Blue Cruise a Must Do

Before I get started a few people have mentioned the photos on our blog are blurry. Because we are working off of an iPad we're not able to try and fix this but apparently if you click on the photos the resolution is better? Something like that.

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Turkey just gets better and better. After Datca I felt sure that it couldn't be topped but four days and three nights on a "blue cruise" in an old Turkish gulet was unreal. It is an absolute must do if you come to Turkey. Not only was the sail boat itself, the coast, the bays, the water, the food all excellent, the people we met are what made it for us.

We set sail from Marmaris (tidbit: no need to visit this tacky tourist town) to Fethiye.


Our boat. We weren't sure what to expect. We went in blind - ended up booking the trip over the phone a couple of days beforehand so we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. Only complaint was that this boat didn't have proper sails - meaning it looked like a sailboat but in reality can only run by motor. We found out after the case this is pretty typical.


Our shipmates. Fourteen of us in total plus three crew: a family of four from Switzerland (including 10 year old twins Max and Eva who LOVED Josh), an older couple from England, four young Kiwis (tons of fun) and another couple (one is from Japan, the other from Iowa but they've been living in Turkey for last 10 years). An eclectic group right? It was fantastic.



Our room. More spacious then we thought. I should have taken a photo when Josh was wearing his neon green wrist bands to bed (to help with sea sickness) although thankfully he switched with Max who loved the bright color and Josh got light grey ones in return.



The front of the gulet had about a dozen comfy sun beds, where we spent most of our time during the day. Well, between the sun beds and the water.




We 'set sail' for a few hours every day and then would anchor at a bay. The water was bright blue and crystal clear. Everyone would jump in for some swimming until we heard the bell for lunch, or tea time or dinner...



The kids loved jumping into the water, especially when Josh joined them. They could do this for hours! Josh too. Above is a sad attempt at them doing a synchronized 'jack knife' jump.


Beautiful sunsets every night.



Even better sunset with Josh in the picture! :)


Some of the scenery - these are ancient tombs that were carved into the rock a few thousand years ago.



You can see the sun beds behind us. Switzerland family back left, Kiwis back right, British couple front right.


While we were laying on the sun beds in a bay, one of the Kiwis had a dream that she was eating ice cream. She was telling us about the dream when a small motorboat zoomed up and a guy was yelling "ice cream!!!" You should have seen her face. I guess dreams do come true.



We did an afternoon trip on a smaller boat to Turkish mud baths. On the way our boat got stuck because the water was so shallow. We ended up having to get a tow from another boat.



Josh teaching the kids a new game. I think Josh enjoyed hanging out with these kids as much as they did with him.



All in all, definitely a top-10 lifetime experience for me (and I think Josh would agree).

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Location:Marmaris to Fethiye, Turkey

We 'Heart' Datca

We can now say we have experienced the Turkish coast having visited Datca (thanks to the Goehrings) where we spent the last week of September. It's a small cute town on the water, not very touristy (mostly Turkish tourists), where the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas meet.

We stayed at a beautiful hotel, tucked away from the town perched on a hill, called "Villa Asina". Unfortunately Josh arrived with a pretty bad cold, but the staff - Arzu in particular - was very sweet and so hospitable to him.


The view from our balcony at Villa Asina.



Villa Asina at a glance.


Just another goat. We turned a corner on the ocean road and were confronted by over 20 of them. This guy had four legs I swear.


One of the many postcard-perfect bays we visited while staying in Datca.






We stopped for a Turkish tea while visiting one of the bays and met a tiny stray kitten. He must have been around six weeks old and was adorable. Despite being way too skinny he was less interested in food and more into affection. If it were possible I would have brought him back to Canada. Needless to say it was very sad leaving the little guy.


The owner of our hotel holding a swordfish just caught in preparation for dinner. The owners are architects and designed/built the hotel 5 years ago.


Dinner at Villa Asina. The dinner was served without a menu and the setting and the food were excellent. Lesson learned - make sure to ask the food/wine costs before dining. We received the bill the next day which came as a bit of a surprise. When in "Datca", right?


The turquoise water.


The harbor of Datca.


