Sailing Turkey

Days 19 & 20 Going home through London

Day 19

Today we mostly shopped for souvenirs, we bought a rug for our in-laws, gifts for friends celebrating milestones, and picked up a few things for people who needed thanking, we had lunch and headed to the airport, sad to be leaving Turkey.

Rather than fly directly home, we decided to extend our layover in London, though, so after a quick 4 hour flight, we were in an Uber from Heathrow to our hotel in Hyde Park.  We strolled the city and hit a few pubs, then crashed in our very comfy London bed.

Day 20

Today, we really just walked the city before flying home.  I've always wanted to see the Globe Theater, so we started there, then really just strolled on this beautiful day.

Sailing Turkey

Days 16 – 18 Marmaris to Istanbul

Day 16

For our final day, we decidedly took our time.  We woke up, read, swam, paddled, ran along the coast (Leah and Ian did) and then sailed off in the direction of Marmaris.  Along the way we made our plans for our next sailing adventure (Seychelles maybe?). 

Once we got to Marmaris, we checked in, and Jason and I went into town for dinner while Leah and Ian stayed back to eat at the marina.  We had such a great time in Marmaris, not because we loved the town (it reminded us a bit too much of Bodrum), but because the restaurant was delicious, with a great view and a delightful waiter who made the experience even better.  Jason had the best lamb he’d ever had. 

We all spent our last night on the boat, ready to fly first thing in the morning.

Day 17

We woke up in Marmaris, took our car service to the airport (though he actually dropped us off at the wrong terminal, so we had to walk quite a ways to the right one), flew to Istanbul, and took another cab to our hotel.  After that exhausting day of travel, we headed right to the hotel roof for a drink.  What a view!

After some walking around to hit the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, we decided to have dinner at a restaurant close to our hotel.  I know you’re tired of hearing this, but it was our best meal yet!  Jason got Testi Kebab, which he had been pining for, and Leah, the lamb aficionado, got to eat the best lamb she’s had on the trip… all of us were thrilled with our dinner, which was the last one for our friends in Turkey (we’re here another day and half).

Day 18

The next day was spent mostly shopping and walking neighborhoods we hadn’t been to yet since we’d been to all the touristy spots already.  We took the ferry to the Asian side of the city to Kadikoy, where we walked around the market and into the neighborhood of Moda.  I loved it there, I think if we decided to move to Istanbul, it might be where I would want to live.  It was full of adorable apartment buildings, the best little ice cream shop in Istanbul, little cafes, a pretty little park where people we picnicking, unusual art galleries, even a Christian high school! 

We still hadn’t been to Dolmabace Palace, and had planned to go tomorrow morning, but found out it was closed tomorrow, so we thought we should head over and see it while we can.  We took the ferry back over to Europe and stood in an hour-long line waiting to buy tickets…  while waiting, we really noticed that there was a strange group of people waiting in line, something just odd.  I can’t lie, it wasn’t great…  We were on the English tour, but our guide didn’t tell us anything at all!  We just walked quickly through the building, unable to actually see anything.  All of the tourists were banging into us and cutting in front of each other, and the building was in pretty bad disrepair.  Such a waste of time, we didn’t even take pictures.

Next we took the funicular up to Taksim to grab a snack and drink, and then headed slowly back to the hotel, stopping to look at paintings to bring home for our walls.

Our hotel’s concierge suggested a restaurant for us to try on our last night in Turkey and even arranged for transportation for us.  We asked for someplace romantic with a view and great food.  One out of three aint bad, right?  It was lovely, actually, just not exactly romantic… and the view wasn’t really of the city, but of party-goers in the streets below and the across the way at a restaurant.  But the food…  so good!  We loved every morsel.  And were entertained by the fun and dancing across the way.

Sailing Turkey

Days 13 – 15 Butterfly Valley to Gocek

Day 13

When we woke, we set off to hike up the cliff to the restaurant above for breakfast.  There were two trails, so we took the first of which led us to a waterfall and butterflies.  This valley has many species, but they are usually all out in the spring, so we only really saw the one species. 

Then we took the other trail up to the top of the cliff.  It was a challenging climb at times, but loads of fun.

