Day Three We left Dalyan and the Captain found a beautiful cove with clear, turquoise blue water. We woke up and took a swim. By that time breakfast of white and kasar cheese, fresh Turkish bread, assorted green and kalamata olives, perfectly ripened peaches, and honey and jams, eggs with socuk (Turkish spicy sausage), and […]
Day Three
We left Dalyan and the Captain found a beautiful cove with clear, turquoise blue water. We woke up and took a swim. By that time breakfast of white and kasar cheese, fresh Turkish bread, assorted green and kalamata olives, perfectly ripened peaches, and honey and jams, eggs with socuk (Turkish spicy sausage), and tea was served. We took a hike and hung out in the water for a few hours.
At cocktail hour the captain set sail southward and we watched as the sun was setting over the mountains and a purple glow covered the dramatic mountainous landscape. Sailing along the sea we could not help but think that we were in heaven sailing on the lake of tranquility.
We arrived to Fethiye, a city with lots of people, lots of lights, and great gelato ice cream. We docked up next to ten other yachts and readied for supper. Fish (freshly caught by our captain and his trusty spear gun that afternoon), tomato salad, tasty pasta and okra with tomato and olive oil. For desert fresh local melon (best we have ever had) and watermelon. The fruit and vegetables in Turkey are so delicious. The tomatoes are red and aromatic, the melons so sweet and tasty – they taste the way they should – the way they did when we were kids. Vine ripened, fresh picked out of the garden.
After a delicious dinner aboard the Gundogan we wandered around Fethiye, the ancient city of Telmessus which dates back to 6th Century B.C. We walked around the city and soon we found a small bazaar. We picked up some olive oil soap, which we love for keeping our skin soft, we bargained until we got 12 bars for 50 cents each plus 3 free bars. That took about an hour and our husbands were patiently waiting as we moved along the spice shop. Now there are many spice shops in Turkey selling all kinds of Turkish grown curries, saffron, peppers, and oreganos, but this spice shop was different. This man really knew his spices! He even made up his own special mixtures of spices for meats, salads, and pastas – all were very aromatic and fresh – we could not help become enveloped in his enthusiasm and love for the spices. He knew which city they were grown in, what climate, what food they were used in, what medicinal purposes they had – everything. Turkish curry, Indian curry, ginseng, cumin, mint, rosemary, black cumin, oregano, thyme, saffron, cardamom in seed or powder, and the list goes on.
By the time we had decided on our purchases and spice lesson another hour had passed and our men were gone. It was about 11pm (although we didn’t know exactly because we had surrendered our watches when we got on the boat) – some of the shops were just starting to close. So we headed back to the boat passing a leather shop here and a disco there, a Lokum (Turkish delight) shop here and a carpet shop there.
We managed to slip in a gelato (I won’t call it ice cream because it was way too delicious and full of fruit) before we got back to the yacht. We finished the evening off with our pre drink watching the local folks admiring the yachts on the evening stroll. Our bed time in port was a bit later because Turks are late night folks and don’t usually rest until 1am. We had finally dozed off when at 2am we were awakened by a piccolo player that was fishing out on the pier. It was magical – until he decided to play until 3am.
The grand Lycian city of Telmessus can be seen only in glimpses throughout the city because of earthquakes that leveled the city in 1950 and 1957. Some incredible rock Lycian tombs can be seen on the cliff on the eastern side of the city.