Harmonica
N 36 43 E 28 08
November 01
Dear friends,
Harmonica's anchor finally set firmly, and she will winter in SW Turkey. If the sparse pine and olive trees were replaced by dark green spruce & fir, this could be reminiscent of British Columbia: It is even raining!
It was an easy day-sail from Nisyros, Greece, to Datca, which is a Turkish "Port of Entry". Jan did stalwart preparation by learning a few turkish words and local authorities, like everybody we have met, were friendly & helpful with our linguistic difficulties. The Turkish language has 2 i's, 2 u's, 2 o's & 2 c's (which explains why some of you have received email with scrambled letters after they were typed on Turkish keyboards). The language was redefined by Ataturk between WW1 & WW2, and is very consistent & logical, but it has no words in common with anything we have met before! As for money, it cost just over 100,000,000 lire to purchase visas and a transit log, that is about Cdn$100. The guide warns you to change only the money which you need as the exchange rate changes daily. Most prices have been about half the costs in Greece. Most of the population is muslim (though the government & constitution are non-religious) & we were woken on our first morning by a pre-dawn call to prayer emanating from a mosque just behind the quay.
We had no feeling for what to expect of the country and facilities, so we sailed Harmonica to Marti Marina at the head of the estuary east of Simi, and left her to search out a good place to lay up for the winter. Marti Marina's dolmus (this word means "packed or stuffed" but also means mimnibus) made the 20 minute drive to Mamaris, a town of markets, charter boats, & tourists. We saw 3 marinas of which we liked the small Albatros Boatyard. After a lunchtime discussion & read of the "Lonely Planet" guide, we decided to head east for 3 days and stay the first night in Koycegiz. A walk to the bus station, 1 hour by dolmus & another half hour walk down a sleepy dirt road between orange orchards found us a delightful hotel on the lake front. Again, all the people we met were particularly friendly & helpful. The owner of the neighbouring hotel inquired very seriously why we did not choose his. Next morning, we had the choice of the slow dolmus to Antalya or a 90 minute wait for the big bus. We made the wrong decision as our dolmus needed to stop every 30 minutes to blow out its fuel lines or it failed to manage the hills (and these are steep). It is customary for the bus assistant to occasionally offer lemon cologne which is poured into cupped hands and is very refreshing wiped around the face and hair. The mountain villages are small & poor, but homely & picturesque. A smell of goat pervaded several passengers; clearly poor, but friendly, cheerful, & warmly dressed using layers of locally made knitted & woven clothes. We arrived in Antalya at dusk in pouring rain, rejected the first pension, but took the second (no heat and almost no hot water) & we started 2 days of solid rain in the city.
Kemer marina is 30 minutes away by bus in an area of package holiday hotels. Germans predominated. The marina looked well organised & pleasant, but surroundings bleak. Antalya deserved more exploring, but puddles filled the streets after several days of tippling rain & we were ready to head home having decided to stay just where we left Harmonica, Marti Marina in the village of Orhaniye.
The sky cleared somewhat to reveal snow on the mountains. Market gardening villages in the valleys. Pine trees have been cut and replanted on many hillsides. Tangerine oranges are just coming into season and falling off some trees. Beehives are everywhere. The dolmus ride home was uneventful until we missed the last bus out of Marmaris. In the bus station a driver helpfully offered to drive a later bus the few extra kilometers to bring us back here.
Friday is market day in Marmaris. Another useful day walking about. We have sampled Pides - Turkish pizzas made from unleavened bread; ayran - yoghurt drink; gozleme - large pancake stuffed with grated potatoe, meat, cheese etc. Turkish breakfast traditionally consists of soup but in the small hotels we were given sheep's cheese, olives, cucumber and tomatoes with fresh bread and honey. Lots of leather shoes, bags & belts. We have read that 2.5 million sheep will be sacrificed during the annual Kurban Bayrami holiday and their hides go into the leather industry each year! Ramazan (called ramadan in other countries) started 16th November, and some people are fasting through daylight hours. According to Lonely Planet, Turkey is one of the few countries to be self sufficient in food production.
We're catching up on boat work, we have now replaced all the standing rigging on Harmonica, & refinished the exterior wood. The inside has all been cleaned. The crew is feeling rested. About a dozen boat crews here will be living aboard this winter, and so Harmonica will have several concerned eyes watching her while we are away.
The old rigging has gone to an English/Canadian couple who have moored their ketch out in the bay. They rented a small cottage in the village, & bought a donkey called Eeyore-Essau-Aesop. Eeyore carried our pack up the hills on Sunday to an ancient amphitheatre where we played medieaval recorder music to the best of our limited ability.
On Monday we shall take an overnight bus to Istanbul where we'll spend 3 days before flying to London for 2 weeks in UK. Then Calgary on 15th December for Christmas (Yes it changed from 14th after Canada 3000 went bankrupt).
Best wishes to you all
Dave & Jan