And the view and the breakfast was well worth the climb.

We noticed how the Turks had well mastered what Leah termed the art of lounging.  All along this trip, we saw people of various professions finding a shady spot and resting, lounging, talking, playing games… the good life. 

As we descended from our mountain top, we could not believe the number of noodlers surrounding our boat.  The thumping music and loud horns to call noodlers back to the boat were an assault to the ears!  This was becoming a theme for us, we find a spot for the night, wake up to hike or swim, and then come back to a swarm of noodlers so we have to hightail it out. 

Our next destination was Gocek, another place we remembered very fondly, so we gave that part of this trip 2 nights as well.  As we approached the Gocek Bay, our first stop was Ruin Bay (also known as Cleopatra Bay because it was said that she and Antony honeymooned here).  Much better than Kekova, these ruins we could actually swim in and around, and, while while there were a lot of yachts around, we didn’t mind these, they were other sailers like us, not noodlers. 

After some fun swimming, we decided to head to the bayside restaurant for some dinner.  Turns out they don’t take cards and this was our most expensive meal so far, but the owner said, “No problem,” and gave us the name of his fishmonger brother in the town of Gocek who could run our card whenever we got to town.  Very trusting of him.

Day 14

Today, inspired by the Turks we’ve met along the way, and by the thought of Cleopatra enjoying this bay, we decided today we would devote to the Art of Lounging.  We woke up when we felt like it, did a little paddling around the bay at our leisure, read on the boat for a little bit, then casually made our way to the town of Gocek.  Leah and I wanted to get some shopping in, while the men looked for a part they needed for the boat, paid for our dinner last night, and got some more food for the boat.

First we had to eat at Jason’s destination:  Kebab Hospital.  He took a picture of the restaurant last time we were here because he thought it was a funny name, but then a friend of his saw the picture and remarked on how much she enjoyed eating there, so we had to go find it and try it. It was worth the trip!  Another fantastic meal.

Leah and I shopped for gifts for friends and ourselves, she even had a necklace made right there on the spot.

Then we skipped off to a beautiful little anchorage for the night

Day 15

We woke up and hiked up a little ways to the ruins of an old Roman town that was pretty amazing.  Honestly, these ruins really looked so well made and there were villagers who still live among them. 

When we returned, guess what we found?  NOODLERS!

It is uncanny how this keeps happening, we anchor in a spot that’s beautiful, wake up and have it to ourselves, then run off when the crowds of noodlers arrive.  Actually, turns out we’re doing it right.  So, we pushed off to make it to Ekincik for dinner.  Along the way  (as our intrepid captain is want to do) we found a little private cove to pop into for a quick dip.

Finally, we made it to Ekincik for dinner, and it was lovely.  Such a pretty spot for our last night, and they brought out the freshest fish for us to choose from.  It was honestly so delicious.  We keep saying how great the food has been, but in every spot the food is great, we drink amazing local wines and beers, and have desert but still pay way less than we would anywhere in the US. 

Sailing Turkey

Day 12 Kaputas, Patara and Butterfly Valley

This morning we left Kas for the last time this trip and we wanted to show Leah and Ian one of our favorite spots in Turkey, Kaputas beach.  This is how we remembered it…

And this is how it looks now…

A little disappointing, but we came, we saw, and then we left.  We decided to go to Patara, which we actually didn’t like as much last time, but this time we loved it.  The wide sandy beach was a welcome change of scenery from the majestic cliffs and mountains we were used to seeing. 

As we anchored the boat off the shore, we saw an adventurous young couple in the distance.  I leave you to find them in the picture. (NSFW)

Also, last time we were here we didn’t go to the ruins of Xanthos, which were really something.  Every time we see different ruins, we remark on how different they seem from each other.  These were being rebuilt to look like they once did, it was so interesting to see the process.

We had a long sail ahead of us, so we pushed off and went along our way to our next eventual stop, Butterfly Valley.  On the way there, though, we saw what looked to be a restaurant tucked away in the landscape and we decided to scope it out.  As we got closer we noticed something not quite exactly right, so through the binoculars, I tried to read the signs in the distance.  It was a backpackers hippie camp, filled with interesting characters… dreadlocked young men, fit older men with long hair, leathery skin and exceptional frisby skills… free-love, organic, granola, bean baggers with questionable hygiene.  We didn’t exactly fit in coming in from our yacht anchored off the shore, but they accepted us just the same and we broke bread together.

