TURKEY

We checked into Turkey at the little seaside village of Daça. Here we needed a ship’s agent to process the documents, at a cost of 100 euro (in addition to our earlier obtained visa of 200 euro).  It was, however, not a problem.  He kept our documents, processed them and returned them to us at the boat on completion.

We went walking around the town.  It quickly became obvious that we had left Europe. The kiosks along the road were selling produce very different from Europe’s.  There was a lot of dried fruit, many different nuts and now for the first time we saw Sujuk, a sweet made of grape juice and nuts. We were woken at 5a.m. the next morning to the sounds of the Mullah calling the faithful to prayers. It was market day so we set off to explore.  The local streets are transformed into an open air market, with stalls selling a huge variety of fruits and vegetables of excellent quality.  Stallholders were very helpful, however none of them spoke any English.  By pointing and using hand actions,  we managed to get by and returned to the boat loaded with enough produce for a wonderful dinner. 

Temple of venus, Afrodisia

The Daça peninsula stretches for about 100km. into the Aegean Sea.  The southern edge of the peninsula forms a large gulf, known as the Hisarönü Körfezi.  In ancient times this was known as the Gulf of Doris, from whence the Greek work Doric derives. The present Turkish name for the gulf means “Gulf of Fortresses”.  There are many ancient and Medieval fortresses along this coast and nearby is Knidos, the major city of this area in ancient times.  This city was the birthplace of many important people– Praxiteles, the most famous of the Hellenic sculptors, the first astronomer and mathematician, Eudoxos  and Sostratos, who was the architect who designed the lighthouse of Alexandria.  This lighthouse became known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

We were very fortunate to be in the erudite company of Fabio & Marissa who have sailed these waters for 30 years. They have a keen appreciation of the reality that  Greek, and indeed, European civilization had some of it's roots here.

Ancient Hierapolis

From here, we sailed along the southern coast of Turkey, in an area known as the Lycian coast. The coast is studded with beautiful blue bays, rugged mountains and pretty little offshore islands.  One notices the stark difference from the nearby dry Greek islands.  The rainfall on this coast is much higher due to the nearby high mountains and the coast is densely forested, with the tree line dropping right to the water’s edge.

Except for the large and bustling towns of Marmaris, Göcek and Fethiye, only small areas of population are to be found today,  very different from ancient times when this was a very important area and the Lycians were very prosperous.  Numerous ancient sites exist.  We anchored in Ekinçik Liman,  a beautiful bay with a deep, densely forested gorge splitting the mountains behind us. We took a day tripper boat up the Dalyan river. This crosses a large sand bar then meanders through a marshy area . We stopped off at the ancient city of Caunos and took a walk up the hill to see the ruins.  The city was built on high ground, with a commanding view of the ancient port, now at the head of the silted up marshlands.    It was a large centre of trade and the remains of two theatres, temples, an agora and city walls have to date been excavated.

Pamukkale limestone

We also visited Parmukkale where limestone deposits cover half of the ancient city of Hierapolis.

Nearby Afrodisia has a magnificant temple and a museum of outstanding quality.

Senate chamber, Afrodisia

 Remains of a Medieval castle on the top of the highest hill, with its sawtooth battlements, brood over the whole complex.  From here our tripper boat took us past the ancient Lycian hillside tombs which were dotted all over the cliff faces of the nearby mountains.

Lycian cliff tombs

In the large bay of Fethiye is an area called Skopea Limani, with the town of Göcek at its head.  This area is strictly protected and one is not allowed to discharge ANYTHING from boats, including grey water – i.e. shower or dishwashing water. We anchored in a little bay known as Kapi Creek and solved our water discharge problem by having a dinner under the stars with friends, at  the little restaurant at the head of the bay. 

As we sailed into Fethiye, we passed a boat we recognized.  This happened to be someone we had last seen in our own bay in Sydney.  We had a fun, albeit unexpected reunion. That evening we went into the centre of town, to the fish market.  Stalls selling fish in the centre of a large square are surrounded by restaurants.  We bought our fresh fish then took it to one of the many restaurants for them to cook it for us.  They charge a nominal amount to do this, making their profit from the accompaniments and drinks. The evening we went there was the last night of Ramadan and even though it was fairly late in the evening, the area was bustling.  It seems that we were not the only ones out on the town.

We sailed through the narrow strait between Symi and Kaş, in ancient times know as Antiphellos. This town used to be Greek until the population resettlement of 1923. Lycian tombs abound along the coastline. As we sailed into Kekova Roads, we saw the magnificent Medieval castle towering above the small settlement of Kale Köy and along the ridge on either side, large Lycian stone sarcophagi.  Numerous sarcophagi are dotted around the hillsides, some half drowned now due to earthquake movement of the land.  The village itself is built amongst Lycian ruins and within the bay are sunken ruins of the ancient city.  Snorkelling here is a favourite pastime.

