Oh dear.  It is REALLY REALLY gorgeous here too!

I have never seen water like this in my life. So incredibly blue.  Even more stunning than the beaches of Thailand, Australia or Malaysia….is that possible? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with Kevin that it reminds us of Vancouver with the snow capped mountains peaking out across the ocean bay, with many luxurious sailboats and yachts floating by. Except the water of the Pacific cannot compare, nor are there high rise condos in view here.

We walk down the road for about 15 minutes and come to an area where are hundreds of huge sailboats (60 to 200ft) being repaired, and new boats being built. They are just jammed up on the shore and are being dragged out of the water and pulled right across the road where small team of men are working, sanding cutting, pasting away. Just a wonderous sight.  Looking around you can ‘t help but question where the money for these boats is coming from?! Economic crisis?,,, apparently not in Turkey.  There are the cutest little catering trucks here too, with the little Muslim lady and her husband cooking up a storm on a charcoal hibachi. The smell was incredible, and I walked by looking in, and the gentleman waved me over to come. He doesn’t speak any English but tells me “Kokorec” shows me the roll of meat looks like a very fatty pancetta, and he is slicing it and griling it and offers me a taste test. Smells awesome! And I give it a try.  Eh-hem, not my favourite.  The next day I am talking about it with Aaron who tells me he saw that guy and he told him it was sheep intestines! I look it up in the book and the description of the rolled dish indeed he is correct… (bah, I am glad I didn’t order the full meal!)

We have renamed the city “Papa Mike Dreamtown”, as Kev’s Dad loves the seaside life, having a place in Miami, and built his own boat back in the day. “Dad, just bring your palm sander, and have a ball!”.  My Dad would absolutely love it too! In fact, this area is the “new Spain” for the U.K. folk, as you can see all the middle age to retiree Brits, sitting in cafes and taking boat cruises. 

We went to the “Tuesday market” yesterday. It must cover a few square kilometres and sell everything from belts, veggies, T-shirts, shoes, etc… and of course our favourite item, goat cheese, wrapped in the hairy goat skin! Mmmmm! It actually is delicious though. We are pretty marketed out and they are all starting to look the same now. 

Should also mention, that while wandering around town yesterday Aaron decided to get his haircut. Kevin and I continued browsing and met up with him later to discover he had shaved his head! Apparently there was a bit lost in translation during the process, so Aaron just “went with it”.  Just wanted to note this, as we don’t want the Grandmas’ to worry that he has joined the army or anything when they see the pictures.

We also took a 45 minute bus to Oludeniz beach yesterday, as we heard it was one of the most photographed beaches in the world.  The water was really cold, but it was lovely and we enjoyed relaxing an watching many paragliders  landing every few minutes, just metres away. 

Upon our return to our hotel, we were shocked to find out that in fact while at the beach we didn’t make the 5 minute walk around the corner of the beach to the actual cove was that is the “awe” of the place, and the reason it was recommended to us for visiting. Ah well, we enjoyed ourselves none the less. 

Something cool, is that there is a fish market here that we can buy fish and bring it to your pick of adjoining restaurants for cooking, and you pay an extra $3 per person for the cooking, a salad, and bread. We met one young lady who was filling in as chef for her Dad at their little restaurant, (really more of a booth, resembling one in the St. Lawrence Market) and said she made the best calamari in town. We took her up on her offer to cook for us and she came shopping with us to buy the prawns, calamari and a small sea bass. MMM, MMmmmm! Out of this spot came THE most delicious meal we have had on the trip. We actually go back 2 days later for the calamari again, and laugh when there are 6 people there eating whom we had previously recommended to try it. Wow, the power of word of mouth! Of course the young lady is grateful for promoting her. We have a lovely chat with her and have a lovely chat and asks “where you go next?”. We tell her Bergama, and a quizzical look comes over her face, saying “why?…not typical for tourists, mostly Turkish people”. Ah, not to worry we assure her. We are travelers not tourists, and we are certainly not typical.