We woke up to this lovely view from our porthole, but it was still raining...
...and even though we were fairly safe, out at sea was still rough and our options were another down day in a bay or to pay a few pounds to overnight in Gocek.
Before cabin fever set in we headed back to Gocek - landbound rather than seabound!
Our rather orange cabin to avoid having cabin fever in.
We did some shopping and met a TEFL teacher giving a lesson to a young Turkish girl, as native English speakers the teacher was really pleased when we chatted with the girl and gave her a chance to practice her (very good) English. A Canadian lady who had settled there gave us some advice about where to have a hammam if we had time and was really lovely, but we didn't have the time.
"One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time." - Hermann Hesse
Mum was struggling with some serious swaying on land and went back for a lie down.
"Seasickness (or landsickness in this case): at first you are so sick you are afraid you will die, and then you are so sick you are afraid you won't die" - Mark Twain
[ha! so true!]
I headed out with two of the lovely ladies from the boat for a sundowner looking over the harbour. In this little bar they had a small garden with lucky eyes hanging on the tree and egg shells hanging on the rose bushes for luck.
[source]
After dinner we headed back to the little bar on the waterfront for a few drinks before bed.
Views over the sea from the sundowner bar.
"There is, one knows not what, sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seems to speak of some hidden soul beneath." ~Herman Melville
Our last full day arrived and we were headed for Dalyan for an excursion.
Some of the group chose not to go and headed for local villages like Fethiye on the daily bus service. About ten of us headed for Dalyan on a mini bus. It took around an hour and once we arrived we were led to a small boat to cruise us around.
Safety first.
The Dalyan's love their turtles!
Some of the group chose not to go and headed for local villages like Fethiye on the daily bus service. About ten of us headed for Dalyan on a mini bus. It took around an hour and once we arrived we were led to a small boat to cruise us around.
Safety first.
We headed downstream through the reed beds that were a little reminiscent of the Okavango Delta...
...and passed some Petra-esque tombs in the hillside.
We saw all sorts...
...lots of other boats...
...people building boats...
"Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring... 'How to Build a Boat."- Steven Wright
...even some sheep on the river bank!
We finally reached a lake and pulled up next to a small shed and platform.
Here they were cooking blue crab...
"You cannot teach a crab to walk straight."- Aristophanes
...and throwing the shells, once eaten, out for the turtles.
We waited a while and managed to get a couple of snaps of the turtles, who were all quite large!
We headed out to the beach, which is also a reserve for the turtles, and had a great walk.
Island at sea.
Love this hat on mum - she will think I am being sarcastic, but I am not!
Rain jacket and sun hat - confusing weather!
On the way we saw some turtle spoor, where one of the turtles had some onto the land to lay eggs.
We headed back from the beach, picked up our now cooked crabs to eat...
...motored up the river, heading through a section of gates which we presumed were to stop the turtles venturing too far in land and to regulate the boats allowed into the turtles area
Gate man.
And his gate.
On we went motoring along....
passed the tombs again...
"A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient." - Alexander the Great
...and had a spot of lunch on the riverside.
"Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat." - Jean-Paul Sartre
Standard way to cross the river to the restaurants in an overloaded row boat!
Half the group headed to see the ruins and six of us headed to the mud baths.
From here we headed for the thermal bath, before which we were hosed down with what looked like a fireman's hose - seriously, the trauma we go through for soft skin. We finally sank into the 34 degree pool and our bones relaxed into the warmth, which was lovely. When we arrived we were the only people in there and really enjoyed having the place to ourselves. The place was now packed, so we decided to call it a day. Much as we all wanted to wash the sulphur off us we couldn't bear another industrial experience, no matter how good for the circulation it might be, so we skipped the showers and left with skin smelling like matches, opting for a shower as soon as we got back on the boat. We had an hour for a coffee and some baklava in Dalyan and headed back to the boat for showers, dinner and a last night of drinks in Gocek.
The streets of Dalyan.
Turkey likes their statues!
...and passed some Petra-esque tombs in the hillside.
We saw all sorts...
...lots of other boats...
...people building boats...
"Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring... 'How to Build a Boat."- Steven Wright
...even some sheep on the river bank!
We finally reached a lake and pulled up next to a small shed and platform.
Here they were cooking blue crab...
"You cannot teach a crab to walk straight."- Aristophanes
...and throwing the shells, once eaten, out for the turtles.
We waited a while and managed to get a couple of snaps of the turtles, who were all quite large!
We headed out to the beach, which is also a reserve for the turtles, and had a great walk.
"Try to be like the turtle - at ease in your own shell." - Bill Copeland
"Watch the turtle. He only moves forward by sticking his neck out." - Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
"Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help." - Alex Haley
Island at sea.
Love this hat on mum - she will think I am being sarcastic, but I am not!
Rain jacket and sun hat - confusing weather!
On the way we saw some turtle spoor, where one of the turtles had some onto the land to lay eggs.
We headed back from the beach, picked up our now cooked crabs to eat...
...motored up the river, heading through a section of gates which we presumed were to stop the turtles venturing too far in land and to regulate the boats allowed into the turtles area
The only way in and out.
passed the tombs again...
"A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient." - Alexander the Great
...and had a spot of lunch on the riverside.
"Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat." - Jean-Paul Sartre
Standard way to cross the river to the restaurants in an overloaded row boat!
Half the group headed to see the ruins and six of us headed to the mud baths.
Tower at the river bank mud baths.
"We sit in the mud... and reach for the stars." - Ivan Turgenev
"When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either." - Leo Burnett
The mud bath was full of squelchy mud and smelled really strongly of sulphur. We waded in deeper and deeper and covered ourselves in mud. As it was a bit cold and rainy we were unable to sit by the side and let the mud dry on us, but we rubbed it on our faces, arms and body and tried to get the benefits the best we could. From the mud baths we headed to the showers which were of industrial strength and more like a car wash! We presumed they were to hose dried on mud from people, but we certainly didn't need that strength! Having sat in the mud for a while it was quite a balancing act to get clean and get all the mud and stones out of your swimming costume without sustaining a water hose injury!
The streets of Dalyan.
Turkey likes their statues!
The Dalyan's love their turtles!
The bar we were in the night before had the cutest kitten, so in the morning we headed back to have a coffee and a cuddle (missing my animal time!) Overnight the people who own the bar had given another kitten a home and we got cuddles with two bundles of fluff.
We bought our final souvenirs, had a last look around ..."No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch." - Leo Dworken
We found the mosque saw the washing facilities outside which were beautifully decorated.
...and had an early, pre airport lunch of seabream and salad....
...before heading to the airport and waving goodbye to Turkey. The weather may have meant that we didn't see everything we had planned to see, but we had a lovely time doing something slightly different and can definitely recommend Gocek!
Bye, bye, Turkey! Until next time!
"Turkey was fantastic, Turkey was, like, mystical and such a special place. Just unique, something that's really hard to describe, such beauty, those mountains and the stone is kind of, eroded? Special erosion which makes what you see just something that seems, it's been made for a movie, it's like something out of fantasy, except it's real." - Violante Placido
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