Sea Dreams

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Hi all,
I was unable to keep a good connection last night for long enough to enter my blog notes. Anyways, I am in Fethiye which is also Telmessos and the site of the book that started this whole trip for me. I read or actually listened to BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS on cd in my car and was so fascinated by the descriptions of the place that I decided I had to check this out. So, almost 2yrs later, here I am. In Telmessos! Even if you are not interested in visiting here, I highly recommend this book, the author also wrote CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN. (sp?).
I spent 8hrs yesterday on a boat trip to the 12 Islands, actually stopped at 4, just cruised past the others. It was a breezy warm day, in the 80"s. The boat which was quite large was only about a third full. Only one child and she was probably 12 or so and very well behaved. I met a lovely Turkish couple who were on their holidays. I talked to them quite a bit as her English was pretty good and his only slightly better than my Turkish! I will post a picture of them. I did snorkel at all the swim stops, but only saw a few fish. Got a couple of shells but nothing amazing. Picked up one shell, but the creature still living in it protested, so I returned it to the sea. It was absolutely gorgeous scenery and if these pictures don't make you want to visit, then nothing will!
Not sure where I am going today, but need to find some place with softer beds! Oh, I was going to tell you about the food I had on the boat...they served whole fresh fish, head and all. They serve fish that way almost everyplace here. The day before we went to the fish market and picked out what we wanted, the restaurant fixed it and we ate it. I have become fairly proficient at separating the back bone from the good fish! yesterday was the biggest holiday here so much was closed, but I did find a place for dinner last nite. Meal times here are quite late, except for breakfast. Lunch is usually around 1p or so and dinner not until at least 7p. Table settings seldom include napkins, instead theres a dispenser on the table with small paper napkins. The fancier places do have cloth napkins on the tables. If you ask for water or su, you get a bottle of water which they pour into a glass for you. No tap water served, which is probably just was well for tourists. I am going to get the car out of its tiny space and drive into the countryside today, if I can find petrol station open. I think they will be, even tho this whole wk is a vacation time for many Turks. Gas or petrol, is very expensive here, the highest in the world I believe. Its about 3TYL /liter which is around $12/gal. So will have to watch how far i go. Tomorrow, I will be going to Pamukkal to see the travertine pools and hopefully swim in the thermal baths.

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