Touring Turkey

We were able to grab lunch at this spot. There is a medieval castle built at the top of this hill. I have no idea how they got the material up there.

Well, we enjoyed or tour of the Turkish coast. Now we are off to the Greek island of Nisos Symi.

We're having a tour boat race back. We lost.

There's the happy couple with the tombs off over Jenée's head.

These tombs, built into the walls, are one of the main attractions.

Here I am coming out of the theater. Built originally by the Greeks, enlarged by the Romans.

Can you find Waldo (me) in this 5000 person theater?

The next day we sailed up to Dalyan where there are some interesting Greek and Roman ruins in the old city of Caunos. We on a tour boat up this river to see the sights.

Another of those all wood Gulets.

The trick here is to drop anchor, then back up close to shore and tie a stern line off to a tree, rock, mooring hook, whatever you can find. Easy in theory or with no wind. Tougher in practice with big wind. Jimmy didn't do so hot on the first try. Let's just say I learned some cool Turkish swear words. We finally got in.

We're on the road again to the bay of Skopea Limani.

You see many of these fancy all wood Turkish sailing vessels (Gulets) up and down the coast. They are typically chartered ships complete with captain and crew. Beautifully made.

That's more like it!

We did have a great dinner overlooking the harbor. We dinghied 3 miles to the harbor from the anchorage. Of course, Jenée was all dolled up.

We enjoyed the shops and different bars - just to look at, of course.

We made it to the former Greek village of Kalkan - very developed for tourists.

We sailed the next morning further west along the coast. We sail around this little island and that is Kastellorizon, a Greek Island with Turkey looming behind. Very close together. Our destination is the anchorage of Yesilkoy Limani and the village of Kalkan. It's about a seven hour sail.

If you look closely, you can see some of the above ground tombs - sarcophagi on the hillside.

Across from Kale Koy is the island of Kokva Adasi and this sunken city, also 2-3000 years old.

We made it to the top and into the castle. We're getting into areas where hirtorians differ on who the original inhabitants were and whether they date back 2000 or 3000 years. Take my word for it, it's old. The fasinating thing is the number of ancient civilizations that lived in these areas for centuries. Areas small as the Boston Common where life went on undisturbed for millenia up and down the coast.

We're almost there ...

We get to a ticket booth and find we do not have Turkish currency (Liras). We buy a drink at this hilltop bar with Euros so we can get Turkish change. Turkish cherry cola baby - my favorite!

From our anchorage we dinghied a few hundred yards to another historic village of Kale Koy. You walk up these impossibly steep stairs and further to the top to see an ancient castle and tombs scattered around (sarcophagus - there's a word you don't use every day.)

From Finike, we sail to an area called Kekova Roads and a historic village called Ucagiz (don't ask me how to pronounce, but it means "three mouths" referring to the bay). The whole of the Turkish coast in these parts was once Greek until the early 1920's, when the Turks took the land by force. Turkish land grabs - reason #102 why the Greeks are not fond of the Turks.

We originally planned to go to Turkey to find a suitable marina to haul Jungle out while we head back to California. As we are literally leaving the dock in Pafos, Cyprus I ran into a gentlemen from a marin e store we went to. He said he had a friend with a boatyard in Cyprus that would haul Jungle for a reasonable fee. We left, and Takis said he would check it out and email us the info. Long story short, we arrive Turkey (Finike Marina above) the next day and an email from Takis convinces us to leave the boat in Cyprus!

I immediately called in the great news to Demetris in Cyprus - we're coming back! To stay! Funny, the line went dead. Hello. I'll look into that.

But while we're in Turkey we might as well check it out, no?!