at the top of the hill where we can watch the sunset (not nearly as spectacular as last night when I failed to take photos) and fill ourselves again with meze and grilled octopus and fresh fish that we are still not tired of.  

Above - Meze of local fish, raw, cerviche style

Grilled eggplant in pepper, garlic and tomato

We drive home and when we get out of the car, in the pitch black, we cannot believe the night sky. We see thousands of stars and we can see the Milky Way, perfectly, which I am not sure I have ever seen, let alone like this.  There are so many stars the sky almost looks white.  It is hard to go in but when we do, a surprise. We find that the few photos we took today with our water-logged camera, though the screen is now completely black,  turned out and loaded on the iPad.  Gee, how lucky can you get? 

( Stock NASA photo...my camera is dead, and was never this good anyway.....Steve)