Now that I've caught my breath...
Aug. 10th, 2006 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catspawtoday's the day that I do something sensible about uploading some photos to bore the pants off you all with *g*.
Basically, the square root of bugger all for a lot of the time, but in lovely surroundings *g*. It didn't get off on exactly the right foot though. We'd never been to Icmeler before, although![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yragg has and told me it was a lovely place - and he was right, it's beautiful. Not a large town by any manner of means, which is good for us old farts, surrounded on three sides by mountains and on the fourth by the sea. The aparthotel we were staying in wasn't in the middle, so was comparatively quiet. Downside was, when we arrived, they tried to put us in an utter dungeon of an apart - ground floor, which in practice meant slightly below ground level, and right next to the main path past the shop. Hopeless. However, the Man did good, objected vigorously and we got moved up to the top floor to one of the overnight stay rooms. Not ideal, but much, much better than the original allocation (which later turned out to have cockroaches, so narrow squeak there *g*).
We did a lot of walking! For some reason, we were determined to see wild tortoises. Never did see a live one, but spent a lot of time scrambling around in the mountains seeing if we could find any and eventually spotted a shell, which was the nearest we got to them. Previous owner had been dead for quite some time though, it was as clean as a whistle and bleached white *g*. But the walking was worth it, the mountains are really quite spectacular, and no noise at all apart from cicadas, which are my favourite sound on the planet I think, and the noise we were making to alert any available snakes to get out of our way *g*. Kept a good eye out for scorpions and tarantulas too but never saw any, thank heavens. Assorted pics of mountain scenery here, here, here, and here.
We went for the obligatory all-day boat trip for swimming purposes - although the sea was surprisingly cold, apparently: I wouldn't know, I don't do water that's taller than me so I just sat in the sunshine *g* - and that was a total hoot. This is Turkey, after all, and things very rarely go too smoothly *g*. We chugged along the coastline to various bays so that the more foolhardy amongst us could just dive in. It was great though, some of the views are really spectacular and just like in Greece, there are caves along the coast, though none of them in this area were quite as spectacular as Greek ones I've seen. We stopped for lunch, which was cooked below decks on the boat (and it was hotter than hell down there, I don't know how the crew could stand it - the guy on the next boat along from us had a far better idea for going about it *g*). Not a bad lunch, I've had better, but the entertainment that was unwittingly provided afterwards was brilliant: lunch over and after a short stay on the beach for recuperative purposes, we went to potter off for the next swim break. With great confidence, the captain went to boot up the engine - nothing. Just a couple of coughs and then silence. He tried again. And again. And again and again and again...
The battery was flat. By this time, we were the only boat left in this particular bay. There was an animated discussion amongst the crew, with much head scratching, then arm waving and eye flashing as tempers got a little fraught, then back to head scratching again. But then our own knight on a white charger appeared, in the shape of another boat, which moored alongside us. The two captains conferred, various crewmembers came off the other boat, looked at the engines, scratched their heads and then I'm not sure what happened, but an argument developed and the other captain stormed off our boat in the huff. Turkish is a brilliant language to get cross in *g* - nearly as good as German LOL. Our captain went running after him, dragging (wait for it) an extension lead with a plug on it behind him, but the other captain was having none of it. Before we knew where we were, both complete crews were piling off the two boats onto the jetty and squaring up to each other. The Man and I were enthralled: there was much jabbing of fingers and all the lads were walking with their chests stuck right out, which I usually take as a danger signal in the playgroud, it means things are getting ugly, but luckily no blows were exchanged and the two crews piled back onto their respective boats, looking sheepish. Our crew wandered about for a while, scratching their heads again, then one of them went haring off up the beach to the restaurant that was up at the back of it. Passengers meanwhile were getting a tad restive *g* - apart from me and The Man, who were enjoying the whole thing hugely :-) Next thing, the captain appeared again with the extension cable with the plug on it and set off determinedly up the jetty, dragging it behind him. 'Course, he only got about part way up. But then the crew member who'd gone off to the restaurant reappeared with a cable drum full of cable and glory be! There was a socket on the end of it! The two met part way up the beach and got plugged in LOL. Much breath was bated five minutes later when they tried the engine again and a huge cheer went up when it finally started. Best entertainment EVER.
We had a couple of trips by the water taxis too, but they were totally uneventful *g*. We went to Turunc, the next village along the coast, a couple of times. It's a lovely place: very small, literally only one main street and a huddle of houses, but another lovely beach. We also went to Marmaris, which is huge. And busy, and grubby. I didn't like it at all, at least not the tourist parts. Just too much traffic, too many people, and very pushy salesmen :-( The old parts of the town were lovely though, up around the castle. It's on a hill so the streets around that area are mainly all staircases and quite beautiful. Proof is here, here, here, and here. Isn't that just the prettiest part of town?
