Turkish Delight

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In this issue of 'Jury's Out In Europe', our co-reporter Sean will be back by popular demand.

After a 150am departure out of Ibiza on the Monday morning and two very sore heads (Tytey & Sean), the gang went their seperate ways. Holley left us two days earlier to meet up with a friend in Greece for a Contiki tour. Matthew (Tytey) headed to Venice to meet up wıth other friends. Sean and Brooke headed to Turkey via London Gatwick wıth a 4 hour stopover. And as for Shannon, we left him on the dance floor of Space nightclub Ibiza at 10pm Sunday night. He had mentioned he didn't have a flight booked back to London as yet and we still haven't heard from him. So Shannon ıf you're reading this mate drop us an email and let us know if you're alive.

Back to us. After a 40 minute wait from air traffic control for clearance we were on our way to Dalaman. On arrival into Turkey we were gob smacked at the intense heat. After collecting our bags we legged it outta there for a taxi into town. This was followed by an hour bus ride in a bearly air conditioned mini bus down the coast to a seaside town by the name of Fethiye.

When we arrived in Fethiye we were surprised by just how beautiful this town was. We dumped our bags at our cool little hostel overlookıng the harbour, and with it's own plunge pool, and explored the town. Brooke couldn't help but sample some of the locals Turkish Delight and I treated myself to an old-style shave at a barber shop (it came wıth face and neck massage for the bargain price of 15 Turkish Lira which is equivalent to about 13 AUD). After a traditional Turkish dinner down by the harbour watching all the yachts sail by, we experienced some true Turkish culture with a Turkish bath and massage. What an unreal experience it was. A must for anyone who visits Turkey.

The next day in Fethiye had us up early and down to the harbour for the start of our 4 day/3 night cruise down the Mediterranean coast. The scenery was breathtaking! The water was about 25 degrees and the photos don't do the water justice. It was aqua-blue/green and clean and clear. No matter how deep it got you could always see the bottom.

Whilst on the yacht we met some really nice people and a couple of wierdos too! Two families from Manchester travelling wıth their sons, three Aussie girls from Melbourne, a young couple from Sydney, a Canadian travelling on her own (weirdo no. 1) and two Turkish girls (weirdos 2 & 3) who spoke English but would not talk to any of us.

By day 2 on the boat almost everyone was getting along fine, apart from the two Turkish girls. We had a stop at a little port called Kas for 2 hours and when we returned to the yacht, the two Turkish gırls had got off our boat ?? We still don't know why.

After dinner that night, I had everyone pissıng themselves with laughter and I suggested a few drinking games. Out came a bottle of Bacardi and Vodka. Lets just say the next day aboard the boat was a very quiet one, even the crew who had joined in the games were carrying a few sore heads. Brooke spent 3/4 of the next day below deck (driving the porcelin bus).

When the cruise had come to an end none of us wanted to get off. We were all having a ball. We said our goodbyes, exchanged emails and went our separate ways. Brooke and I along wıth another couple from Sydney spent the next night in Olympos, not far from where the yacht had docked.

As I sit here now filling you all in on our latest installment, I would like you all to know that we are sitting on a bus on our way to Kusadasi, a coastal town on the western coastline of Turkey and the transfer point for our Greek travels. We started our journey for Kusadasi at 9am and arrive at 730pm. With all these great adventures come some shit 1's as well, like this stinkin 10 1/2 hour bus ride!!

Just to rub it in, we heard that it has been rather cold back home wıth reports of temperatures as low as 3 degrees and another the coldest winter day in over 20 years! Yesterday here we enjoyed a pleasant 40 degrees without a cloud in the sky.

Hope everyone back home is well and we are thoroughly enjoying your messages and comments on the travel blog. So as the Turks say, tesekkurler (thank you).

P.S. I am sporting a pretty good European sun-tan! Palmer and Yatesy you two would be extremely jealous.

... ah not just yet. I don't where the "popular demand" is coming from but Arnold will be putting her two bobs worth into this blog. Just to let you all know (as i'm sure you can imagine), it took about 5 minutes on board the "big brother boat" before it was over-run by Sean. Everyone knew everything about him down to his last bowel movement. Mind you everyone was extremely comfortable and friendly around each other. But to make things even more interesting, there was a female equivalent to Sean on board. One of the Melbourne girls was as rude, loud and fun to laugh at. The two of them had the whole boat in stitches (I don't think they realised we were laughing at them). Everyone was sick of seeing Sean's tan line. The two of them were outta line so many times BUT everyone loved it. What is goin on!!

After day 1 the Turkish girls were evicted. 2 points from every person on the boat - they needed to go! Luckily one of the Melbourne girls spoke fluent Turkish and as the crew spoke NO English this came in extremely handy. The crew were great and funny too. When translated back to us and I realised they were paying Sean out I loved it! We even borrowed their Shisha and took turns around the table. A little suggestion however - don't drink lots of different types of alcohol on a small yacht/cruise. I've never been that sick in my life. The spinning and the rocking - STOP THE ROCKING!

We noticed how family orientated the Turks were and so friendly. We had an awsome time. I think Turkey's my fave so far.

P.S. sorry if there are any mistakes - this keyboard is a Turkish one and i'm so confused right now.

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