Turkish Coast
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TURKISH DELIGHT - 2003
You may be thinking this is an obvious title. So did we, when we thought it up last year BUT it sums up our whole two months in Turkey. We flew into Istanbul in mid-May and were fascinated from the first moment on Turkish soil. Istanbul conjures up so many ideas. We were not sure what to expect at all - a bridge between Asia and Europe, historic treasures, numerous civilizations, and so the list grows. Turkey is all that and much more. This year we started off on a two week guided bus tour, deciding to get a quick idea of what Turkey is all about. The Turkish Lire is quite something to get used to. The smallest note is Tl 250,000 which buys you a loaf of bread. The largest denomination is only 20,000.000 Tl which meant one must carry large wads of money around. Our wallets were a complete waste - a plastic bag being more practical. . Today Turkey is a Republic formed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. The emergence of their dynamic young leader Mustafa Kemel (known as Atatürk) laid down the foundations of the new westernised Turkey. He adopted legal codes based on those used in Germany, Italian and Switzerland, abolishing the Muslim governing body. Turkey was proclaimed a secular state in 1928 and a Latin based alphabet replaced the Arabic and Persian ones in about six months. Transportation was improved and industries established. All before he died in 1938. Atatürk's words written on a monument at Galipoli 'those heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives are now lying in the soil of a friendly country and therefore rest in peace' sum up our feelings for the Turks. The Atatürk mausoleum in Ankara stands in stark simplicity in a large courtyard. The museum is simply laid out depicting the many changes Attatürk made to ensure Turkey entered into the western world. We wonder what he would have thought of Turkey winning the European Song festival this year, whilst we there when the streets instantly became alive with joyous celebrations. We also watched the Turkish soccer league final which to our amazement was refereed by a woman, helped by two women on the lines! All in all, we spent a wonderful two weeks travelling around Turkey. After couple of extra days in Istanbul, we headed down to Marmaris where Chispa had been sitting high and dry since August 2002. As soon as we launched, Jan was admitted to hospital with a bout of cellulites. I was then left to get everything ship-shape. The hospital was super-efficient and we can give nothing but praise for the lovely staff. The bill came to 1.2 billion Turkish lira!!! The marina people were wonderful and were very helpful to a clot like me. There are so many beautiful inlets and bays along the coat line which we just had to explore and stop over every evening. Yachts are beckoned to the many wobbly jetties by enthusiastic chaps shaking mooring lines and waving for attention. These jetties usually lead to specific tiny restaurants which you are asked to support. No charge is made for water and electricity and no demands made to actually eat at their establishments. However, we just loved trying out the varied selections of food on offer and hardly ever ate on board. Each little port was different from the last; some surrounded by craggy mountains littered with agile goats and others with old citadels and other ruins just waiting to be explored. A day trip to Dalyan was perhaps a highlight of this part of the journey. We travelled through a maze of waterways, reminding us of the Okavongo Swamps. We first visited the ancient city of Kaunos and then were absolutely awestruck seeing the magnificent Lycian tombs cut into the cliffs near Dalyan. We also experienced the famous mud baths of Ilica. The ritual here is to cover oneself in mud and stand around in the sun till it dries. Then you shower it all off and finish up wallowing in a hot sulphur pool. Back at the marina in Marmaris, we were greeted like old friends. Jan was also welcomed back at the hospital, this time with an injured knee. Unfortunately nothing but rest is the verdict from both the Turkish, and now our South African doctor. Both from Bodrum and Marmaris we took quick trips by ferry to the Greek islands of Kos and Rhodes. The former famous as the home of Hippocrates and the latter for the Grand Masters Palace. Jan and I stayed near beautiful Lyndos for a couple of days before I flew home via Athens. Jan returned to Marmaris to put Chispa 'to bed' for another year. |
A few days later Neville and Joyce arrived from Hout Bay and Jan was almost back to health.
When you look at map of Turkey, you'll be amazed how long it took us to sail to Bodrum and back again to Marmaris. I think it takes about three hours by dolmus (mini bus) to complete the journey. We took two weeks each way!
We loved meeting the friendly and open-hearted villagers so much so we stopped off at many of the same places on the return journey with John and Jill. Our first night out after leaving Bodrum was rather 'hairy' with winds reaching Force 8. Had we taken more notice of the Coptic weather calendar we would have seen it was the Solstice Storm. All storms were dated and given names and occur within a day or two of the date, year in and year out. Luckily John is an experienced sailor so whilst Jill and I retired to bed he and Jan sailed up and down the coast all night before entering Datça at dawn. Neville was most upset he'd missed out on the night sail as he and Joyce had just completed sailing courses in readiness for the trip.
Home Building chispa Getting ready Atlantic Crossing Caribbean on to Malta to Turkey to Greece Croatia Croatia/Italy Greece & Turkey revisited Odes to Chispa