Day 140: Tuesday 5 August – Kaya Köyü and The Beach At Oludeniz, by Ken

I had been battling with Vodafone for nearly two months after an agreed discount to our home internet service by virtue of me having a Vodafone mobile disappeared. Palavi and then Nigel got on the case saying they would fix it. Yesterday evening I received by email the monthly bill from Vodafone based on the charge without discount plus a $10 late payment fee!

This morning I emailed Russell Stanners, Vodafone NZ’s CEO, asking if he could intervene. Two hours later Valerie from Vodafone called me, apologised for the hassle I’d experienced and said a member of her staff would sort it and email me in the morning. Good for Russell and Vodafone, if only I could get the same level of reponse from TomTom.

We were on the road in Smarty well before 8:30 heading for the town of Kaya Köyü. In a deal brokered by the British in 1922 to resolve tensions following the civil war between the Greek and Turkish population in that part of Turkey 1,200,000 Greek Christians were sent to Greece while 400,000 Turkish Muslims were moved to Turkey from Greece. The whole population of Kaya Köyü left either voluntarily, or were evicted. Attempts to settle the Greek Muslims in Kaya Köyü failed because they were farmers and needed land. Consequently, the town of 2,000 houses and a number of churches and schools became a ghost town. The straw and mud roofs of the houses gradually deteriorated and, following an earthquake in 1957, the government gave permission for the local farmers to use timber from the houses for reconstruction.

We came across the town almost by accident seeing the remains of houses on a hillside overlooking a few houses and stalls aimed at tourists. A stallholder told us we were the first to arrive and gave us each a pin with a small dolphin and the Turkish eye for good luck. Jane spotted some brightly coloured purses covered in small beads, all colours of the rainbow were represented and then some. The woman wanted 35 lira, Jane haggled and started to walk away when the woman wouldn’t accept 25. That clinched the deal and a “free” key ring was thrown in. Next Jane spotted Turkish pants, unlike their Moroccan counterparts that she invested heavily in two years ago, the trousers on sale were being worn by a number of the local women. 15 lira got Jane a pair of trousers.

Kaya Koyu

Jane Haggling

Hagglee

We walked up the cobbled streets of the town, it was an eerie sight with tightly packed roofless houses, most with cisterns for collecting rainwater. It must have been a hive of activity less than 100 years ago, now the only signs of life were tourists. In some houses we could see the remnants of blue paint on the walls. The fireplaces in most houses were on the first floor surmounted by squat rectangular chimneys with a vent in each face. We wondered whether that meant they kept their animals on the ground floor. We walked past a large church which was closed for restoration work and then up to the top of the village where we paused for a while to drink water and cool off.

Here's some shots of the abandoned town:

Two tour buses arrived as we made our way back down and the place soon filled with people and their guides. We stopped at a restaurant above the stall where Jane had bought her purse and trousers for water and çay (Turkish tea). Jane triend to befriend a flock of nearby geese that promptly went for her.

Morning Tea 

We headed back down to Ölüdeniz, it was still early and the town was far less busy than yesterday. We parked in the shade of a tree in the Ölüdeniz Nature Park and walked a short distance to the beach, a wide and long strip of sandy shingle, paid for two loungers and an umbrella and settled down for the rest of the day. We read and took the occasional dip to cool off. I was easily distracted and spent a while watching a large motor launch meander slowly off shore for quite a while before picking a spot to drop anchor. 

Beach, Oludeniz With Jane Striding Purposefully

Jane Cooling Off, Oludeniz

Deciding Where To Park

Ölüdeniz is a world class paragliding spot with a take-off spot 2,000 metres up in the hills behind the beach. The sky was busy with paragliders, many of which were tandem. I noticed there were eight paragliders flying in formation, one above the other. I had never seen anything like that before and thought it must be extremely difficult, not to mention dangerous, as the canopy would mask a pilot’s view of what was going on above. I was mesmorised by the sight and watched the group slowly descend flying in a wide arc. Then, they suddenly broke formation, went their separate ways and prepared for landing.

