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Last night Kath & Albert were asking us what we thought about the Turkish toilets. What do you mean? we asked because they seemed like regular toilets to us. So Kath and Albert had to point out that Turkish toilets have a built-in bidet - just turn the tap on the wall and you'll see. So, this morning I thought I'd better give it a go. OMG, the water is cold. Now if they could plumb it with warm water I might consider it a better option but, honestly, who really needs a spray of cold water on their nether regions first thing in the morning??! Or any other time for that matter??!!
With the forecast today a bit average we decided to catch the bus into Bodram. The local mini-bus runs every 10-15 minutes and for €1.50/head has you in the township of Bodram in about 10 minutes.
Bernie was keen to explore Bodram Castle which was built by the Knights of St John between 1406 and 1522 on the site of an older Turkish castle using stones from the Mausoleion, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The castle perches on a rocky peninsula between
two natural harbours. The castle includes the French Tower (the tallest), the English Tower, the Italian Tower, the German Tower and the Snake Tower.
After the conquest of Rhodes, Turks seized the castle in January 1523 and added a minaret to the castle chapel. During World War I the castle was bombed and partially destroyed by French and British Warships. In 1964 the castle was opened as a museum - The Museum of Underwater Archaeology which is dedicated to artifacts that have been recovered from underwater sites.
When we had finished exploring the castle we headed back to Torba. On the way back to the bus stop we had to call in at Turkcel so that Bernie could enquire about a data only SIM for the mi-fi. Bernie's research into internet access in Turkey had suggested that a data only SIM would be easy to source and purchase. Hmmn, past experience has shown that anything to do with foreign internet access is never easy!!
And Turkey is no exception. The staff in the first Turkcel shop said that the SIM software would be incompatible with our mi-fi and we would have to buy a SIM and dongle
bundle. The guy in the second Turkcel shop was only minding the shop and he was clueless and suggested we should go back to the shop we had just come from. The staff at Vodafone also told Bernie that a Turkish SIM would be incompatible with our mi-fi. Oh well, we'll just have to forego in-room internet access and settle for accessing the resort's internet hot-spots in the main foyer and bar areas.
Back at the resort we found the Turkish pancake hut and sampled Turkish pancakes for lunch. We tried the meat-filled and the cheese-filled pancakes. They were sort of like chappatis with a savoury filling. Very tasty and very moreish. I think we'll be having some more of those before we leave!
After lunch, even though it was a bit cool, we spent a couple of hours sitting by the pool reading. I was reading a 'light' holiday novel Fifty Shades of Grey that I downloaded onto my Kindle before we left home. This book makes a Jackie Collins book seem positively tame!! I only downloaded the first book of the trilogy - in case I didn't like it? I'm hooked though!!
With this evening
being a bit cool there were heaps of people in the Panorama Bar after dinner tonight. There were card games being played at more tables than not. It wasn't the Gaffney's night for Jo with Kath just managing to finish ahead of Albert for the win. Rather surprisingly it was my night for Blobs. I had pretty ordinary cards all night, but just seemed to manage to consistently win the number of hands I had bid for. So consistent was my game that the others conceded the pot to me before we played the last hand in order to reduce their losses!!
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Caroline Brunner
non-member comment
Turkey is AWESOME.
Thanks Tracey, you're obviously having a wonderful time. Hope you get OUT there and experience the Turkish people themselves. I never stay in a resort, too many things to see/do. Hope you get to Central Turkey; Cappadocia and the troglodyte homes in Goreme are not to be missed. Gulay Gulay. Caroline