Sunday, May 3, 2009

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2009 - MARMARIS, TURKEY

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2009 – 114/31 – MARMARIS, TURKEY

We got a slow start this morning. Weare back in civilization. We actually get off the ship and walk out the gate

without being “strip searched” and hassled by 10 people over something; be it our passport, what we are carrying or a taxi ride to this or that place! The 11:00AM run of the shuttle bus takes us into downtown. Carolyn enjoys a little shopping time while Dick rents a small car for ₤42 New Turkish Lira (NTL) or $26.37US. Now don’t ask me why the price was not ₤40NTL or ₤45NTL. I do not have a clue but collision damage waiver was included so it was not a bad price. The tank came empty and any gas left in the tank is a gift to the next renter. We put in ₤70NTL ($44.00US) or 22+ liters and wound up making a gift of ¼ tank of gas to the next renter. Oh well, it was better than running out or having to look for gas in a strange place.

We drove 200KM round trip over the mountains and through the forest to Daylan This is a pretty little resort town.There is a Saturday market going on that looks really interesting, but we are not here to shop and besides we are off to a late start. We rent a boat for ₤110NTL ($69US) to take us out to the ruins of Caunos, a city that dates as far back as 500BC. What is there now is mostly Greek and Roman and dates from 200BC to 300AD.

It was a pleasant slow ride through the marsh, taking about 30 minutes to get there.It is just the two of us plus Mahmed, the captain aboard. Along the way, we get a good, distance look at series of tombs carved in the cliff face. The entrances are very ornate and appeared to be on a par with the ones we saw in Petra, Jordan.We could not get close to them without a lot more effort than we had time and inclination to expend.
Once near the ruins, the captain ties up and walks us to the entrance where we pay ₤16NTL or $10US for our tickets. Mahmed waits for us in the shade while we walk up the hill to the amphitheater, the domned churchand to the Roman baths.This is the upper route and it gives us a good view of the lower city with its agora, walls, other ruinsand the silted up harbor that originally made this such a choice site for a town. The high hill above the amphitheater has significant walls and fortifications but it is too much of a challenge given our knees and time constraints. Thank you, time constraints. You saved us from climbing the 250+ steps to the top. We explore the ruins for an hour before heading back down the hill for our return trip to the dock at Daylan.

Our return trip, through this pretty countryside brings us back to Mamaris around 6:00PM where we turn in the car, walk around the harbor and go shopping together in the modern souk. We both buy items from a silver shop and would have purchased more if we were rich and had unlimited funds.

We catch a taxi back to the ship for ₤20NTL or $12.55US and are on board by 7:00PM. After cleaning up, we adjourn to the lounge where we are two of a very few people. During the last segment, this place was jumping before dinner and now it is dead. We must have picked up a Baptist Convention in Alexandria!

Anyway, we have dinner in “2”, outside on the back deck, to eat, enjoy the sunset and watch the lights of the very pretty town come on as darkness falls. This part of the Turkish coast is beautiful and the people are very nice and welcoming. We have liked and enjoyed Turkey before and it is on our list of places to which we would like to return.

The ship sails at 11:00PM for Rhodes, which is only 20KM across the way. I guess we will pull out of the harbor and drift or sail in circles all night.

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