Since rescuing the Kindle I’ve departed ways with Servet and have spent the past week making my way down the Aegean Sea Coast of Turkey by car and arrived at the Mediterranean coast town of Marmaris . I’ve stopped in numerous little villages and towns along the way as their beauty attracted me. Driving the coast here reminds me of zipping around hairpin turns on mountainous roads along California’s coast. The scenery is breathtaking, town after town, bay after bay, is filled with sailboats, yachts, and beach-side cafes, many of them overlooking Greek islands a stones skip away over the deep blue waters. I find interesting no matter how small a village or town there is a Mosque in each one. Even towns as small as 60 people. More intriguing while it’s obviously a Muslim country there are not many other outward signs of it. The bigger beach towns are thumping with nightclubs, discos, and girls dancing on bar tops. It seems odd to see an occasional Muslim wearing a headscarf, particularly on the beach when most are in bikinis and while in Morocco or Egypt it seemed the norm. It’s somewhat amusing to see such a contrast in people who believe the same religion.
A couple of the highlights thus far have been a stop in Ephesus a city of Roman ruins. Turkey I find has more Roman ruins than all of Italy and it also has more Greek ruins than all of Greece. The grand size of Ephesus is amazing to take in and to think a city covering hundreds of square miles could be abandoned like so many others of that time and become extinct staggers the mind. A people that where quite advanced and ruled the world no longer do. Makes me wonder, as an American we are the only remaining super power, are we that different than thousands of years ago. Will we remain a super power for generations to come, or with the wrong circumstances could we too become extinct? I hope not.
I made my way to Bodrum a highly touristic city on the Aegean Coast. What I’ve come to discover in three weeks of travel and three countries thus far is tourism in general seems to be down globally and the economic crunch back home is effecting the globe. The benefit is reservations are not required anywhere. I can pull into anyplace and easily find a bed. Even nicer is the hotels are so desperate I’ve got huge bargaining power. Walk in ask what the rate is and ask for a discount. If they don’t cooperate head for the door and that’s been producing 50% discounts. Not huge in terms of dollars as I’m still selecting budget accommodations. Ever dollar counts though. The downside is a town that can handle hundreds of thousands of tourist while there are thousands of vacationers seems dead. The bars, nightclubs, and restaurants lining the coast all seem to have just a few people. Traveling alone makes it hard to meet folks. I’d recommend anyone looking for a vacation to plan one now as prices are reasonable and if you’re with a group the slow pace would be a blessing.
I took a day to go scuba diving in the Aegean Sea. The underwater topography is barren and rocky with no corrals and limited fish life. It’s like swimming over rocky mountains and much different than most of my Caribbean experience. As I cruise over the bottom weightless in liquid suspensions, there is a large cargo plane intentionally placed by locals for me to explore. I see a huge cargo door and I’m thinking, dang, that would be nice to jump out of. For those that don’t know, my other love is sky diving. While I considered the dive only average, dive two proved to make the barren landscape well worth the experience. We encounter an octopus, many of which I’ve seen before, unique however is we were able to lure it out of it’s rocky hiding place and have a personal encounter to play touch and let it wrap it’s tentacles around my hands. Better yet, I have video to prove it. 2000 plus dives under my belt and that was a wondrous experience to see a creature which typically hides up close and personal.
Another highlight is my stop in Pammukale. Pammukale while remote and not close to anything else was well worth the 6 hours plus of driving to spend an hour walking around a one of a kind geological formation. The cliff-side in this village appears like melting snowbanks as water gently cascades down the side creating pools of mineral rich water. Standing on the hardened salt deposits I have the urge to pack a snowball and throw it at one of the many bikini clad women posing for pictures. Dang, hard salt won’t work and I guess my thoughts of an intro to a hot chick isn’t gonna work.
The area surrounding Marmaris my favorite so far, while touristy, is a picturesque enclosed bay surrounded by tropical green mountains on the Mediterranean. The bay is lined with hundreds of charter boats, yachts, fishing vessels, tall ships and more. The beach and beach-side walkway goes on for miles with bars, cafes, hotels, lined one after the other. Maybe I wouldn’t like this place if it where packed. I’m glad it’s slow so I get to see all of it and don’t have to deal with crowds.
I’m sitting at a remote beach bungalow a couple bays away with gentle breezes, lapping cool water on a pebbled beach cove, enjoying the last bites of a local caught fish, and dreaming wouldn’t it be great to one day return via sailboat. The coast and the terrain here is ideal for cruising and it would be easy to spend a few months here hopping from bay to bay.
Only a few days left in Turkey and I need to begin my journey back up the coast toward Istanbul to spend my last few days catching the tourist sites I missed before I head for an African Safari.
