Day V- evening

…but we are readying to leave, for that very light is dying, and we wish to make it onto the streets before sundown…

So ended my last proper post, weeks ago; just as D and I had reached Fethiye, what is now months ago. We had dumped our bags into the comfortable looking Ferah Pension up at one end of the main town, past the marina and a up a little hill.

We set out toward this marina now; I find I still need to tell myself that I am sauntering past a bay in the Mediterranean littered with yachts much the way streets I have lived most of my life might be littered with bicycles or auto-rickshaws. It is an observation I will revel in pointing out, to myself, over the next couple of days.

Almost immediately, after a few places named ‘The Yacht Hotel’ or something similar, we curiously trundle down steps that take us from the road overlooking the marina onto the planked stretch itself. It is lined with luxurious yachts; walkways lead to more of them- posh in all their Hollywood-fuelled (in our minds) desirability. It doesn’t particularly feel like we are in turkey anymore, if that could make sense. It feels like we are more in a getaway for the rich- maybe the south of France, or the Italian coast, or the Med- but wait, this is the Mediterranean. Soon we realise our walk is a pleasure we are not allowed. This dawns on us when a guard tell us we cannot go on to the walkways leading off. Of course, we know that- “yacht owners only” only gleaming steel plates is quite clear. As it turns out, we are not allowed on the main stretch we have just finished strolling across either- but we have finished after all, so we continue to the more ‘normal’ area.

Fethiye is slowly being bathed in the gentle light that an evening sun brings, gradually yet quickly moving to disappear behind the hills on one side of the bay. These distant, nameless hills are and odd mix of gold and pink, and we find ourselves on a broad gangway pretty much in the middle of the marina. It is more empty that it suggests it should, and it is flanked by local boats rented out to tourists. At its end towers a large green boat that we peer curiously into. It’s open central area, much like a dining room and the rich coloured wood all around, are alien to our eyes. We climb a tsep or two to look into it, and resist getting right on. But we do sit there awhile- a gaudy green boat here, towering Turkish flags there, glimmering water ahead.

We pass by the statue of Fethi bey, a local hero tragically killed while flying, early in the 20th century. Its in a tiny park by the promenade (if that’s what one is to call it), in the midst of boat-operator booths and stalls selling postcards, handsome stray dogs and cafes invitingly offering a beer, all in Pounds Sterling.


As we sit on a bench at nearly the other end of the marina now, a family returns from a day at sea, and in it. Their diving gear drips with water, their fair but tanned skin looking completely at home in this haven for British tourists. We wait awhile for the orb to disappear behind the hills, then walk away, heading into the streets of Fethiye town.

in: travel / turkey / turkey travel / fethiye / mediterranean / dna day5

Surfing...

The channels were just a blur as I was changing them too quickly. There was nothing to watch. The cooking was done. I didn't want to read. Sigh! Nothing to do. And then suddenly I heard a voice... "this is the place to be at night..." the shots were of a narrow street which I completely fell in love with the first instant I saw it. Where we had our first taste of raki. Where we tried one of the tastiest meze' ever!

The show was "globe-traveller" on Discovery - Travel & Living.

Misty eyed, I jumped up to call A and tell him to hurry home and watch the second half of the episode on Istanbul with me.

I was smiling too much as I watched - The Blue Mosque, Galata Tower, streets of SultanAhmet whiz by on the TV screen... I was there. We were there together. It felt so... exhiliratingly cool! And it felt sad. That it is over. All we are left with are the photographs. The blog. And the memories.

Sigh.

extant

some nice posts on istanbul here.
and more from me soon- we did not freeze at Fethiye, and I promise to write about what we did do.

Day V- arrival

Under clear skies and by windswept fields, gentle welcoming hills offering fleeting glimpses of blue between them, we come to the otogar at Fethiye- its size commensurate with the small-but-not-tiny-town feel that we get.

Tuna had told us to take the shuttle from the otogar, and ask to be taken to Ferah Pension. We wouldn’t have to pay. Um, ok then. Tuna is the owner of said place of residence, whom we spoke to communicated with in very basic English, before leaving this morning. The bus services seem to run these free shuttles (the same bus service that one came here by), and a half dozen of us pile into the mini van, a little befuddled.
There’s a surly bald English chap who has seemed generally unimpressed with life since we stopped and chatted for a smoke earlier in the day. He must find a place that will let him see the Champions League matches later that night and the next. There’s an old couple, older than our parents would be, and a young one who are surely not married. There’s an Australian girl as well, quiet and distant as hell. It is but a few minutes before we are passing by the marina, glimpsing yachts and water; but we’re more concerned about being taken to our pansiyon.