Our favorite lunch and dinner spot (ate here 3 times in 5 days). Delicious home cooked Turkish food served cafeteria style right out of the kitchen. The man with the moustache (above) we think is Zekeriya - friendliest man!


Swimming at the little bay just steps from our hotel. After a couple of days Josh was up and about so I took him down to the bay where I'd gone when he was in bed sick.


Bye for now Datca and Villa Asina! We'll be back. Thanks to Arzu (above) for making it a really special visit.

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Location:Datca, Turkey

A Bite of Bitez

After the educational 24 hours in Selcuk (Ephesus) we made our way to our first real coastal stop in Turkey: Bitez. Fifteen minutes outside the much bigger bustling Bodrum.

Despite being small, Bitez is still a pretty touristy place but we looked forward to a lazy couple of days poolside and by the sea.


We stayed in a cute place (above), called Sah Hotel.


The hotel was on the beach so we could just walk a few steps to a boardwalk.





After one of our episodes of getting lost (a 45 minute drive which should have be 5) we finally found a family-run restaurant we'd heard great things about called "Bagarasi". No wonder we couldn't find it though. It was in a hidden residential area (do Turks not need street signs?) in the middle of orchards and the restaurant itself was tucked away in a garden beside the family house. But it was wonderful and the food delicious. Near the end of the night the owner (think Shrek) blows a whistle, stands on a chair (see above, sort of, it was dark) and tells a joke in Turkish. We had no idea what he said but couldn't help but laugh since everyone else was!


Bagarasi is known for their stuffed zucchini flowers and for fresh pastry pasta with meat sauce and cream. Heart attack right? Worth it in my mind.





On our second night we visited the town of Gumusluk, a really cute and tiny fishing village at the tip of the peninsula. There were about a dozen seafood restaurants in the town all of which sit literally a foot away from the sea.


Above on the left is deep fried mussels. We're clearly eating nothing but healthy food hey?

That's all for Bitez. It was fun but I have to say where we've been since far surpasses Bitez, in my mind (still trying to get caught up on the blog posts).

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Location:Bitez, Turkey

A History Lesson

This one's for you Jacob!

After Istanbul we flew to a city called Izmir to begin our road trip down the Turkish coast. The first stop though was inland in a town called Selcuk (pronounced Selchuk). Why stay there? To see Ephesus, the best preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean, if not all of Europe (this is clearly not my own language, yes I copy and pasted).

If you read the last post on Istanbul you'll sort of know that I'm not a history buff, at all. But Turkey is such an old country, with so much history that it would be ignorant of us not to learn some of it. Plus I find myself more curious by the day trying to imagine what it was like back 'then'.

So for our less than 24 hour stint in Selchuk we decided to hire a guide to tour us around Ephesus and teach us about this former grand capital of the Roman province of Asia which had close to 400,000 inhabitants dating back as far 1200 BC. Our guide 'Octay', supposedly related to the Greek God Octavius, was the best.


This is Octay. We asked him a million questions and he'd kindly but directly told us, 'be patient, I will get to it' - I would have scolded us too.


The Temple of Hadrian, to publicly honor General Theodosius who was hanged innocently. This is the second most famous attraction at Ephesus.


Background is Curetes Street - the Champs Elysees of Ephesus - which had dozens of store fronts and pedestals displaying statues of honored citizens.


The men's latrines. I found this one pretty fascinating with full plumbing and clean running water. honestly, better than some of the toilets Josh and I have experienced in present day Turkey! This was a social gathering place for men to shoot the sh*t - scuse the pun. Many of the wealthy elite would frequent the latrines. It was a hot spot.


Known as the Terraced Houses in Ephesus. This is a photo of a living room in one of the houses where the elite of the Roman world lived. These homes were several 1000 square feet with every modern luxury you could think of. It's impressive and amazing the way people lived several thousand years ago.



The most famous attraction, the Library of Celsus. It was the third largest library in the ancient world. One of the neatest things was on the steps of the library a menorah had been inscribed (under order of Caesar) as an acknowledgement of the Jews help against Egypt. Josh obviously appreciated this one.


Sadly the end of the tour with Octay.

