Turkey Tour - a night on the Mediterranean.

On the way to the boat we stopped at the Antalya Museum. Although I don't have much knowledge of archaeological museums or artefacts, it impossible to not be impressed by this place. There's so much history in Turkey. It appears that this area was the centre if early civilisation, and there are many significant archaeological sites in southern Turkey. Some of the fossils on display have been dated - 500,000 years old! That's impressive.

Also on the way we passed many many more greenhouses. Sooooo many

Another amazing lunch. Terrific pide. Haven't see them served like this before each pide was narrow, but about 4ft long. Delicious.

And then on to the harbour...

Wow, what an experience - to spend a night on a boat on the Mediterranean, on a boat called 'Myra 1' no less.

It was soooo peaceful and relaxing. We were in an area between islands and the mainland, very protected. We motored in and out of little bays, stopping frequently for swimming, even into a cave. Did some turtle watching, and saw relics of an ancient city ( now underwater) through a glass section of the boat. Incredible to see big pottery pieces amongst ancient stone walls, underwater.

Turtle watching too

At one point we could see ruins of an ancient castle high on a hill. A visit was on the agenda. We docked near a really small village, climbed the stairs up, reaching the top just before the sun set. Spectacular. Of course we were lots about the history, but I don't remember any of it :-(.

A small girl ( about 8 or 9) started following us early on. She had 3 cardboard displays of bracelets. As we passed her she would say, 'Very nice bracelets, maybe later.' And her voice went up at the end. Then she would race up further, getting ahead, and repeat it all again. By this time she had worked out who the boss was, and she attached herself to him, leaving her bracelet boards somewhere along the way. She raced n ahead, meeting us at the top, keeping conversation going with Išik all the while. On the way down the bracelet boards reappeared again. Sadly few of us had any money as we'd left everything on the boat. Familiar sight!

Spectacular sunset from the top of the castle too

As we swam the afternoon away, odours of food cooking were very tantalising. We docked near some ruins, a small BBQ was lit to cook the fish. What an amazing meal - freshly cooked sea bream, salad, red rice, stuffed peppers, zucchini and eggplant and a delicious green bean mixture. Lots of beverages flowed throughout the day and well into the night.

Like everything else, beds magically appeared on the upper deck. Sometime late in the night, or more likely in the early morning hours, there were numerous falling stars, or meteorites. But I messed it.... Sleeping soundly.

No, I did NOT sleep here.

We did manage to catch the spectacular sunrise though.

Usual breakfast, tea/coffee, tomato, cucumber, olives, feta cheese, and bread and jam. A couple more swims in various locations, then it was time to head to shore, reluctantly.

Not far away we visited the town of 'Myra', and the fifth century church of Saint Nicholas ...... Santa Claus! Can you believe that Myra, Saint Nicholas, the original Santa Claus, was the Bishop of Myra. The place was packed with tourists. It's a popular pilgrimage site, especially with Russian tourists, because he is the patron saint of Russia. In similar fashion to what we saw in Peru, people were buying small icons in nearby stores, and taking them into the glass covered sarcophagus of Saint Nicholas for blessing. Apparently the sarcophagus was raided many years ago by the Italians. His bones are somewhere in Italy, and his sarcophagus with big hole in the end is in Myra, Turkey.

 

Posted with Blogsy