Greece

A couple of important things I did forget to mention about our 'Blue Cruise' along the Turkey coast line, it seems Cath and I cannot go anywhere without being stopped by the Cops!  After our second last swim of the cruise, we made our way further into the harbour, only to be chased and stopped by the local Water Police...or Coast Guard...or Customs? It appears that as we are on water ways so close to Greece, many boats bring people in from there across the water without proper documents etc. I only had my speedos on and they clearly didn't wish to mess with me. Anyway, after they had boarded and de boarded (un boarded??), we were on our way again. 

The other thing was that we have learnt a new game of playing cards. Eric and Gerda taught us and it's called '31', and a real fun game. I get to lose nearly EVERY time. Can't wait to play at home with friends! A final bit of advice, if you happen to have. 'T' shirt, from Bali, with something written like "No shoes, No shirt, No worries" on it, DO NOT go anywhere near a Turkish grand bazzar shopping area. As you pass, EVERY single shopkeeper reads it out load and exclaims, "OK, you can have watch!" Or, "OK, you can have handbag"...etc etc etc ohhhhhhhhh

So we finally said our goodbyes at Marmaris and were picked up to be taken to Dalaman airport. We flew back to Instanbul and then to Athens. Picked up from the airport by our travel people, 'Fantasy Travel' and driven in absolute comfort to the Plaka Hotel, in Plaka, the heart of Athens. Fantasy put our minds at ease by going through each of our itinerary issues and documents, whilst providing us with a very cold beer. We have stayed at the Plaka Hotel before and would highly recommend it. Whilst it does not have a pool, it does have a fabulous roof top bar overlooking the Accropolis. In fact our room also has a magnificent view to boot! But off to dinner in a buzzing Saturday night in Athens, great looking restaurants overflowing everywhere. A long walk to work off dinner and to sleep, leaving for The Greek Islands in the morning!

Sifnos

We had an easy ferry ride of three hours from Athens Port to the island of Sifnos. The islands appear SO barren, but they hold so much. We were met by Stella, our accomodation host, and taken to a lovely apartment overlooking the Kamares Harbour. There is a magnificent mountain behind us, so sheer and steep and 100% flint hard rock. It looks very imposing. But, as our apartment has a large balcony where we can sit, have a drink and watch the most wonderful sunsets directly over the harbour and between the headlands. It also has a lovely pool, where we had a relaxing swim and a cleansing afternoon ale.

Although a small island, we have hired a little car for 35 Euro a day (disregard if you live in Britain) as there are quite a lot of tiny secluded beaches, which are some distance and located at the bottom of very large, steep hills...and we intend to see them all!

First night we were at a small restaurant named 'Absinthe'. Situated on the first floor, it had a lovely view, and a beautiful breeze....as well as great food. Cath had crayfish with an Ouzo cream sauce whilst I had the lamb. No One does lamb like the Greeks! Fabulous! Next day, it was off on our adventure around the island.

Now, let me tell you Cath can panic a bit when I'm driving a left hand drive vehicle, manual, changing gears with the wrong hand, sitting on the wrong side of the car, and driving on the wrong side of the road.  Now, admittedly, I may take the occasion a wrong turn, and that may add to her stress levels. But when we end up driving a 1,750 millimetre wide car down a 1,700 millimetre wide  road....or footpath??, well, that adds to her DISTRESS levels.  So you can imagine what happened to her when, after picking up two stray French backpackers (another story later), I thought it would be a good idea to check out the beach at Vroulidia, at the very north of the island. You see, it's was down an extraordinarily steep dirt road....did I say extraordinarily steep??, with a two hundred foot sheer drop off to the Aegean Sea....what could go wrong I said....Anyway, I'm alive to tell this tale. (She hasn't killed me yet) We ventured as far down as I thought was safe. Apparently, that was five kilometres further down the mountain than where Cath thought it was safe. The two French, who now thought they had been kidnapped and heading to The Belangalow National Park (did I mention they could not speak a word of English?) were excitedly yelling things such as "rally cross!!!!".  Well, when I turned the car around to go back up the hill, the little 1000cc car did not like that at all. The tiny (seemingly one cylinder) engine screamed, the clutch plate burned (oh the smell) and the front wheels just spun and dug deeper and deeper into the soft dirt road.  There was only one thing for it...Cath and the two French had to push.  I sat in the car and waited for them to do the heavy labour, I had a thought...did I tell them to push me straight UP the hill and NOT over the edge?? Here goes, and the little car, after a couple of attempts (more like 6 or 7 says Cath) roared into action and tore off up the hill to safety.  I sat there and wondered at the shear beauty of the place from the top of the hill, as I'm sure Cath and the French couple did as they climbed their way up some two hundred metres of the eighty degree angled mountain road......and as Cath hopped in the air conditioned cab I was sitting in, I said to her "it doesn't get any better than this"....she looked at me kinda funny....and the only comment I heard was from the back seat, "sacre bleu".

