Kas and the Sunken City of Kekova

 We've docked in the new and luxurious Kas Marina, just a short walk from town.  The day warms up early, promising to be a hot one in the marina. On the short walk into town, we pass Lycian saddle-back tombs, improbably appearing in  parking lots, in the back of boatyards, and tops overturned being used as planters.

You can enlarge any photo by clicking on it!

Lycian tomb

The walk to town is pleasant and offers shade, the streets clean, shops open and welcoming.  There are flowering trees, and cobbled streets graciously lined with cafes, little shops selling cotton gauze clothes, evil eyes,  hand made soft leather shoes with curving pointy toes, bulk spices and frankincense resin.

 The old town is a Cultural Heritage site, and rightly so. I buy a little bag of mint so we can make our own mint yogurt sauce, and some incense.

 Walking up the main street, we enter another carpet store, invited by the owner who obviously adores his work. Over tulip glasses of apple tea, he explains about the traditional patterns, dyes, and uses of the carpets we are shown. I admire them all!

Walking on, we find the pedestal-base of the tall King's tomb with weathered lion heads carved on the beam ends.

We decide to remain in the coolness of the town, so we stop for Turkish coffee and apple tea at a cafe, and stay for a lunch of kebab and grilled whole sea bass, with luscious seasonal tomatoes. English and Russian day trippers meander by; Turkish moms wearing headscarves and long dresses pushing strollers, a Euro-beauty dressed with effortless style, two little boys playfully jostling.  A strapping young Turkish shopkeeper grins like a child as his grandmother approaches in the street. He bows his head to her breast and she kisses his hair three times, smiling with pride. We stop at an ice cream stand selling flavors like mulberry, pomegranate and pistachio. Vendors of raw almonds display their tender wares on a block of ice, offering samples to entice us. It was a leisurely day ashore seeing the sights, eating great food and people watching.

                                                               **********
Recipe: Ridiculously Easy Turkish Haydari Dip

1 C. thick Greek yogurt
1 tsp. dried mint, (or use dill weed as a variation), or more to taste
a sprinkle of garlic powder, optional.

Mix and let sit for a half hour or so for the herbs to impart their flavor.  Enjoy with crudites, crusty bread, pita chips, on grilled meat or kebabs.

                                                               **********

The next day we depart Kas for Kekova and Ucugiz.  We got underway a little later than we had hoped. Had to wait for the marina to open at 9:00, then for the dinghy guys to cast off our bow.  Motored for a few hours for the sunken island of Kekova. We dock at the village of Simena, just across from it, at Hassan's Restaurant .Hassan's mom and the girls waved us in and assisted us with dock lines. Above Hassan's is a large castle ruin, which time did not permit us to explore ( it was getting pretty hot too!). We had a beverage and snacks and enjoyed the view shaded by red hibiscus plants.

Across from us was the sunken city, tumbled, shifted and partially submerged by an earthquake 20 centuries ago.  A parade of wooden "gulet" tour boats cruised past the restaurant and circled the bay, viewing the ruins. We got Celador underway and joined the parade. The ruins were cut from the living stone, blocks carved out in such that the back wall was solid rock and the front of buildings were block.  Most had tumbled, leaving only a few standing doorways or windows.  You could see submerged foundations at the waters' edge.

  We viewed to our content, then motored west into a little bay near Ucagiz, which was shallow enough to anchor. Twilight fell, and the wind and water were absolutely still and silent but for the sounds of cicadas and roosters, and an occasional distant voice. Night fell with the muezzins' call to prayer echoing over the water, a reminder of the antiquity of the traditions and land all around us.

A Visit to Caunos and the Carian Tombs

You can view any photo in full-size by clicking on it!

The local boat showed up promptly at 9:00 to collect us for half day trip to Turtle beach, the ancient city of Caunos, Carian Tombs and Dalyan. Just Ron and me, with John and Turu, his teenaged son who is learning from his dad to be a boatman.

Fish on! John and his son Turu with a bonita on the hook.

Motoring east, we passed close by some sea caves, and piney landscapes which looked like Northern Michigan.  As we approached the river delta, I could smell fresh water.  Only boats from the local cooperative of tourist boats can go up the river. 

Inside the sand bar, the tour boats on the river.

Slipping behind the sand bar, suddenly we were in a sea of grass with clear waterways running like paths thru it. We pulled over to a small dock where other boats loaded with Russian tourists were parked. A local guy with a huge blue crab on a string was casting the crab into the water to attract Loggerhead turtles. Soon two (Mr. and Mrs.) came in to chase the crab. Everyone loved the turtles. Locals offered to sell us crabs, cooked and cracked, on the return trip, so I ordered two plates .

On we went, up the river to dock up at Caunos. Situated at modern Dalyan, it was a prosperous city built before the 6th century BC. Alexander the Great passed through here, and Herodotus gave it a glowing report, his only negative comment being "The natives of Kaunos have a greenish pallor", due to malaria. Malaria is no longer a threat, and we didn't encounter many mosquitoes either. The city was a great seaport in antiquity, but the sea receded due to river silting and the port filled in. It was eventually abandoned. The city has an agora, baths, the large amphitheater with a grand arched entrance with carved marble panels lying on the ground in front, and other ruined buildings.