While sipping on mojitos, Leah and I remarked on a very attractive woman in a sexy bathing suit, Leah said, “what great shoulders,” Ian noticed some “unfortunate” acne which he attributed to her youth, then Jason chimed in by saying, “I’m pretty sure that chick pees standing up.”  Once that was on the table, we all saw it, too.  And it was all accepted in hippie camp.     

After the nice little stop with our young friends, we set off to see Butterfly Valley, and boy what a sight.  The stop at hippie camp meant that we would be turning the corner into butterfly valley as the sun was setting, which made it a stunning entrance.  The orange glow of the low sun gave the mountains an even more majestic feel as we slowing made our way.  It was breathtaking.

For perspective, we came around from the left of this picture toward the beach in the video

We dropped anchor and sat on the back of the boat in this magical spot and watched the sunset.  Our most beautiful anchorage yet.

Sailing Turkey

Days 9-11 Kas and Kekova

Day 9

Ian and Leah woke before the sun and got us the hell out of Greece. We sailed all day back to the Turkish side of the world, more specifically one of our favorite towns – Kas. The sail was long and (I’m not going to lie) a little boring.  We read, did some laundry, Ian and Jason did some MacGuyver-esque electronic repairs to our faulty GPS display, read some more, and really just tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible.  There weren’t any other boats around, we couldn’t see land, and we couldn’t really sail because there weren’t any winds, so we just put it on autopilot and motored for 10 hours.  You read that right. 10 hours.

The destination was worth it, though. Kas (pronounced kash) is our favorite town in all of Turkey.  It’s a little bohemian resort town with a lively downtown that has beautiful little shops, restaurants, and bars.  

It is a tourist town, but they are a mix of Turks, wealthy yachtees and vacation home owners and backpackers.  It’s San Diego meats Cannes, meats Positano without any pretension whatsoever.  Ian says, “ritzy, but laid back ritz,” there were over 100 fully crewed superyachts that he was drooling over, and beautiful homes built on the edge of the cliffs with infinite pools overlooking the Mediteranean that I was drooling over.  

We walked around town, did some shopping (Leah and Ian bought a carpet) and we had our best dinner yet at a little restaurant where there was live music played on an oud. Just beautiful!

Day 10

Jason and I enjoyed a delicious traditional Turkish breakfast while Leah and Ian went back to pick up their rug from last night, then we left Kas to head to Kekova.  None of us had ever been and we were all excited to check out this spot with sunken ruins and ancient towns.  As soon as we got there we hiked a small hike to ruins that proportedly dated back to 2^nd Century AD. 

Then we found an anchorage right next to some sarcophagi and ate dinner at a little restaurant nearby.

Day 11

In the morning we took to the dingy and the paddleboards to explore the sunken ruins.

It was really amazing, but the noodlers became too much to bear, so we got the hell out of there.

Noodlers (n. pl):  Sunburned Northern European tourists packed tightly on a large, loud boat which takes them to beautiful spots throughout the Turkish coast.  The tourists themselves cannot (or choose not to) swim, so they float in the water on pool noodles until a loud horn is blown and they all swarm back into the boat ready to be unleashed in their next beautiful spot. 

We had planned on two days in Kekova to explore, but we decided instead to have two days in Kas since we loved it there so much and the noodlers were overtaking Kekova, so we went back to our place.  This time we pulled into the marina like grown ups and filled up our water and power and took long luxurious showers in the marina.  In town, we did some more shopping and had another lovely dinner with a fabulous view, then back to the boat to sleep.  

While sitting at dinner, Jason and I decided (read: I decided and just need to convince Jason) that we should build a house here.  Honestly, I think it’s a great idea.  We could build it to our specifications, with an inlaw suite for my mother, and rent it out to offset the cost.  Stay tuned for more on that as I do some research, and then you too can vacation here by renting out our perfect little house on the hill.