Turkey 2005

ISTANBUL

October 3, 2005 -- Arriving at the Heathrow airport on a sunny London morning and one short connection through Schiphol (Amsterdam), Con and I arrived in Istanbul at midnight. A city for your senses, filled with culture. The city itself divides Europe and Asia right down the middle. We taxied to our boutique hotel selected from the internet which more than lived up to its description.

With Courtney's 22nd birthday in a few hours, we tried twice unsuccessfully to reach her in Mexico where she was working. Falling asleep around 1:30 a.m., we were quickly awakened at 1:50 by a serious young man banging his drum, walking down the quiet narrow alley street, calling the moslems to begin Ramadam. He even woke the roosters, who believed it was morning. Once they settled, so did we, and dozed into a peacefully sleep until 5 a.m. when a powerful speaker system set up on a tower just 50 feet from our window began chanting: "nezlam, nezlam, nezlam." That was our official initiation into the land of the moslems. By 9:30 a.m., we were up, rested and found the roof-top breakfast room for yogurt, cheese, bread, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes and instant coffee. We started the day with a galliant effort, to see this fascinating city by foot. We just put our shoes on, crossed the Blue Mosque, situated right across the street.

Inside the Blue Mosque and the Aga Sophia

For men and women, who were not dressed appropriately, (showing legs, shoulders) the guards at the door handed blue clothes to cover. For everyone else, a bag to put our shoes into. It was very impressive. We crossed the courtyard to the Aga Sofia, another architectural "wow!" for our eyes. We continued walking to the Ancient Market, Spice Market, and then we stopped in a sunny courtyard for lunch. The Turkish coffee ws delicious, the lunch "so-so."

Summer "Ramadam" top,

I had taken my sweater off, showing my summer top with straps. When I asked the waiter a question about the menu, he couldn't look at me. He put his face into his jacket and said "ramadam, ramadam." We really weren't sure if he was joking or not, but I respectfully covered up. We took a taxi back to the hotel and booked a Turkish Bath. We didn't know you were to bring a bathing suit! We were greeted when we entered the bath and led to our change rooms and given a red plaid thin towel like cover and Japanese tall wooden sandals -- the most dangerous part of our entire trip. Wrapped in our towel-covers, we entered the bath. There were about 20 or so people all laying around the steamy centre marble slab IN THEIR BATHING SUITS, waiting for something that we later learned was a private washing by a Turkish young man. Trying to be casual, Con and I just laid back on the slab. About 20 minutes later, we were called into our private section. A man took Con first and using a massive pig belly filled with soap, he tried to wash Con. The idea is to relax on the marble, and the man scrubs your body, including your hair, and then you move to the rinsing area where he douses you with rinsing water. Con laid on the marble slab on his back, comically only the back of his head and a small edge of each heal touched, his body was so tight. When he rolled over to his stomach, hands stretched above his head, only his two toes and a few fingers touched the marble. He was not enjoying it. I loved it. Keeping my towel-cloth on my essential body parts, he scrubbed almost everywhere. That night, we walked a block or so for kabobs. The bill was so high, we thought later we were to haggle the price. After a week though in Turkey, we learned that we'd been "ripped off."

At the home front: Lindsey got the job; still tried to connect with Courtney, no luck; Brit got her perfune; Nick leaves soon for the "Worlds" in Hawaii.

October 6th -- The sounds of Istanbul in the night seem to compete for the airwaves. A distressed dog barking, (likely the same one that followed us home), garbage trucks, a wild cat fight about 3 a.m. and of course, 5 a.m. the call to prayer. We walked to the Hippodrome. Con said: "I'm not convinced that a few pillars constitutes the Hippodrome." We walked through the Sultans' castle/museum; saw the Prophet Muhammed's hair, shoes, even his sacred dust.
The Koran
Mohammad was reading just before he died.

For a Cnd$1 equivalent, we took a ferry later that day, to the other side of Istanbul (Asia). We disappointed a Captain who for just $150 wanted to take us over.

I talked to young school girls who sat beside me on the Asia side giggling trying to talk English. They asked me where I was from. "Canada," I said, "and I bet you're from... TURKEY!" They fell all over themselves laughing. We spent the afternoon in the market negotiating for "stuff." Con's a pro, having shopped in Taiwan and China. For $10 lire (down from $45 Euro) he purchased a bottle of syrup in a Gio perfume dispenser. He gave it to a small girl trying to sell him Kleenex. She was delighted.

Wanting to try authentic Turkish food, and needing an instant teller, the men running the boutique hotel simply "loaned" Con $100 lire, ordered a cab and had us seated in the best seats in a nice restaurant. We had a really good time and they drove us back afterwards.

The Turkish lire is 88 cents to $1.14 CND. I bought a table cloth, two pillows, two shawls. I paid way more than I would have had to, but don't enjoy the haggle.

