Marci and Steve Go Back to Europe

LAST GAME!!!! WTF #9.....And the Final Count, our best estimate, your best guess Our TOAL (Trip of a Lifetime) totals: Gone for three months, three weeks, four days and two hours of which all but five days were sunny 12 Countries 40+\- Cities  21 Hotels 3 Apartments 1  Sailboat cruise 11   Plane rides 5 Train rides 5 Boat rides 2 Car Ferries 1 Kayak ride 5 Rental cars for eight weeks 150+  Metro rides 25+ Bus rides 4 Taxi rides  250+ Miles walked 200+ Meals eaten out 30+ Churches, Cathedrals, Basilicas visited 10 Synagogues visited 4 Mosques visited 10+ Castles visited 25+ Museums visited 12 Beaches visited 4  different Seas swam in 100  Bottles of wine, plus many more glasses 10  Packages sent home 2 Pair of shoes worn out 7 Pair of shoes bought 12+ Pieces of jewelry bought  16 Scarves bought 10+ Turkish/Tunisian towels bought 4 Haircuts  3 Touchups 2 Pedicures 0 Manicures 3 Times we really could have used a cell phone  28 Skype ca...

Turkish Taffy was only the beginning.... Of my love affair with Turkish food.  I had no idea what to expect when we arrived in Turkey. I knew halva, Turkish taffy (ha) and dried apricots. Maybe if pressed, I would have included meze, but not really knowing anything except they were something like tapas served at the beginning of a meal. So here is a primer of Turkish food. Breakfast A feast of cheeses (always at least three or four kinds from soft to hard), some plain, some in olive oil, some spiced. No meats, thankfully. Olives, black ones in oil that are delicious and this coming from someone who never would eat black olives. But then again, I never ate any olives until I had olives in the Alentejo in Spain. Sometimes green olives too. Tomatoes, many times peeled but not always. I had no idea that Turkey is well known for their delicious tomatoes. Cucumbers, again a bit different than ours, much crunchier and way less water and seeds.  Toast, simple breads, not much variety....

Last Day of Luxury We had planned to hang out today, soaking up the sun and swimming at the villa but, at the last minute, I decided I must swim in the sea one last time. Not wanting to drive too far, we headed back to Bozburun, which although it has no beaches, does have small pensions along the water. There is a wide paved road with just enough room to park a few cars, leaving the rest for the parade of walkers, bikers, scooters and cars. At noon there is a parade of adorable school children in uniform, backpacks loaded, walking home from what we surmise is their half days of school. There are no jetties with sunbeds to rent, but across from each pension is an eight foot concrete 'beach' with a ladder down to the sea. We scope out the nicest pension, find the proprietor having coffee on her veranda, and through a guest who semi-translates, we strike a deal for  ten TL for the use of her sun beds, palapas and noodles for the day. As we lay there, we watch the boats, mostly sai...

Jesus, it was a good day at Jesus Beach Tuesday we decided to take it easy. After all, we need a day off from exploring so, we did nothing but sit at the pool, swim and read. We managed to walk back up the forty steps to our place and shower but we were so lazy, we simply drove down into the town and ate again at Deniz Yildniz, same place and same food as the first night here. But today, Wednesday we went to a small town, almost halfway back to Marmaris, Orhaniye, to a small cove called Jesus Beach.  There are many legends about this place but they are all similar. Here is one version: "Once upon a time in Marmaris, somewhere in the southern coast of Turkey, a fisherman and the daughter of a King fell in love.  However, like all of us know, the love between a fisherman and a princess simply would not get the blessings of her father. Because of this, they would meet secretly at nights. But the old King soon learnt about his daughter's nocturnal trysts. One night, he asked his s...

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.  U 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 real...