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Türkiye Farewell Greece, hello Turkey!
Again, we find ourselves on a boat, this time from Rhodes to Fethiye, Turkey... However this time the ride was not so smooth, as a result the trip was much longer than it should have been and quite rough, there were quite a few people not looking too good!
Fethiye is a pretty seaside town which is very seasoned to tourists, it even has it's own Gran Bazaar.
Unfortunately we saw a little more of Fethiye than was planned due to our first holiday hiccup, the boat we were booked on the next day was not going until the following day so we found ourselves doing the journey on road in a tiny little hire car, nicknamed 'the beast', following 'Silverman' on his vespa! (see photos...)
We now find ourselves in Kas overnight waiting to check into our villa for the next 7 days. There is still much to see in and around Kas though so far it has no disapointed. Travel date 2105, star date 2010, Captain Bretty reporting from the Poseidon...thus far 16 hours on the water in our travels as we await one of the most amusing
border entries I have ever witnessed. After 3 hours travelling from Rhodes on the 'boat with skis' (ETA 1.5 hours! the bow ducking into the water facilitates a 'slow down' granted, but it was fun!) we have arrived in Turkey - Joy! A man on a moped approaches the boat, boards and requests passports with 'visa cash' inserted, collects and off he goes....Organised chaos ensues - they try and get off, they haven't inserted their 'visa cash' or simply just stand near the front door blocking any progress (tourists!!!) - 50 mins later 'moped visa man' returns. The rush towards the door is amusing - Julie and I had already discussed how they might facilitate this and agreed the 'sensible/logical' thing to do would be to call out the names of the passports and have them come up and collect and disembark, hence we had secured a comfortable 'outdoor mid-ship' viewing position of the vessel. This logical process is adhered to but OMG, "Muppets" (expletives censored), as if being near the front of the vessel would ensure a quick exit!? Our names are called early - good! Now to get there... Elbows in, shoulders down, they experienced a polite, yet
tame game of Aussie Rules as we came through (excuse me, whack! excuse me...). Some "large English gentleman"(expletive censored) copped most of my abuse blocking the exit - you "large Englishmen"(expletive censored) move your "large English frame from the exit" (expletive censored) - shoulder to lead, elbow out...works! Boat with skis =
We are in Turkey...(happy expletive censored!)
As the Gulet (big, traditional wooden boat) organisers were opposite the port, we figured we would confirm our booking and the exact departure point (it's quite a big harbour in Fethiye). As my initial enquiry went from one staff member to another (I figured something wasn't right) then finally the Turkish managers desk...Apparently, we were the only people booked on this particluar trip, the next was Saturday (today FYI) which meant only 1 day (noon - noon) trip for 75%!o(MISSING)f what we had paid for 3 days / 2 nights - no thanks! We had not been notified of the cancellation - sorry! Look, nice enough people and not their fault, but their agent! We had been looking forward to this start to our trip in Turkey so much we re-negotiated a 1 night trip but, on sleeping 
I was only 19!
Turkish 'boys' joining the army run amok and display their national pride prior to joining.on it (hotel not gulet), figured we could hire a car, see more, sleep more comfortably for less and still have the equivalent up our sleeves for a gulet ride (day trip from Kas)
Even though this was not our best introduction to Turkey, we were fine. Let's find our hotel...the map and signage suggested it was a mere 700m from port - yah! True, but...300 up the road and 400m up a"nasty" hill!
I ventured up a 1/4 of the hill hoping to spy this hotel to no avail, upon my descent I suggested we just pay someone to drive us (it was a very, very large hill!). The Turkish hositality presented itself immediately with Ismail spotting our inevitable mission and offering to drop us off - Got to love the Turks!
To be continued...I'm tired!
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Robyn MADDEN
non-member comment
I am enjoying your holiday just following your blog and Brett you have mastered the camera very well,you have same great shots. Enjoy