Checking out of the Tashkonak Hotel, we departed for Bodrum by plane. Yesterday in the Old Bazaar, I spotted a blue goat leather jacket that I loved and wanted to go back and see it again. Con helped with the "haggle" and we managed to buy it for $85 lire. We then toured the Basilica, Cistern, and people watched. The big Ramadam party is tonight; too bad we'll miss that

BODRUM

The Bodrum hotel is washed in white. We picked up our 32 foot sloop and were filled with excitement for our journey. Before heading out, we did a land tour of the Bodum Castle, had a great Turkish dinner, then settled in an outdoor bar for a Turkish Raki drink. The waiter said Con looked like Brad Pitt. (Not the first time.)

Stocking the fridge, we left Bodrum heading south, anchored in Knidos at 4 p.m. nestled from the wind. We hiked around the 330 - 390 BC ruins, imagining the civilization then. After a dinner of Mezes (figs, peppers, cheeses, bread, turkish tea) I stretched on the cozy couch, somewhat seasick from our first day out.

The next morning, we close-hauled sailed south 3-5 knots, still somewhat seasick. It was good to be anchored that night. The boat rocked and rolled the night through, and I stayed awake watching. Con slept like a baby. A British couple hit the reef in Knidos getting stuck and listing port side. We watched as they took their motor driven zodiac with a line and pulled it broadly port side until their sloop freed. The water is so clear; Con baths and swims daily. It's too cold for me.

We sailed in the morning with light winds, and motored the rest of the way to Palamut and dropped anchor. I backed the boat into the quai without a flaw. This "masterful feat" as Con called it, totally impressed the harbour master who said: "first time in his life -- ever see a female captain do this."

We sailed leisurely into Datca and anchored in a small cove, sharing it with a quiet gulut; we had an excellent sleep. With rain and thunder storms, we stayed put, and rowed ashore to explore the town. Dogs patrol the seaport and all the town in fact. With the continued rain, the cove filled with boats from Germany, Israel, and other European countries. The shower drain clogged and arranging for repairs, the hot water hose burst. The waiter had to finish a few more tables before coming to repair our boat. We soaked up the sun when it was out, as the rain was fast and furious when it came. Some of the islands are sun bleached white, and to compliment it, the residents paint their houses white as well.

We sailed on a run leaving the rain far behind, relishing in the sunshine. Identifying a beautiful cove, we made our way toward it, realizing at the last moment that it was Greece. Following all the rules we decided not to stop. We needed to clear Turkey before entering Greece. Twenty minutes later, we dropped 180' of chain into a Turkish private cove and Con swam a line ashore to secure us. I felt so guilty that night for the selfish joy we were having.

Life was simple and smooth until we anchored in the Bozborin Harbour. I was getting used to backing the boat toward the dock, Meditteranean style, and Con dropping the anchor. In Bozborin, the anchor chain knotted, and I received no signals from Con, so had no idea what the problem was. The Harbour Master was calling impatiently to me to back up and throw the line. I tried to back, but the boat continued to hold position and at one point made a move toward an English couples boat. The woman was calling nasty things, the Harbour Master was throwing his arms up in frustration, the crowd was gathering, and I had no idea why the boat wasn't cooperating. Con, after untangling the chain, walked back to the helm, backed up the boat, and with the Harbour Master tied it up. The crowd was reassured, "Man captains boat!"

Interesting dynamics in the town between the cats and dogs and the dogs with other dogs. It seems the dogs hobbies are chasing the cats. The dogs seem to have divided the city up among them. The street is their home. We watched a beggar man that evening catch the eye of the waiter of our restaurant. The waiter smiled and went to him to take his loaf of bread. The beggar backed into the shadows. The waiter returned with a sandwich of some kind for the man. They nodded to each other and the beggar left. Could that be their social system? Curious.

There seems to be an honour system in this part of Turkey. Con bought water and the man didn't know how much it was and asked Con to take it and return later to pay. We did.

We watched in Bozborim that the school kids are taught by their moms in the mornings and go to school at noon. The men sit in the town square and play Backgammon.

Leaving that morning, to what we anticipated to be mild winds turned out to be force 5 - 6 peaking at 32 MPH. We quickly reefed the jib and main, battened down the hatches (forgetting the forward V-berth were the beautiful blue goat leather coat is hanging). Running on a partial jib, we made our way into a semi sheltered cove, where a Turkish brave man left the dock in his small motor boat to help up connect to the buoy. Con politely crashed into his boat nearly topling him into the sea. We latched to the line, he smiled, waved and left. I surveyed the inside of the boat, and there in the forward berth was my blue leather soaked in the Meditteranean Sea. Days later, to my surprise, it dried and there were no tell-tail marks!We used the bulge pump a number of times to empty the sea water we'd taken on. What a wild sail! The night was rough, only being secured by one line, and we continually rocked and rolled.

