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Published: September 29th 2008
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These past couple of days have been so lazy, didn't have much to write about. Hard to say more about lying on the beach or around the pool than just that. However, I did get about 1oo mozzie bites on my legs the first nite in Cirali, didn't feel them at all until the itching started. Kept me awake haldf the nite. Mozzie is the British term and I do believe I will be quite British speaking by the time I return home. I am now calling them tomaaatoes rather than tomatoes, saying that was a lovely lunch, the wine was quite lovely and put my jumper in the boot!(jacket in the trunk). I toally relaxed in Cirali and did absolutely nothing worthwhile. I did meet Carrie there, she is the owner of the hotel I stayed at and whom I had been corresponding with for a few months. She was a big help to me in figuring out the intricacies of the bus system and so on in the different places I have stayed. She is Canadian and her husband is Turkish. Their hotel is very comfortable and has a large swimming pool, serves wonderful meals and all at a
fantastic rate. She is now the proud owner of an OSU cap and was left some buckeye candies to enjoy. Hopefully, her kids didn't eat all of them. I spent Thursday and Friday there and was picked up by my new British family on Saturday evening to take me to their villa. I stayed in Kalkan with Ros and Tony until today and they brought me to Fethiye were we dined on the freshest fish in the worl...you pick out your fish and its taken to the restaurant near the market: the restaurant cooks the fish and provids the rest of the meal and you pay a very small amount for this service. The fish is paid for at the fish market. I have some pictures of the fish market too. Reminded me of Pike Place in Seattle. How do you all the like hanging gutted lamb in the store? Strange to see the meat just hanging there in the open. Since tomorrow is the biggest holiday of the year here, the people were out stocking up on food for the family for the next day or so. Normally they shop daily for their meals and probably buy their bread
3x day, once for each meal. They have no frozen food section in the grocery store like we do. They might have a few frozen items, but not a large department with whole meals ready to be nuked. Most people buy their dinner that day. Yesterday, we went shopping for last nites dinner which Ros cooked....it was lovely! I had brought 2 bottles of wine that I had purchased in Cappodocia so we also had that....it was all lovely too!I met a charming older Turkish gentleman who owns a shop in Kalkan. Ros makes jewelry as a hobby and sells it in the shop. He had been a National Park ranger and had helped establish the Turkish national park systems. He spent 3months in the USA in the early 70's learning how USA parks were organized to help here. He was in 25 states, but not OHio. Oh well.
Yesterday, Ros and Tony took me to Xanthos which is an early Lycian ruin nea Kalkan. It was fascinating, the ruins are just there, you can wander all about. No chains or guards. No walkways with long lines either. A Tukish shepherd who was there gave us a little tour
and knew about all the buildings and what they used to be. He showed us some mosaics that were uncovered recently. I have pictures of him I will include. There were goats grazing in part of the ruins! Also saw a tortoise. The Lycian tombs are fascinating. Apparently they were built high up off the ground so that the important person who was buried at the very top of the tomb could observe everythig. The lower levels were reserved for other family members. Its strange to see tombs that were right in the middle of town and not in a cemetary. We drove to Patara and saw the ruins there also. There is a very large arched gate that is very old and still standing. Its from Roman times. Amazing its still upright.
Today we came to Fethiye and after having the fresh fish lunch at the market, we drove to Kayakoy. Kaya as it is commonly called here, is a ghost town that was inhabited by Greeks until the population exchange that was made in 1923. As part of a treaty between Turkey and Greece, anyone of Turkish descent living in Greece, had to move to Turkey even
if they had never live there before. Anyone of Greek descent living in Turkey had to move to Greece. This resulted in abandoned homes in both countries and people not speaking the language of the country they were forced to move to. Kaya was a Greek town and was left empty. Usually some of the Turkish people moving to Turkey from Greece would move into the empty homes, but that didn't happen here. Its very strange to see so many homes in such rundown condition all in one place. A tourist village has sprouted up around the ghost town. This area is where Birds Without Wings was written. ..an excellent book about this part of history. Some of the area has been used to graze and as stables for the livestock as you will see in my pictures.
I had arranged to pick up a rental car at 1700 at the port of Fethiye. We waited and waited, finally Tony called the rental office and was assured that the car would be there in a few minutes...well an hour and 15min later, it arrived.This is Turkish time, altho Tony said its not usually so bad. I am a little
bit nervous about driving here, the Turkish pay little attention to lanes, prefering to take their half out of the middle always! Tomorrow, I will venture out a little, after I pay $12/gal for petrol! I am going to add pictures now, so you can get an idea of the ruins I talked about.
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Laurie
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Cirali and Kalkan look beautiful!!! I could visit there easily! Well except for the gas prices..wow!! Gas here now is $3.15/gallon