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Published: September 3rd 2014
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I can't believe they charge you to use squat loos! 1tl to sit over a smelly hole is very steep in my book!
The first coach stop on the way to Bodrum from Goreme was at 2am and I barely woke. Glyn got out to stretch his legs and get an icecream or two. Ice cream and soup is all he could eat, but at least he is eating now and with no bad results.
The next stop was around 3am I think. I got out and was annoyed to pay 1tl to use what turned out to be squat loo, really they should be paying me! It turned out that all the service stations cost 1tl, they have you over a barrel really - and that might have been more comfortable.
I slept off and on throughout the night and was uncomfortable but I struggle to stay awake on coaches. Glyn eventually gave in to sleep in the daylight hours. It was meant to be a 13 hour trip, but ended up being 14.5. This was partly due to the coach breaking down less than an hour from our destination. We spent 45 minutes on the hot
roadside as the driver and team tried and tried to get us going and this did eventually manage.
And then we arrived in Bodrum. It wasn't full of highrises as I'd dreaded but still it was an overcrowded tourist hell. Istanbul is full of culture tourists, Goreme has back-packing and more adventure type tourists. Bodrum has sun-burnt hamburger and chips tourists, these are generally my least favourite. We originally had planned to stop here overnight as it's where we catch the ferry to Kos, but due to Glyn being ill and skipping Olideniz and Pamakkule, we arrived in Bodrum early in the afternoon. So what to do?
We went to our hotel who despite having our reservation, were fully booked and called the proprietor's brother to take us to his hotel. This annoyed us after our long journey, it was hot and both in need of food.
We went for a walk and at the sea front couldn't find anywhere to eat that wasn't very expensive and most of it was English and American food. We went up some side streets and found a nice Turkish place and I ate for the first time in 24 hours.
Glyn made a brave attempt but struggled to eat much, but could eat more icecream.
All the boat trips of the day had left and the narrow pebbled beach was packed like sardines. But due to not spending much on food, trips or travel recently, we had enough monkey to pay for a private boat. 200tl well spent, it was just us and the boat's captain helped us escape from tourist hell out onto the warm and open water for two hours. Glyn was happy to be lounge in a shady part of the boat with a sea breeze over him. I sat at the front enjoying the sun, safe with my factor 50.
We ended up at Aquarium Beach. Yes it was full of other tourist boats, but you have your own personal space around your boat and we spent ages in the sea swimming around. I'm sure I saw geese on the sea and tried to swim after them to prove it. They definitely were not seagulls but I'm sure that geese are fresh water only?
The was one tourist boat that broke the calm with ridiculously loud and unknown but probably out-dated cheesy pop
music, but only for one song. When we got back on the boat, our captain hosed us down, Glyn more so as I insisted on getting my camera.
After a lovely trip back, we arrived in Bodrum which was less hellish as it was 5pm and getting cooler. We looked for presents but it was loads more expensive than Istanbul. We stopped at a few places for drinks and ended up on the beach; Glyn with Turkish coffee, me with a beer watching the sun go down behind Bodrum Castle. On this beach there was a big fluffly black cat that the waiter fed with biscuits, but there was a skinny wide-eyed cat nearby who looked so sad that I made fluffy cat share his biscuits. Turned out that fluffy cat belonged to the waiter and he'd seen me steal his cat's biscuits to give to a stray. My bad.
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