Sari Time

After our trip to Ephesus, we arrived back tired to find in our rooms that the cleaners had done their usual efficient job and that our towels had been laid out on the bed in pretty designs. Each day they were different or the bed cover had been arranged differently too. It was a really nice touch. We had gone self catering and had a one bedroom apartment. We couldn't really have done much by way of cooking though as the only time we tried, we made some soup and it took over 30 minutes to even come to the boil... not the most effective electric cooker I have come across... for that matter, come to think of it, the single electric ring I had on my return visit to India was better than that! Still the apartments were clean and comfortable and had a shop just next door.

When we got back to icemeler, we went for a wander around the town to work up an appetite. There is a very pretty little canal with small shops and stalls lining it and of course everything stays open till around 10pm.

Next day it was off to Dalayan, not quite such an early start though the bus to pick us up disappeared around the corner just as we went to join it, a couple of phone calls later though and it reappeared. The bus took us along to Marmaris where we picked up the boat which would take us to Dalayan. This was another full day trip, starting with 2 hours on the boat... last one on board sits inside with no sunbed! We made it though to about the last two on the upper deck and got the books out to settle in for a leisurely cruise. Everyone was lounging around in various states of undress enjoying the sun except for two delightful ladies from the home counties, who were all wrapped up and sipping cups of tea wearing their sun hats and staying in the shade.
The trip took us first to a beach which is one of the last breeding grounds of the Loggerhead Turtle and protected. However it is open for humans to swim in between the hours of 8.00am and 8.00pm when it closes and the sunbeds are presumably taken over by turtles! A swim there for an hour, you can choose between the river water and the sea... we went for the med! Mind you it is not particularly warm in October but a lot warmer than the weather folks back home had last week. We then transferred to a flotilla of small boats and set off via water ways surrounded by reed beds to Dalayan. Apparently the beds are reminiscent of those in the African Queen, couldn't quite see the similarity myself, but very relaxing. On the way you pass beneath the tombs of Caunos. These are built high in the cliff face and are most spectacular. The most ornate are those of the royal family, then military and finally simple caves of the common people. they date from around 400BC. The original occupants have been turfed out several times throughout history and the tombs were reused by the Romans. Sadly we didn't get to explore them as they are built into vertical cliffs. there is a town being excavated below them which I would love to visit some time.

After the tombs, we went on to Dalayan itself where we had the joys of caking ourselves in thick grey clay, a mud bath - I felt like a kid again, scrabbling around in the murky water to find lumps of mud to rub in - couldn't really believe I was doing it either! We then let the mud dry in the sun before rinsing it off again in cold showers. Next it was off to a 39degree pool of sulphurous water to finish the treatment, hilarious however I cannot see the promised 20years younger look or C's magical regrowth of hair, I'll let you know if it happens!
We then transferred back to the big boat and sailed off into the sunset, by around 7.00pm, even the bravest of us had piled on the clothes and was huddled on the lower deck to keep warm.

We got back around 8.00pm and set off for Alin's for delicious barbecued chicken. Really friendly staff and good simple food.

We had a day visit to Ephesus, leaving at 6.30am, stopping for breakfast on the way and an enormous Dam which is being constructed. C's dad was a civil engineer working on dams for the hydro board here in Scotland so that was especially interesting and quite daunting in its size and grandeur. The landscape was amazing, the types of rocks changing every 30 minutes or so and the guide giving us a running commentary on the history of Turkey or Anatolia as it was here.
After the dam, we stopped in modern day Ephesus and visited a Ceramic workshop. Beautiful Turkish Turquoise, fabulous colours and really interesting designs. Managed not to spend too much money here but it was hard.

We left the modern town behind and drove on up into the hills, round a series of steep bends and past areas ravaged by the summer fires of a few years ago, arriving at 'Virgin Mary House' at around 11.00am.After the Crucifixion, when Jesus handed His mother to St John and vice versa, they travelled and eventually ended up in Ephesus where they lived and ultimately spent the last years of their lives. There are the remains of a huge basilica for St John and in the mountains, a small church and shrine which are said to be on the site of the house where Mary spent her last years. The place is very atmospheric and looked after by nuns who conduct services daily.

After visiting the house, we went down the mountain again to Ephesus, entering at the highest point. The town is beautiful and very atmospheric. I had been looking forward to this visit since August when we started to plan. The idea of walking in the places where St John and St Paul and the recipients of the letter to the Ephesians lived and carried on with their daily lives 2000 years ago, was incredible. Was St Luke there too? The details in Acts suggest it. The top of the hill has a small theatre and then winds down 'Curetes Street' passing statues and the remains of columns and buildings. There is a fantastic marble of Nike goddess of Victory, a headless Skolastica who built the fantastic public baths, public toilets which kept a group of Japanese tourists in fits of giggles as each had their photo taken sitting on them!!!???!!! and gate posts with carvings of Hercules complete with lions heads.

A magnificent Library of Celsus marks the turn in the road onto Marble Street. Through a magnificent arch erected by two slaves in thanksgiving for having been granted their freedom... fairly well to do slaves, the gate was enormous. Down the street until we arrived at the next Theatre which is truly amazing and absolutely enormous, built into the side of the hill. Our guide explained the difference between an amphitheatre and a theatre. Apparently the acoustics in this theatre are great with only a whisper in the  orchestra audible to those in the top rows.

On leaving the site, we paid a brief visit to the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world - of which only a pillar erected to mark the site remains. From here you can see the remains of the 6th Century Basilica of St John, where his tomb is, a 14th century mosque all overlooked by a hilltop fort. We then headed off along the roads which are surprisingly good and in the process of getting better.

Turkey is a country with amazing plateaux most of which are over 3000 feet high and the peaks above quite look down on our Scottish mountains! I don't think I really understood what a plateau was until this journey even though I did Sixth Year Studies Geography way back in nineteen oatcake! To get up some of the mountains... which is necessary as one travels along the coast, the roads have a terrifying series of hairpin bends which must have been much worse before the current improvements.

C and I had ourselves a wee holiday last week, we went off to Turkey. Icemeler on the Mediterranean coast. Didn't really know what to expect,but we were pleasantly surprised. OK Icemeler is a tourist town, I think it was created entirely to meet tourist needs. having said that it is a lot smaller than Marmaris it's neighbouring big town which really is a tourist centre.
Icemeler is a manageable size, has more restaurants per head of population than anywhere I think I have ever been, but operates at a fairly slow pace. We had a boat trip around the bay stopping off at various small bays for a swim from the boat, mind you the water was pretty chilly even there. I invested in a snorkel and mask and had a rare time watching the fish swim around me. We visited a phosphorous cave (didn't see much phosphorous but then it was broad daylight...) still the water was a lovely shade.
Back on shore we spoiled ourselves with fresh fish. No relation to those we had seen in the bay earlier that day! Strange thing about the Mediterranean, you hardly seem to see any shells on the shore, I managed to find a few small ones when snorkelling, but nothing very special and we noticed the same over the past few years when we were in Naples,Crete and Corfu.