Paragliders Flying In Formation

Turning

Tandem Paraglider

At lunch time we walked into town and picked a place on the front serving a mix of English and Turkish dishes. There were a lot of English voices and burgers and fries were being consumed. We both chose a traditional Turkish dish of chicken breast stuffed with cheese and vegetables in a chilli and tomato sauce accompanied by salad and rice. As we waited for our food to arrive there was occasional excitement as tandem paragliders landed on the pavement outside opposite a booth advertising paragliding flights. After lunch Jane asked how I felt about ordering another Efes while she went for a poddle around the town. It wasn’t too reluctant.

Lunch

Jane reappeared much earlier than arranged, well before my Efes was finished. She was disappointed that most of the places in town were restaurants, not the clothes and jewelry places she gets so much enjoyment from. While she was gone I thought a tandem paragliding flight would make a good present for my birthday next week. We visited the booth next door where a man was haggling with the manager, unsuccessfully, over the price of a flight. I was quoted a price in British pounds, there were enough in Myrtle’s safe. Next question was how many stone was I, about 100 kilos was my best guess. “More or less than 100” was the next question, ‘Probably more”, I speculated. Then I was told 100 kilos was the limit. In hope, I asked if he had scales and he walked me around the corner to another booth. I was astonished, I was 106 kilos, my diet of Mythos and then Efes, more food than I would eat at home, wine in the evening and the occasional ouzo or raki, combined with not a lot of exercise meant I had put on weight! There’s just no justice! On our way back to the booth, and Jane, the manager tried without much conviction to sell me a day trip on a boat with a water slide as equivalent to paragliding, or a quad bike ride through mud and rivers would be even better. I declined saying I would be back when I had lost weight.

We spent the afternoon on the beach and then headed back to Mabel. We had noticed earlier in the day an elderly German registered motorhome parked nearby. There was a small Australian flag stuck on the back and a New Zealand flag on the front. As we passed by two young men were standing under the awning. They were Jamie and Adam from Christchurc, although Adam had been working in Australia since he graduated as a structural engineer and Jamie was working in Wellington as a courier driver before he set off on his OE. The Australian representation was from Reneė from just north of Sydney. Adam and Reneé had travelled through South America and Morocco before meeting Jamie in Germany where they decided to buy a campervan and travel together.

Jane spotted a couple of women dressed in tangerine bridesmaids dresses when she visited reception to enquire about the laundry she had left there earlier in the day. Jane came back saying that had prompted a blank look but they would look into it and get housekeeping to bring it over. It sounded very much like our unfortunate experience in Fes when the man at reception thought our laundry was a gift and distributed it amongst his mates. While most was returned, I never did get my best shorts back. I went to investigate the wedding, there were couples in the bar area, speaking English with a northern accent. Men in white shirts were wearing tangerine coloured buttonholes. Tables were being laid for a reception.

I reported back to Jane there was indeed a wedding and we returned to the bar so Jane could watch. Unfortunately, she couldn’t as the ceremony was being held some way away, but sound was being broadcast in the bar. How strange, but Jane was able to hear at least some of it. Later we could hear clearly the amplified speeches while sitting under Mabel’s awning. Lots of ribald laughter, hooting and bawling. Close your eyes and you could imagine you were in the bar of Haslingden cricket club after a match.

Later in the evening Jamie, Adam and Reneé came to join us and talk about our respective travels. They were doing a not dissimilar circuit to us, but in the opposite direction. They had travelled through Poland, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria to reach Turkey where they had started in Istanbul and were doing a clockwise loop via Cappadocia and Kaş. That enabled us to share experiences and we got some good tips for Cappadocia and a recommendation for a camping ground they had found in the centre of Istanbul. They had got their DGS card for the tolls by stopping at a toll plaza, dodging traffic and going into an office (Ptt?). However, they had been told subsequently there is no means of checking whether you have paid toll charges when you leave the country.

Adam's, Renee's and Jamie's Motorhome (Note Cheese Under Front Wheel)

We heard they had stayed at a particularly poor camping ground where they had filled their water tank. Later Reneé was having a shower and thought there was something strange with the water. It turned out to be salt water and they had a tank full of it!

