Cruise day. We had to be on board Bermuda Boat by 9.45am.
We went down into the town, checked out the boat, and then went across to the Lola Restaurant for çay and kapuçino. The owner, Halis Sevgin, just had have his photo taken with Suzie — a long ponytail does well doubling for a generous Turkish moustache!
We then boarded the boat. The other passengers trickled on, a couple bringing unexpected friends along as well. The boat normally carries a full load of 35, but 37 made today's trip! Before we set off, Suzie checked out the view from the bow, and Warren tested out the lounges for sleeping comfort! Finally all were on board, and we set off at about 10am.
Our ports of call for the day
Our ports of call for the day
The first stop was at Inönü for a swim. The intrepid Hams decided to opt out of this part of the cruise — it was much more fun watching the antics of the others in the water.
Then we continued on to Akvariyum (Aquarium, so named for the large number of fish in the water here — but, with the number of tourists who come through, the fish have decided to make themselves scarce!). And then on to Tersane (Shipyard) for a swim and for lunch. We were most amused by the efforts of the captain of one of the other boats there to get his barbecue lit — we watched him for about half an hour, dousing the thing with accelerant, fanning it with a dustpan, all the time with no apparent success. On the other hand, our skipper, Engin Muslu, got our şiş piliç (chicken 'shish kebab') under way most professionally. Must say that a hair dryer was part of the combustion routine! To go with the şiş piliç we had kuskus pilavı, hot bean salad, cacık (chopped cucumber in garlic-flavoured yoghurt), çoban salatası (mixed tomato, peppers, cucumber and onion salad), hot green peppers, and bread rolls.
We watched this gentleman getting redder and redder!
We watched this gentleman getting redder and redder!
After lunch, another swim.
Then we sailed along Kekova and Batık Kent (the 'Sunken City'), so named because in an earthquake in 141 AD the whole city dropped by a couple of metres, so the entire harbour area is now submerged. Because the water is so clear, you can see it all just by sailing along the old harbour. But the city went further up, and you can see evidence of habitation all the way up the hillside. At one point there is a gateway bearing the typical Byzantine cross, evidence that habitation continued untill well after this devastating earthquake.
We then came to village of Kaleköy (Simena), where we went ashore for an hour to explore. This village has no roads or streets — you get around by walking up and down sets of steps, with linking laneways. Not surprisingly, there is no vehicular traffic here at all! Some of us went up to the citadel above the village, others (like us) simply explored the village, shopped, and sampled the magnificent home-made ice cream in Cafe Ankh — Warren liked the hazelnut, Suzie preferred the banana! We watched as another boat came into the harbour, and all on board started taking photos of the village!
From here, we went on to Üçağız Köyü, where we didn't stop, but simply made a flying visit to drop off three backpackers who wanted to walk the Lycean Way from there. Then on to drop past Yağlica and put in to Eleksi for a final swim. They put on çay for everyone at this stop, but Engin made it clear that no-one who failed to take a dip would get any — fortunately for us, he relented!
And then back to Kaş — the weather had closed in by now, and we were getting rained upon, and the sea was by no means as calm as this morning. Suzie was a little queasy, but so long as she could keep her eyes on the horizon, she was okay.
Rock formations similar to the Giants' Causeway in Ireland, and similar structures in Scotland
Rock formations similar to the Giants' Causeway in Ireland, and similar structures in Scotland
On the way in to Kaç we caught sight of the Amphitheatre and — just to its left — there was our van waiting for us!
A wonderful day, and we got back to the van to wind down for the night.
Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 21,164 miles ( 34,061 km )
What a nice trip you had. I would have had the seasick pills out but otherwise enjoyed the day. David would have waited with the van and read papers or slept. Apart from ice cream did you eat anything else? Tea was good. I had a bad asthma attack last night and have been recovering slowly all day. Nice thing is I don't want to eat. So I've done a power point presentation for the talk I have to do next week All about women of substantial size having babies. Got lots a clip art cartoons to add to the bloody boring slides and am typing out my reference list and leaving it there if anyone wants one. I am getting ready to reregister now and writing out exemplars of how I meet competencies and supplying copies of the referenced works they wanted to accompany them, for them to return to me after they have seen them Oh well, back to work. Love ya lots, Cathy
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