Ferah Pension is the cutest place as yet. Wait, let me be less lazy and more real. It is the only place that shows character, that immediately says something about itself. And Ferah immediately says that it is warm and weird. Everything about it is quirky, odd and smile-inducing. The dog that looks like he can’t decide whether to growl, bite or greet, so he simply looks away. The numerous plants hanging in the dining area that almost makes you think that it is not open-air. The many, many plants hanging in the dining area that are welcoming in their green-over the-lovely-wood table way. The cluttered bar/food counter at one end that seems like it is well-stocked, and a bachelor’s. The tiny sofa, the different types of upholstery and curtains and drapes and throws and meaningless fabrics. The little door that shows us the mess that is the home of Tuna and Monica…
Our room isn’t too bad either. There is something about it that is more inviting than the previous two, but I can’t be sure what. The walls are a white that is both clean, and Mediterranean. The wood on the bed, drawers and shelf is cheerily brown and fresh. There are two windows- the mess of green and bits of asbestos visible from it notwithstanding- and windows with light are always a good thing.

But we are readying to leave, for that very light is dying, and we wish to make it onto the streets before sundown.

in : travel / turkey / turkey travel / fethiye / accommodation / dna day5

Day V- on the road

The roads are wide, clean and level. There are vast fields with thin trees leaning by the side of the road; hills and valleys seemingly made only of an odd combination of rock and vegetation; towns that seem smaller than they are, with neat one or two-storey houses and a generally quiet feel.


We are travelling through the day today, about 300km. From Selcuk to a short stop at Aydin to change buses, then out of the Aegean region via Mugla and so to Fethiye- a yacht-port and on the beaten path tourist town on the Mediterranean. The nearly 6-hour bus journey through the day seems like a bit of a waste at first, as precious daytime will whiz by. But the ride itself is pleasant- relaxing, even; the ‘on the road’ feel making us happily aware, again, that we are travelling.

The 10minute stop at Mugla is not enough to order lunch, but just about enough to pick up a sandwich and a half each, and start to chomp standing on the vast expanse that is the Otogar. It feels like you are at a very high place, where rolling mists and peaks in the distance would not be amiss. There are none of these, of course, but it is cold, breezy and interesting, in a very mundane sort of way, to stand there a while.

-a deserted ferris wheel we spotted behind the otogar-

And so we go on, with short naps, photos, conversations and sachet-coffee, to our last destination- one we know the least about, know the least of what to expect from. Except, given we are reaching the coast, we can only wish for a bright southern sun.

in: travel / turkey / turkey travel / ontheroad / journey /dna day5

Day IV- decision making

At some point we realise that 2 days in Selcuk is one day too many. There’s Ephesus, and then there’s nothing much else in Selcuk proper. So that’s why people use it as a base to see things around, as far as 3-4 hours away. One of these is Pamukkale. White, strange, famous, much talked of and postcards-everywhere Pamukkale, with its white rocks and spa like calcium-laden natural waters used to heal the body since the Greeks figured it out. That’s what we will do, we decide.

Till we figure the costs. It is about Euro100 for the two of us for the whole day-trip, and thats way too expensive. An extended period of deliberation happens, where fundamental philosophies clash with pocket practicalities. We are never (never say never, but still, this is pretty much never) going to be in Selcuk again, a few hours from the place that heralds ‘tourism’ in Turkey in most any brochures you’d care to glance at. Money comes, money goes. Travel now, save later. Borrow now, travel now, repay later. What's a little more debt compared to seeing a unique part of the world you are so close to? The clichés are endless. The bank account is not. I must wrench my heart away from Pamukkale, while D is more ok with the whole thing.
“Sorry, ___, we won’t be taking your tour”
“We also won’t buy our tickets to Fethiye from you, because you’re charging us 4-5 liras as commission for two tickets that we can walk out of your hotel and across the empty and cold area outside and buy from the bus company”
“We are also a wee bit disappointed by your place, so we will not give you the India cushion covers we got as possible gifts”
“We are returning to our room to prepare our devious bottle of coke and go buy our tickets”

Tessekur ederim, anyway.

in: travel / turkey travel / selcuk / pamukkale / dna day4