Over a bottle of wine we learnt they had spent the previous evening gazing enviously at Mabel and our gear set up outside. As we pointed out, we couldn’t have afforded what they had at their age. They had bought theirs in Germany under a buy-back deal that included insurance cover. They had a few problems with their camper including a spare wheel that was the wrong size and were stranded temporarily in Turkey when a tire blew out. However, passing motorists had stopped to help, removing the punctured wheel and driving back the way they had come to have a new tire fitted. Unlike us with our purpose made ‘cheeses’ to level Mabel, they had picked up a couple of concrete blocks for the same purpose. They were also cramped for storage having to stow their outdoor gear inside when on the move. They were surprised we didn’t have air conditioning, they were better off than us in that regard with a fan by the bed over the cab to keep Adam and Reneé cool and another in the back for James.

We were still deep in conversation when Reneé looked at her watch. It was 1:15, we decided to call it a night.

Day 139: Monday 4 August – Guvercinlik to Oludeniz, by Ken

The mat we put down under Mabel’s awning was very grubby with all the sand it had picked up. We took it down to the sea, gave it a dunk and left it to dry on the hardstand.

Our minimalist set up of our two director’s chairs, Jane’s lounger and our small table made getting Mabel ready for the road very simple, we were all ready to go before 09:00. There was no sign of the lad who assigned us our pitch and appeared to be looking after the camping ground. I tried to leave 100 lira with one of the women in a nearby caravan, but she took me down to the water’s edge where a small fishing boat was moored. There she called a name and eventually the lad appeared from a small cabin looking very much like a teenager whose sleep had been disturbed. As on Friday when we arrived, there was no eye contact from the lad who walked past me and back to the woman’s caravan. A small crowd gathered as we tried to resolve how much we owed for our stay, including the elderly woman who had helped out with water on Saturday. She laughed at regular intervals as the Turkish contingent jabbered away excitedly. With the original woman’s help and aided by pen and paper we settled on 35 lira per night.

Mabel At Guvercinlik - Lad's Boat In Background

Our trip took us back the way we had come on Friday. We saw lots of stalls selling süt misir, but we still had no idea what it was. The steelworks at Yetagan didn’t look any better second time round. There were fewer tractors parked in the streets. We continued backtracing as far as Muğla where we took a dual carriageway that headed south for a while and then east as it climbed a long way into pine covered hills before descending just as steeply for 7km via a series of hairpin bends to give us our first glimpse of Turkey’s Turquoise Coast. It was full of islands and inlets stretching out ahead of us. As we descended there was the characteristic smell of overheating brakes in spite of Jane using the gearbox to keep our speed down.

Good To See He's Wearing Safety Glasses!

Steelworks, Yetagan

First Glimpse Of Turquoise Coast

We had declined a satnav route involving toll roads. East of Ortaca satnav instructed us to leave the dual carriageway. Just before we did so I could see twin tunnels, one of which wasn’t yet opened to traffic, manned toll booths were visible just before them. I suggested to Jane the toll was just for the tunnel and we should press on. Jane wasn’t keen and we were soon on a two lane road that climbed steeply via hairpin bends over a hill before descending and rejoining the dual carriageway we had just left at the other end of the tunnel!

We've Seen Lots Of These - Simple Car Washes?

In the busy town of Fethïye we turned off and climbed a very steep hill. A buzzer sounded and a low fuel warning flashed up on Mabel’s display although the gauge still read about ¼ full. I thought the warning was triggered by the range computer’s instantaneous consumption algorithm and it was nothing to worry about. Sure enough, when we reached the top of the hill at Ölüdeniz Mabel was much less pessimistic.

We drove down an equally steep hill into the seaside resort of Ölüdeniz which seemed to be completely separate from the main town. There we joined an almost static queue of traffic that inched its way past restaurant after restaurant interspersed at times by shops selling beach goods. Most restaurants had signs outside offering full English breakfasts. There was even an Indian restaurant presumably catering for English tastes - why would you come to Turkey for a curry? Holidaymakers made their way determinedly towards the sea. When we had finally crawled our way to the seafront the road turned right. While we waited in the queue a man came over, Jane wound down her window. He wanted to know how much Mabel was worth, then he spotted Smarty and thought she was great. He asked where were going and said there would be room for us at The Sugar Beach club which was where we were headed.

Indian Restaurant, Oludeniz

Fine English Fare On Offer In Oludeniz

How Much Is Your Motorhome Worth?

The beach looked busy with a few day trip boats tied up stern on to the beach. Drivers became impatient with the slow progress and started driving down the wrong side of the road to bypass the queue. As we progressed slowly we could see the queue and the impatient drivers were heading for a turn off with barriers that appeared to have a large car park behind. (We found out later this was Ölüdeniz Nature Park which we visited the following day). Once clear of the queue it was just a brief drive to the Sugar Beach Club.