We sailed into Marmaris, averaging 6-7 knots and headed to the Harbour Masters office and Customs to exit Turkey and enter Greece in the morning. Frustratingly, it was as if no one ever checked out of Turkey! Two hours later and $20Lire in cab fare, and nearly beaning the Immigration agent we had our papers and passports in order. The process: get papers from harbour Marmaris; go to Immigration -- oops -- $8L cab to Harbour Masters office; pay $5L (questionable fee); cab back to Immigration; visit very unfriendly staff for second time (all the while passing in and out of a sketchy security process); be redirected to customs lady (sitting in cubical gabbing on cell phone); then redirected to Polici (who stamp passports and run computer check of sorts); then transfer to the unfriendly guy (who takes another customer ahead of us); then through a Turkish Harbour Master assistant who speaks Dutch, translates to us that it appears we've stollen the boat, as we are missing papers; we pay taxi who is waiting to take us to authentic Turkish cuisine - $20L; trapes back to boat to collect more papers; then back to Customs & Immigration to a man out of uniform who embarrasses the miserable Turkish officer who stamps and smiles.

The next day started out as a glorious sail to Rhodes, Greece. Two hours into the sail, the winds picked up and with the jib, we skimmed along in 25 Km winds reaching 7.5 knots. We saw 6' waves or more and felt them. We were soaked. At times, the sea broke over the bow on the side of our boat. We soared into Rhodes, cutting nearly two hours off our estimated arrival time. Motoring into the choppy harbour, we struggled for nearly an hour to fit into a slot like a snug slipper. I hadn't worked the chain at this point of our vacation, but that was my position for this procedure. Con said, when the positioning was right, "drop the bow chain!" I let it go. We practically lost 150' of chain right there in the harbour! Something had slipped and it kept on rolling in. I managed to get the shaft into the slot and stop the onslot of chain overboard. This didn't help Con, who stopped shy of the dock and couldn't finish the docking. Two boats were waiting for us to give up, as that was the only slot left. We were not going to give it up! Many tried, having our anchor under the bow of the neighbour boat, and having to correct it... we had help from a man on the dock among many who were watching and the three of us managed the docking. We slept early that night, exhausted, but not until we'd toured the Medieval town in zig zag fashion and Con fulfilled his childhood dream of sitting in a Greek bar drinking Oozo and eating calamari.


The next day, we climbed the stairs in the centre town square to enjoy the best four-cheese pizza we've ever had. To this day, we try to match it and it just can't be done. Gruyre, rockquefort, mozzerella and feta on thin freshly made crust.

We pulled up anchor and motored into the wind to Pamormitis on Simi Island. The winds were picking up again, so much so, we were stuck in this hamlet with a monestary and one bad restaurant for a few days. The Meltemi roared all the day and the next day to 30-40 knot winds. We rolled and jerked all the nights and round the clock.

We motored out a few mornings later optimistic that the weather would cooperate. The waves were very high, and in an open cockpit, with cold weather, it was very unpleasant. We found the internet, and missing the connection with home, signed on.

WHAT A SHOCK! A hurricane was due to hit Cancun in a few hours. Lindsey in Calgary, was monitoring the storm and trying to communicate with Courtney working in Cancun who was to head for a shelter. The shelter as it turned out was over capacity, and during the Hurricane, the staff that could were to go back into the city to their condos. Courtney had to relocate to her condo, not sure if the bus would even make it there, watching the roads fill with water, hearing the wind and trees coming down. It was about 7:30 p.m. when she was dropped at her condo, and pitch black, roaring storm. She used her hands to feel her way along the condo up the stairs to her room, opened the door with her key, and walked into water and glass.

She spent the next four days sitting on top of her toilet in the bathroom while the Hurricane destroyed buildings all around her. Her hotel was damaged (as all the others) far beyond occupancy. Days later, as it turned out, Courtney was extremely ill from bacteria through contamination, and thankfully, a friend found her in the room and carried her to the Red Cross for medical assistance. (A month later, I fly to Cancun to see how she was doing, a month after that, Courtney came home.)

Heading into Pathos, the weather improved.We rented a motor bike on my licence, so Con rode on the back. He opted for a pink helmet. It was a gorgeous tour of the island. We toured the cave where allegedly St. John wrote the Book of Revolation.

We left for Leros, where we met an English couple and a man from South Africa. We shared a drink together and stories of the world.

Our last day with the charter boat, we totally enjoyed soaking in the sun and leisurely sailing in and out of coves. We toured an old Knights Castle built on top of a marble structure dating back to 2400 BC.

That was our holiday to Turkey and Greece in 2005 on a charter boat.