Now, the French...we had just been to Herronisos Beach, and as we approached the public bus stop, we saw two forlorn youngsters standing all by themselves, who had clearly missed the last bus. We stopped to see if we could be of any assistance. Finding they were French, my initial response was to drive away...but Cath insisted on letting them and their back packs into the little car. Not a word of English from them, not a word of French from us.  Rodolphe (hee hee, I laughed too) and Ludivine were seemingly a couple of very nice people. She was a hairdresser and he was a part time tennis coach. Our powers of conversation must be fairly good, because we managed to sign language, wave our hands and gesticulate for well over two hours, whilst we consumed a couple of beers and a couple of cocktails at 'The Old Captains Bar' (happy hour no less - another thing we taught the French!), not to mention getting past the Ivan Milat thing and pushing a a car up a cliff.  We then took them back to their accommodation. We then returned to ours, where a well earned swim and cleansing drink was had, prior to going to dinner at a typical Greek restaurant, located right on the water. I had a stuffed pork chops and Cath had the stuffed chicken. By then end of the night, we were stuffed! Some more so than others.

The following two days have been spent exploring the island, going to every little secluded beach, soaking up some sun and having drinks and lunch at an adjoining 'taverna'. We have not been disappointed by the views, the water or the food. Whilst this is all very Greek and wonderful, our golden sandy beaches take some beating over the stoney, grey/black/brown sand of these beaches. I will let you look at the photos to make your own minds up?

One of the highlights. We drove to the very top of the island where a monastery has been built. I would hate to walk it, as the car nearly didn't make it! 2 attempts here and the road was paved! At night, it is lit up and being at the top of a completely desolate mountain, it looks like a UFO hovering above the town. But the building is lovely and the view from there unbelievable. You can look,out over some of the many other Greek islands, as well as the waterways of Sifnos. Amazing! Tomorrow, we leave for Naxos, but for now, as we watch yet another incredible sunset over the Aegean, it's dinner....

MARMARIS

Our apologies to anyone who may have attempted to read this portion of the blog earlier.min our haste to find Wi Fi, we posted it it way too soon...here is the updated version!

We started the day off with a nice sleep in at the hotel in Pamukkale, then a laze around that sensational pool. We were then picked up by our same driver for the third day, and yes, we still never learnt his name. He had no English at all, and our words of 'cheers' and 'thank you' in Turkish did not seem to get us far. But he was a lovely man and very very humble. But off on the three and a half hour drive to Marmaris.  

The long and dry windy road finally made it to a point overlooking Marmaris township.  Marmaris is absolutely beautiful.  It appears to us to be the Turkish Riviera.  I say appears to be, because we haven't seen some of the other coastal towns down this way, but judging by the various marinas, and the many, many multi million dollar boats contained therein, I assumed we were correct in our assumption.  The place has a magnificent harbour, crystal clear blue as blue could be water and is lined with fantastic restaurants and shops.  This place has money dripping off it. However, we have been told the places we will see are even more so?  But, this is certainly lovely and we are soaking the place in.

When we arrived, it was stifling hot, 40 degrees, with a soft burning breeze.....They tell us the heat has only just hit, coinciding with our arrival.  Our hotel, 'Blue Bay Platinum', was very modern and very hip. Chock a block full of English hell bent on bar b queuing themselves, and the place was well catered for them.  With three large pools, a kids pool and play area and a portion of the main beach off its doorstep, there were numerous places to fry!  I can't believe in this day and age, some people still lather themselves in baby oil and lay in the sun. You could hear them sizzle! The first thing we noticed about the hotel was that they slapped a wrist band on both of us. Everything complementary! I knew exactly what that meant.  Free Efes!!!! Oh, and food etc.  The hotel is kind of run like a cruise ship. It has food available all day, alcohol is included and readily available, and various al la carte restaurants that cater for hotel guests.  Our kind of place!

Only one night at the hotel, but a very late check out and to our 'Gulet' (two masted and pronounced the same as 'bullet') sailing ship named 'Lady Cemre' (pronounced Chemra moored on the dock.  The boat is a six berth, and we have an Italian family of three (Paul, Christina and 15 year old Matilda - sorry Matilda, no Wi FI), a young couple from Singapore (Nicholas and Shufen) and a Dutch couple (Eric and Gerda-but that is NOT how you pronounce it...) all lovely people.  So we have one spare room.  As well, we have the skipper (Atil), the chef (Tunjai) and the guy who does everything (Azis)). I have carried out an inventory, and there is plenty of Efes.....Lets go sailing!!!

We had our first nights sleep on board.  A little uncomfortable as it was so hot and we were still on our marina berth.  But for the next four days, this is our sailing family! We set off from the docks and away we went to explore the beautiful Aegean Turkey coastline.