I thought I'd throw in a few other photos from Selcuk itself. Before going we hadn't heard much of anything about the town - its typically more of a pit stop for people visiting Ephesus - but we thought it had charm.


Hotel Nazar where we stayed. The place is family run - literally three generations working there. We felt like we were living alongside them and their five year old grandson who had some serious pipes!



Our first Lahmacun - Turkish pizza - with ground meat on top and no cheese. So good especially after our three hour tour in the sizzling sun.


The men out drinking tea and socializing. Sorry had to point it out again!


Our token animal picture. We always have to have at least one! This was Ellis and as you can see Josh is smitten.


As we're about to leave Selcuk/Ephesus the trunk of our rental car wouldn't close and a couple of the family members from Nazar Hotel tried to help. We ended up driving a few hours with our trunk roped closed (once again I'm grateful for Boy Scouts). Long story short we didn't actually break the trunk. Good news.

Next blog I'll fill you in on our first week or so on the Turkish Coast. It may be even more beautiful than I thought it would be.

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Location:Selcuk and Ephesus, Turkey

Istanbul - Round One

Within our first 24 hours in Istanbul we literally took more photos than our entire two weeks in Greece. The sights are absolutely fascinating and the Turkish people even more so. There's so much action, tons of people, dogs, cats (who are so friendly too), noises, colors, smells. It's amazing an sensory overload.

I've posted a bunch of photos with captions below because visuals will do better justice of Istanbul than my rambling.

But first, a few quick observations:

1. My absolute favourite part so far are the people. They are so unbelievably nice, hospitable and generous. One of the first things our hotelier taught us in Turkish was, 'hello my friend.' I find their culture so interesting and people watch all the time (yep, Nosy Nora lives on).

2. On the people topic I can't get over the number of men in Turkey, seems like 10 to 1. They're everywhere! Where are the women? Wherever I look there are men sitting, standing, smoking, drinking tea (which is delicious), playing backgammon, some working, it goes on. I can't help but feel out of place sometimes.

3. I've heard about the call to prayer but experiencing it is another story. It woke me up at dawn on our first morning and although I wouldn't say I'm religious, you get the spiritual feeling.

4. Visiting the Hagia Sophia was a huge highlight. It dates back to 600 AD and took only 5 years to build with the help of 7500 people. It boggles your mind that they were able to build this kind of structure so long ago. It started as a church then the Ottomans converted it to a mosque and now it's a museum. Snoozing yet? Usually I am but I find myself being fascinated with the history. Dad you'd be proud.


Enjoying my first Turkish tea.



Outside of Hagia Sophia.



Inside Hagia Sophia, behind us names of Islamic leaders.



Inside Hagia Sophia, you can see plaster that was used by Ottomans to cover up Christian mosaics.



Outside of the Blue Mosque.



Inside the Blue Mosque, it's beautiful.




Where's Josh?


Outside another mosque, men washing their feet. A cleansing ritual before entering.




Couldn't help myself, a man turned on one of the washing taps to let a cat have some water.




Outside the Spice Market. This place is insane! So many colors, smells and people.



One of hundreds of stalls at the Spice Market.




A quick baklava pit stop in the Spice Market. Pistachio baklava is amazing!




Some young Turks playing backgammon (common game for men) at one of the stalls in the market.



A less common site to see but it's clear the women stick together.



Dining on Nevizade Street, an area jam-packed with restaurants full of locals.




Taken at a stop during our day long cruise along the Bosphorus Straight which divides the Europe and Asia sides of Istanbul.




In the town of Andolu (stop on our cruise) we (or I) happened to watch a slew of navy seals walk through. Must be a regular thing because none of the locals seemed to notice.


A man in Istanbul selling tea to go.




The most authentic Turkish meal yet. The owner spoke no English. He cooked on a stove on the sidewalk, with two frying pans. We ordered 3 things on the menu using sign language and by pointing at the menu. He then proceeded to bring us 6 items, only one of which we actually ordered! It was totally hilarious but also delicious.

We'll be back to Istanbul in a couple of weeks and can't wait. Now onto our road trip along the Agean/Mediterranean coast.

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Location:Istanbul, Turkey