The only other trip we did was to Dalyan - never been there before either, it's been just too far from other resorts we've stayed in. Another pic here. We made that the last day and stayed there overnight to cut down the transfer time to the airport for flying home, and it was lovely and relaxing. Part of the trip involved a visit to a carpet factory, where we had the opportunity to watch the carpets being made and the opportunity to be badgered into buying one. We managed to resist *g*. Not that they weren't beautiful, because they were, and not that they were expensive when you consider how much time goes into making even the smallest of them since they're all made by hand, but alas, they were too pricey for us :-( If I'd had the money, I'd have cheerfully bought about half a dozen, they were so gorgeous.
We also had a trip to the famous Turtle Beach - saw no turtles, alas, but what a gorgeous beach! Miles and miles of soft, golden sand (scorching hot, of course - way too hot to walk on barefoot without doing an impression of those Australian outback lizards *g*. But it is without doubt the most beautiful beach in Turkey, at least that I've seen so far. To get there we had to take a river boat trip which goes past the famous Lycean tombs which are cut high into the rockface. They're quite something to see and must have been a nightmare to build, they're so high up - this photo gives you some idea of the problems involved.
Highlight of the trip though, without a doubt, was a visit to the mud baths there. LOL it was the best fun, glopping around in gloriously warm, oozy mud. A bastard to get showered off though, the damn stuff got everywhere. I have a picture that was taken by a pro photographer and later sold to us at a ridiculously inflated price despite haggling like fury which I'd love to be able to share, it's a hoot. I'll maybe manage to scan it when I go back to work and post it - due to a somewhat um, unfortunate placement of limbs at the precise moment he snapped us, it looks rather like I'm playing 'hunt the sausage' with The Man. The kids collapsed in giggles when they saw it *g* - it's too good not to share LOL
And that was about it, really. There's tons of other stuff, but I've bored you long enough *g*. Just one last pic - this is how we found our beds made up one day when we came back to the apart. Pretty, isn't it?
Basically, the square root of bugger all for a lot of the time, but in lovely surroundings *g*. It didn't get off on exactly the right foot though. We'd never been to Icmeler before, although
yragg has and told me it was a lovely place - and he was right, it's beautiful. Not a large town by any manner of means, which is good for us old farts, surrounded on three sides by mountains and on the fourth by the sea. The aparthotel we were staying in wasn't in the middle, so was comparatively quiet. Downside was, when we arrived, they tried to put us in an utter dungeon of an apart - ground floor, which in practice meant slightly below ground level, and right next to the main path past the shop. Hopeless. However, the Man did good, objected vigorously and we got moved up to the top floor to one of the overnight stay rooms. Not ideal, but much, much better than the original allocation (which later turned out to have cockroaches, so narrow squeak there *g*).We did a lot of walking! For some reason, we were determined to see wild tortoises. Never did see a live one, but spent a lot of time scrambling around in the mountains seeing if we could find any and eventually spotted a shell, which was the nearest we got to them. Previous owner had been dead for quite some time though, it was as clean as a whistle and bleached white *g*. But the walking was worth it, the mountains are really quite spectacular, and no noise at all apart from cicadas, which are my favourite sound on the planet I think, and the noise we were making to alert any available snakes to get out of our way *g*. Kept a good eye out for scorpions and tarantulas too but never saw any, thank heavens. Assorted pics of mountain scenery here, here, here, and here.
We went for the obligatory all-day boat trip for swimming purposes - although the sea was surprisingly cold, apparently: I wouldn't know, I don't do water that's taller than me so I just sat in the sunshine *g* - and that was a total hoot. This is Turkey, after all, and things very rarely go too smoothly *g*. We chugged along the coastline to various bays so that the more foolhardy amongst us could just dive in. It was great though, some of the views are really spectacular and just like in Greece, there are caves along the coast, though none of them in this area were quite as spectacular as Greek ones I've seen. We stopped for lunch, which was cooked below decks on the boat (and it was hotter than hell down there, I don't know how the crew could stand it - the guy on the next boat along from us had a far better idea for going about it *g*). Not a bad lunch, I've had better, but the entertainment that was unwittingly provided afterwards was brilliant: lunch over and after a short stay on the beach for recuperative purposes, we went to potter off for the next swim break. With great confidence, the captain went to boot up the engine - nothing. Just a couple of coughs and then silence. He tried again. And again. And again and again and again...