Oludeniz Beach

The welcome there could be described as cold. A quckfire “50 lira per night, toilets, showers – no hot water, ask at restaurant about wi-fi, drive on and take next left and I will open the gate”. We drove in to a grassed area, to the right were semi-permanent Turkish caravans, to the left was parking for motorhomes with three already parked. The woman was impatient for us to decide where to park, we took our time and that seemed to get her quite agitated. We eventually selected a spot in the shade and the woman walked away grumpily.

After lunch of Greek salad we walked down to the restaurant to use their wi-fi over an Efes for me and a mojito for Jane, Use of the wi-fi required us each to have a password that expired at something like 6:19 am the next day. It all seemed rather petty. We then walked down to the ‘beach’ to find it was artificial on a lagoon. It didn’t look very inviting.

There were lots of English accents in the restaurant and a group that sounded English but it was  very difficult to understand what they were saying. It took a while for me to realise they were scousers (from Liverpool).

Trip Day 139 (244km)

Day 138: Sunday 3 August – Bodrum and Peninsula, by Ken

Jane was still keen to close the gap between us in terms of kilometres driven in Smarty. She elected to do all the driving today.

We headed in to Bodrum passing the all too familiar Ptt office and parked in the same Otopark as yesterday.

I needed some new footwear. My Tevas have taken the skin off my big toes, probably because my feet had swelled in the heat causing the strap to chafe my toes. I had been wearing a pair of Jane’s jandals but they had just about reached their best before date thanks to the dust and grit in camping grounds and footpaths. I had seen a pair of sandals with a single adjustable strap over the lower part of the foot in the bazaar yesterday, but couldn’t find the shop again on our way back to Smarty. This morning we found the place no trouble at all, I left with a brand new pair of Size 41s that felt very comfortable.

Next we walked along the dockside passing some magnificent sailing boats and returned to the Castle of St Peter. The castle stands on the end of a small peninsula and was built by the Knights of St John in 1406 to replace the fortress at Smyrna destroyed by the Mongols. We purchased an audio guide each and set off on a tour of the castle. It was rather a strange mixture of a late medieval castle, interesting in its own right, into which had been incorporated a museum of underwater archaeology.

Sailing Boat Setting Off From Bodrum

St Peter's Castle, Bodrum

It was quite an eclectic mix. The tour started at a chapel that had been converted to a mosque by the addition of a minaret that was subsequently destroyed by a French warship and rebuilt only recently. Inside the chapel/mosque was a replica of the starboard half of a 7th century Byzantine ship the remains of which had been excavated nearby. The small ship had a crew of 6 but there was no information on where they lived aboard as the only living space seemed to be taken up entirely by a galley. The ships cargo was carried in clay amphorae protected by straw which seemed an inefficient use of the cramped hold.

Minaret Added To Chapel To Convert It To A Mosque

One Of Bodrum Castle's Many Towers

Peacock, Bodrum Castle

A climate controlled hall housed the remains of a Byzantine shipwreck and cargo dating from 1025. It was a flat bottomed peacetime trading vessel that could ply the Mediterranean’s shallow straits. The ship carried liquids in amphorae and a lot of the cargo was glass, either articles such as jugs and bottles or glass ingots for fashioning into articles. Archaeologists had painstakingly re-assembled some of the glass objects from the millions of pieces recovered from the wreck.

Restored Glass - What Patience These Archaeologists Must Have

Amphorae

Wooden Anchor Invented Soon After The Chocolate Teapot
(The crosspiece had molten lead poured in slots to weight it down)

Another hall housed aretefacts from three Bronze Age and Mycenean wrecks, As we sat watching footage of divers excavating one of the wrecks we heard a man say in an American accent “There, that’s me”. A trim, fit looking man in his early 60s, we guessed, was showing two women round the museum. His enthusiasm was such we turned off our audio guides and listened to him instead. It transpired he had been responsible for finding one of the wrecks when he had asked a local sponge diver if he had seen any interesting objects on the sea bed.  The diver described objects that looked like large biscuits with ears which the American recognised as early ingots. As a result, he found a wreck and took part in its excavation over ten summers. The ship contained 10 tons of copper and one of tin, the proportions required to make bronze. We chatted to him briefly, he was originally from Philadelphia, but had lived in Bodrum with his Danish wife for the last four years. His sister was visiting him from the States. We guessed he was an academic.