Ancient olive trees made a pool of cool shade, and I tasted a green olive, very bitter and astringent.The battlements of the high citadel stand out against the sky, and of course I needed to see what was up there.

Whose idea was this?!?!?  (Mine, tee hee)

 We climbed and scrambled up and up over rough limestone crags to the acropolis, picking our way as there was no trail. Clambering among the battlements, we had only black donkeys for company. (How did THEY get up here?!?!) There were sweeping panoramas of farm fields and orchards, and the river winding to the sea, with fish corrals reaching across it as they did in ancient days. Scrambling back down the steep rocky face was challenging; we were drenched with sweat and trying not to slip and tumble over the rocks.

"This way down!"

We were happy to make it back at the boat, gulping down two liters of water between us and savored the cool shade of the tourboat's awnings.

The boat continued upstream through more hammocks of tall grass and pulled in near the famous Carian cliff tombs; majestic timeworn structures carved from the living stone.

We chuckled, glad there were no opportunities to climb these ruins. We motored a short distance further upstream and docked in Dalyan town, a delightful surprise. In a cafe along the quay we savored rich, freshly pressed pomegranate juice, water, mezes and samphire, or glasswort, cooked in butter and lemon).(My Florida ecologist friend Lisa showed me this plant growing wild throughout the Indian River Thousand Islands!)

A cool place to enjoy the view...

and the Mezes...a platter of various dips and snacks, always healthy
and delicous .Served with warm fresh bread

Walked thru Dalyan town, sorry my camera battery was exhausted.  It had a colorful, funky beach-town vibe. Bought evil eye charms for the girls, some yogurt, parsley and lemons. Back on the tourboat, we decided to forego the mud baths. We picked up the crabs and enjoyed the cruise back to Celador. I sat on the fantail and picked the meat from crabs, had a swim, cooked the last of the bonito and taboulleh for dinner, and Ron and I watched the sun set on another full day.

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

From Marmaris to Symi...Sailing the Wine Dark Sea

You can enlarge any photo by clicking on it!

We cleared out of Turkey today as required,(got my passport stamped) ,and sailed for Buzuk Kale, a port west up the coast toward Symi where we will clear into Greece tomorrow!!!!   A well protected harbor , we tied up to the pontoon stern to, med moor style.  First you back in and toss them the two stern lines, and they quickly hand over the leader line for the "lazy line", a submerged  line attached to an anchor way out under the bow of the boat.  Quickly I run forward and pull up the line, tying off as short as I can. The water is over 20 meters deep off the bow!  We adjust the stern and bow line tension to permit the passerelle or gangplank to be comforably positioned on the dock. Interesting.  We will be doing a lot of this.  We tie up for free but courtesy and the tempting aroma suggest that we dine at the restaurant.

Ali Baba's, at Buzuk Kale

 Ali Baba'sis a delightfully rustic little place, with a beehive-shaped stone baking oven outdoors.  Did some snorkelling, saw lots of potsherds down there but there's no way for a layman to know if they are 40 or 4000 years old. Probably Ottoman era. We had dinner at Ali Baba, where they served amazing  crusty, chewy bread with subtle yeast and smoke scents, in round loaves baked in that wood fired oven.


 In the cool of the early morning we climbed up to the fort.  Wonderful views of the harbor and sea.

Bustin' a move for my Sundari pals!

The Colossus of Rhodes (Rhodes is in distance :)

Back down to the boat, then we return the plate which held last night's dessert, delicious yellow figs. The lady was baking bread in the domed stone oven. She stoked it first with brush from the surrounding rocky land .  Smoke billowed. I bet the oven never cools down entirely, coals always ready to fire for baking .

The baker at work...

and her delicious artisan loaves cooling.

We head next for Symi, Greece,  a dry island devoid of anything green at all on the north end. It's past was made prosperous by sponge fishing ad ship building, up to 500 wooden ships per year, which could account for the bare sunburned slopes. We round a head and motor into the harbor.

Symi harbor

 I am in Greece at last.  Classic facades, meticulously painted in whites, ochre and terra cotta, some trimmed in green. Others are shades of periwinkle blue. 

They line the waterfront and creep up the hillsides, connected by steep winding steps. A white carriage clip clops by, the young driver wearing shades and a white cowboy hat. We have light dinner of saganaki (flaming kaseri cheese doused in lemon juice) and sweet red pepper stuffed with feta, at a taverna across from Celador.  At night the town is colorfully lit and alive with locals and visitors strolling, sitting on the bridge chatting.

 Early in the morning we have a quick cuppa and begin our walk to the high town, crowned by a church, before the sun gets too hot.

I shot 170 photos of wonderfully painted buildings and picturesque ruins. Many homes we saw were dated 1880-1914.

The cathedral at the top of the hill...

Mosaic worked in smooth pebbles.

View from the church at the top of the hill

We stopped under a pergola shaded by grape vine  s for an ice coffee on the way down, very welcome. I was streaming with sweat already.  Back at the boat, we enjoyed a breakfast of sweet a kind of green melon, the last of the Buzuk Kale stone-oven bread, and yogurt, then set sail to return to Turkey (a Tale of Two Bureaucracies).

West Marine , eat your heart out.

Hellas, s'agapo