The battery was flat. By this time, we were the only boat left in this particular bay. There was an animated discussion amongst the crew, with much head scratching, then arm waving and eye flashing as tempers got a little fraught, then back to head scratching again. But then our own knight on a white charger appeared, in the shape of another boat, which moored alongside us. The two captains conferred, various crewmembers came off the other boat, looked at the engines, scratched their heads and then I'm not sure what happened, but an argument developed and the other captain stormed off our boat in the huff. Turkish is a brilliant language to get cross in *g* - nearly as good as German LOL. Our captain went running after him, dragging (wait for it) an extension lead with a plug on it behind him, but the other captain was having none of it. Before we knew where we were, both complete crews were piling off the two boats onto the jetty and squaring up to each other. The Man and I were enthralled: there was much jabbing of fingers and all the lads were walking with their chests stuck right out, which I usually take as a danger signal in the playgroud, it means things are getting ugly, but luckily no blows were exchanged and the two crews piled back onto their respective boats, looking sheepish. Our crew wandered about for a while, scratching their heads again, then one of them went haring off up the beach to the restaurant that was up at the back of it. Passengers meanwhile were getting a tad restive *g* - apart from me and The Man, who were enjoying the whole thing hugely :-) Next thing, the captain appeared again with the extension cable with the plug on it and set off determinedly up the jetty, dragging it behind him. 'Course, he only got about part way up. But then the crew member who'd gone off to the restaurant reappeared with a cable drum full of cable and glory be! There was a socket on the end of it! The two met part way up the beach and got plugged in LOL. Much breath was bated five minutes later when they tried the engine again and a huge cheer went up when it finally started. Best entertainment EVER.
We had a couple of trips by the water taxis too, but they were totally uneventful *g*. We went to Turunc, the next village along the coast, a couple of times. It's a lovely place: very small, literally only one main street and a huddle of houses, but another lovely beach. We also went to Marmaris, which is huge. And busy, and grubby. I didn't like it at all, at least not the tourist parts. Just too much traffic, too many people, and very pushy salesmen :-( The old parts of the town were lovely though, up around the castle. It's on a hill so the streets around that area are mainly all staircases and quite beautiful. Proof is here, here, here, and here. Isn't that just the prettiest part of town?
The only other trip we did was to Dalyan - never been there before either, it's been just too far from other resorts we've stayed in. Another pic here. We made that the last day and stayed there overnight to cut down the transfer time to the airport for flying home, and it was lovely and relaxing. Part of the trip involved a visit to a carpet factory, where we had the opportunity to watch the carpets being made and the opportunity to be badgered into buying one. We managed to resist *g*. Not that they weren't beautiful, because they were, and not that they were expensive when you consider how much time goes into making even the smallest of them since they're all made by hand, but alas, they were too pricey for us :-( If I'd had the money, I'd have cheerfully bought about half a dozen, they were so gorgeous.
We also had a trip to the famous Turtle Beach - saw no turtles, alas, but what a gorgeous beach! Miles and miles of soft, golden sand (scorching hot, of course - way too hot to walk on barefoot without doing an impression of those Australian outback lizards *g*. But it is without doubt the most beautiful beach in Turkey, at least that I've seen so far. To get there we had to take a river boat trip which goes past the famous Lycean tombs which are cut high into the rockface. They're quite something to see and must have been a nightmare to build, they're so high up - this photo gives you some idea of the problems involved.
Highlight of the trip though, without a doubt, was a visit to the mud baths there. LOL it was the best fun, glopping around in gloriously warm, oozy mud. A bastard to get showered off though, the damn stuff got everywhere. I have a picture that was taken by a pro photographer and later sold to us at a ridiculously inflated price despite haggling like fury which I'd love to be able to share, it's a hoot. I'll maybe manage to scan it when I go back to work and post it - due to a somewhat um, unfortunate placement of limbs at the precise moment he snapped us, it looks rather like I'm playing 'hunt the sausage' with The Man. The kids collapsed in giggles when they saw it *g* - it's too good not to share LOL
And that was about it, really. There's tons of other stuff, but I've bored you long enough *g*. Just one last pic - this is how we found our beds made up one day when we came back to the apart. Pretty, isn't it?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 11:44 am (UTC)it is indeed very beautiful there, thank you for your holiday tales and pics. I felt like I was right there with ya *-)
I look forward to 'hunt the sausage' heh!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 07:56 am (UTC)It is a beautiful country, I adore it over there. And I wish I was back there right now!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 06:40 pm (UTC)It's funny how different things can be in different places! When we ran out of gas on the river in Belize, the tour guide simply made a call on his cell phone, opened the cooler of beer, and we were all well on our way to being drunk by the time our rescuers arrived. But the entertainment value of your little incident must have been worth it. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 07:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 07:17 pm (UTC)Also, the Lycean tombs really do look impressive. Are they open to visitors, and can you actually get up there somehow? Or would you have to use ladders and ropes to get to the entrances?
no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 08:01 am (UTC)The tombs are apparently open to visitors - at least, the small ones to the left of the picture are. The big impressive job on the right and the couple next to it are still being investigated by archaeology teams - but not during the summer. As to how you get to them, I have really no idea.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 09:09 am (UTC)vacationholiday with us. This is as close to Turkey as I'm likely to get.I wonder how they got the bodies to the tombs?
I bet Daniel would like to investigate the tombs. And Jack could wear his sexy sunglasses and go shirtless. Hmmm...
no subject
Date: 2006-08-12 12:00 am (UTC)MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 8-p~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
no subject
Date: 2006-08-12 06:09 am (UTC)I knew marriage was on the cards for a reason, MsB darlin' :-) I like the way you think :-)))
::potters off to Happy Place::
no subject
Date: 2006-08-12 06:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-12 06:12 pm (UTC)