Archaeologist And His Sister

This Is Where The Archaeologist Lived During His 10 Summers Diving On The Wreck

Skeleton Of Recovered Ship

We bumped into the American again in another hall where he was explaining how he had found a small gold statuette believed to have been carried by the ship for luck.

Statuette Found By American Archaeologist

Other parts of the castle we saw were a dining room in the English Tower used by the Knights of St John and a hall containing the tomb and skeleton of a noblewoman. A team from the University of Manchester had used forensic techniques employed in murder investigations to reconstruct the rotund face of a woman.

Dining Room, Bodrum Castle

Coats of Arms, Knights of St John

We managed to see nearly all the display rooms before they were locked at 12:00. How ridiculous is that?

View From Bodrum Castle

We made our way back to the restaurant of the man who nearly helped us find the castle yesterday and took a seat on his patio. There was indeed a good view of the harbour. Nearby was moored the Club Catamaran party boat. I had read it sails at 10:00 every night returning at sunrise, but there are regular shuttles to get you back if you can’t stay the pace. I offered to drop Jane off at 10:00, she didn’t think that would be necessary. We ordered a Meze plate between us finding that more than enough to keep us going.

After lunch we set off to do a circuit of the peninsula west of Bodrum starting with the south coast. Our first stop was at Camel Beach which was packed with loungers and umbrellas. Above the beech the hillside was dotted with hundreds of small white rectangular houses. A flimsy jetty had a number of day trip boats from Bodrum tied up. Lots of English voices were in evidence and recently white bodies bobbed in the sea as they turned pink. At one end of the beach camels wearing nappies were giving tourists rides that lasted not more than five minutes. The camel nappies were perhaps understandable having seen the piles of large hard pellets left by camels in Morocco, but it all seemed rather tacky. We had used lots of busy beaches with lots of umbrellas and loungers in our travels, but there was something about Camel Beach that didn’t feel right, in addition to the camels that is!

In The Pink, Camel Beach

Camels Wearing Nappies, Camel Beach

OK To Jump Onto, But Not Off, Jetty At Camel Beach?

We continued westwards and things got better. The architectural style remained rectangular and white, but the beaches were a lot less crowded. We passed one resort that looked very attractive and probably priced accordingly. Behind an un-crowded beach were swimming pools and tennis courts. A water slide wound its way round a fake circular castle tower.

There Are Hundreds Of These White Rectangular Houses Along The Coast

Resort With Water Slide Wrapped Around Mock Tower

We reached the tip of the peninsula and could see the Greek Island of Kos just a few kilometres away. Our guide book referred to the area as being windier than Bodrum  and more comfortable in summer. It was certainly windier, a number of kite surfers darted across a choppy sea at a great rate of knots.

Kite Surfers - Greek Island of Kos On Left

From the road we could see the large marina at the town of Gümüşluk and tried to find a route through the very busy town and failed. We continued towards the north coast but satnav was obviously lost and we ended up in a series of dead end roads. I had been feeling less than ideal all day with stomach cramps that weren’t helped any by the very rough roads of the peninsula. We decided to call it a day and set a course for home.

When we got back to Mabel there was a very strong wind blowing off the sea. Waves were washing over the road outside the camping ground. While we had used guy ropes to tether the awning it was taking a buffeting, our neighbours in the caravan opposite had been sufficiently concerned to tie a length of string from the awning to a nearby tree. I thanked them and wound the awning in.

While sitting in Mabel shortly afterwards we heard a lot of shouting and people started running past towards the sea, Jane went to investigate, a small boat had broken free from its moorings and was heading towards the concrete jetty. A number of men were in the water and managed to re-attach it to its buoy.

Rough Sea Outside Camping Ground, Boat Safely Re-Attached To Buoy

While sitting outside in the evening we had a visit from a dog we had seen previously wandering around the campsite. It had the unmistakable head of a Black Labrador and the body of what could have been a small Yak. It came and sat next to Jane and pleaded with its eyes for food as only Labradors can. It didn’t get any, we decided its breed was a Labraheinz.

Camping Ground Dog