Cleaning Carob beans

Kale Koy

Lycian tombs on the ridge

Finike, the ancient city of Phoenicia,  was our last stop in Turkey.  We took a side-trip by car to visit the magnificent archaeological museum of Antalya,

Statue of a dancer, Antalya museum

Statue of Venus, first nude female sculpture, 4th century BC, Antalya museum

Sarcophagus, Antalya museum

Statue of Hercules, Antalya museum

 the restored and very beautiful amphitheatre at Aspendos

Aspendos theatre

and to Cappadocia. Cappadocia would make the perfect setting for Dwarf or Hobbit homes  for a “Lord of the Rings” movie. Huge sandstone chimneys rise up from the  valley floor and into them are dug thousands of caves as dwellings and churches.

Typical Cappadocia "chimneys"

Cappadocia

 From  Byzantine times Greek Orthodox monks inhabited the area and it is thought that up to 1000 lived here at its peak. The area is known as the world’s largest outdoor museum. The churches are decorated with frescoes, some of them quite lovely.

Fresco in cave church

Frescoes in cave church

Cave church, Cappadocia

There are two 7- storey underground cities here, with numerous air-vents and storage cellars. We scrambled around in the tunnels, getting hopelessly lost.  There is electric lighting in them today but what  would it have been like in ancient times?   There are huge round stones used to block the entrances during raids and it is said that the people could survive for up to 6 months underground.  These caves have been inhabited since the time of the Hittites and are still used today, many of them in the small villages having been converted into cave hotels for the hoards of tourists who visit Cappadocia today.

In the underground city

Cappadocia caves

As we drove through the area, we saw large, warehouse sized doors leading  into the hillsides, with numerous (modern) chimneys protruding from the hillside.  We did not manage to ascertain what these caves are being used for. We visited several villages that were Greek until 1923, many with lovely old mansions.  This must have been a rich area in the old days, being on the old camel silk route.  We visited two caravanserais. These are rectangular buildings with high walls and large (camel-sized) gates, in which the people on these ancient caravans would rest the night, leaving their camels outside.  This would afford them safety from bandits. The caravanserais were spaced about 20km. apart, a day’s walk for a camel train.  Several of them have now been sympathetically restored and converted into restaurants, a bit of a change from the roadside stops along our present-day highways!

Entrance to caravanserai

Caravanserai with typical hexagonal central roof

Karpathos and Symi

As predicted, we had fairly strong wind and a confused sea on our trip across the Kassos and Karpathos straits. Our autopilot was not coping, so we hand steered all the way. We anchored just outside the little  port of Karpathos, to the sound of children’s laughter coming from the nearby beach.  We were on our own out there and there were only two other yachts within the little port.  Land tourists were more numerous, as a ferry arrives fairly regularly.  From our deck, we could see the little village of Menetes hanging precariously off the side of the mountain behind us.  We rented a car and drove around the island.  Locals in Menentes told us that the villages was built this way as protection from the regular Arabic, pirate and Saracen raids in the old days. Many other villages in Karpathos are built in similar fashion.  We went to the  little village of Olympos, also hanging precariously off high  hills.

Olympos, Karpathis Island

Olympos, Karpathos Island

 Locals still wear their traditional dress here and the remains of many old windmills can be seen.  This village used to be a centre for wheat milling, now sadly lacking on the island.  Only 556 inhabitants remain. The scenery on Karpathos is beautiful and the island sports fairly high mountains with hair-raising hairpin bends giving access to several  lovely  little beaches.

Time was running out on our EU visas so we left for Symi, our last stop in Greece. Symi is a tiny little island, in a large bay, surrounded on three sides by the Turkish mainland.  It has  a very cute village, tumbling down the hillside to the little port. Interestingly, many colourful neoclassical mansions are to be seen.  These stem from the period of prosperity when Symi was an important way-point, on the main shipping trade route, before the advent of steam ships.  The population of the whole island is just 2,500 souls. At its peak at the end of the 19^th century when Symi was  known for  shipbuilding and sponge diving, the population was 22,000.  We arrived late in the afternoon with the little harbour  filling up fast with charter boats.  We tied up alongside the quay but were asked to move to the opposite side of the harbour.  We did this but were again told to move to the opposite side! After protests, it was agreed that we could stay where we were.  That night we had a delightful dinner with friends on a taverna terrace overlooking the little town.  Excellent food, wine and company – that’s what cruising in the Mediterranean is all about.

Symi Harbour

Panoromitis Monastery, Symi Island

On the southern end of the island, in a beautiful well protected bay, is the famous monastery of Panormitis, which received its current form in 1783A.D.  It has an unusual bell tower which is a mix between Baroque and Renaissance architecture. It is a very large monastery, although just four monks remain.  We woke to the sound of church bells early on Sunday morning and later, the sounds of the Sunday morning service drifted across the water to us.  The church has beautiful frescoes and  the monastery also has a lovely little museum.  In the museum is a room with a desk and old radio station.  We wondered about that was about and were interested to hear that during WWII the monastery was converted into a centre for counterintelligence with a covert radio station.  Sadly when it was found in 1944, the abbot, his steward and the radio operator were executed.