morning in Dikili, Turkey

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Hi everyone, Toni reporting in - - - The Hunters went off to visit the ancient city of Pergamon and we decided to go into the city of Dikili. As we walked down the gangway, after giving our Boarding Card to the gentleman overseeing departures and returns (this is required at every port), we noticed a large cargo vessel. Of course, Craig was interested to find out something about it – it's being loaded with cement bound for Belgium, the ship's name “Gulf Forest”. We walked along the embarcadero - shore and found people snorkeling in the sea which is as clear as can be and then we found a “playground” with many types of workout machines so we worked out a little, then I decided to dip my toes in the water and found it was as warm as Hawaii; we walked further away from the city center and found a mosque and turned back into town. Along the street we saw mostly markets, coffee shops and restaurants and a few real estate offices. A door opened and a nice gentleman who owns a real estate office introduced himself to us and we had a nice chat about Dikili. It's not so much a tourist town except for those coming to visit the ancient city. I decided that I'd go back to Sea Cloud but Craig wanted to visit more of the city.

Hey everyone, thanks so much for following us along on our journey - - - - I left Toni and walked along the main street through the city where construction projects were going on and people were enjoying their morning (it was getting hotter by the minute). I took a few pictures to try and capture the flavor of the city which I enjoyed very much and also heard the call to prayers but didn't see any mass rush. I found a really cool sculpture out of granite which reminded me of a wave (see the photo) and I arrived back to Sea Cloud and was able to talk to one of the port personel about the cargo ship docked next to us and as I talked I could see almost to the bottom the water is so clear with several schools of very small fish.

We leave Dikili at noon bound for the island of Lesbos where we'll stay until 10:30pm; Toni says we're having dinner tonight in Mylilene.

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