Day 2 

We were taken to a place called 'Dalyan'. Dalyan is a village on a fresh water river and very picturesque. The lakelands leading to the village a windy and marshlands, with long straw like reeds covering the area. Here the endangered Loggeheard turtles search for grasses and the blue crabs to feed on. They also mate here and lay their eggs in the hot dark sands of Turtle Beach, a beach where the fresh and salt water mixes. We saw turtles feeding and they are enormous. They live to two hundred years old.  Furhrer down the river, we saw the ancient carved cliff tombs, created by the Byzantines??. Then we moved on to the sulphur mud baths, fed by the hot springs.  They say a dip in the mud takes then years off your appearance. We were prepared to go in. Three or four times! Anyway, it turned out to be a lot of fun as the photos show! 

It had been a long day, and we slept on deck that night as it was far too hot in our cabin. For the rest of the trip, the deck of our ship was the place to sleep.  Every one of us were out there!

Days 3&4 were spent sailing from bay to bay, each one more beautiful than the one before it.  We did a lot of snorkelling, and actually swam with turtles!! Whilst endangered, they seem to be everywhere around these bays and inlets. But mostly, we layer around in the sun, ate, drank and dunked ourselves in the crystal clear turquoise or dark blue waters. God this is hard to take.

Our captain Atil, cooking dinner! When we stop, Atil takes every opportunity to go fishing, crabbing or diving. But he is in charge of the bar b q!

Day 5 of our cruise and we lost the Singaporeans and the Italians, as they moved on as we arrived in Fetiya.  Fetiya is quite a bit smaller than Marmaris, but this is the spot Jackie O'Nasis liked to come to and relax.  It is very private, but very Shiek. We had to wait in Fetiya port for a Turkish couple to come on board.  It was very hot, and your are not allowed to swim in the harbours, so we went looking for wi fi, air conditioning, a beer and Turkish ice cream (which are amazing!) Made on goats milk, the icecream is very thick, creamy and stretchy! The ice cream servers are quite entertaining, and will lift whole portions of icecream from their refrigerated buckets and toss it about like pizza dough. But the stuff is fantastic!   By the way, the Turkish woman has now been on the boat for 4 hours and she has had 3 different swimsuits on!!!

Days 6& 7

So the Turkish lady has 9 swimsuits with her! We have seen all 9 numerous times! We picked up some more passengers today, Roey (a Kiwi now living in Qld), Hanna and Jason (two school teachers from Warnanbool), Ashley and Daniel (from Christchurch), Emily (from Wellington) and Ashley and Farhan (a couple, her from Jamberoo and him from Singapore). We were on our way again, and not talking about the State of Origin.....We spent most of these 2 days going from bay to bay, swimming, eating sleeping, turtle spotting  and some Dolphins made an appearance. We have been flat out! And, tomorrow.....Greece! 

Pamukkale and Ephesians

PAMUKKALE TO EPHESUS

Pamukkale is a town known for its thermal waters and Greek and Roman ruins. The Romans, who we all know loved to bathe, set themselves up here after they turfed the Greeks about 400 years before the birth of Christ. Of course, having the hot spring waters, which contain countless minerals capable of curing every affliction from dandruff to the loss of a leg, they set up a huge city.  As luck would have it, a couple of huge earthquakes eventually flattened the place. More about those things later. 

Our accommodation at Pamukkale is quite nice. The hotel is enormous and rooms are comfortable. Importantly, the pool is sensational and they have a wonderful bar right next to it....they also have a wonderful bar inside the hotel.  Apparently, they also had another bar, somewhere else in the hotel, that I'm sure would have been wonderful too, but we never found it! The hotel had a thermal pool inside and several natural  thermal pools outside, all at differing temperatures, to boot.  Most of the hotels around here have fitted a thermal pool in somewhere. 

Our first morning here was an early start to travel to Ephesus. Ephesus of course was a harbour, and the end of the old Silk Road, where goods from China, and those traded all along on the way from China, were shipped to the rest of the known world. I guess it was the spot that began to make the world a smaller place? The locals call the place 'Efes' (after the beer I suspect). Now, the harbour has long silted up, and they have diverted the river that used to flow into the  harbour as well. But the place is right on the magnificent Agean Sea and looks amazing. 

We were firstly taken to the top of a high mountain overlooking Ephesus. Here we were shown the house where it was believed Mother Mary lived out her last years, after having been taken there by Saint Mark. Apparently the New Testament refers to Mary being taken to Ephesus. I hope he took her there by horse and cart, or by a donkey, because it's a bloody long way up there! And who brought her shopping up each week? Anyway, the way they discovered the house was that a German nun in about 1880 had a dream and described the location. Some fit Monks walked up the Mountain and found the place as described. Presto, another Holy place with souvenir shops and an entry fee.  Anyway, it is a house that is believed to be at least two thousand years old and the surrounds are very nice. Pope Thingy (the one before Pope Paul VI??) visited here in 1962 and said it was holy, so there. They have a 'Holy Wall' where you can write out messages to Mother Mary on pieces of paper and attach them to the wall. Sadly, they don't provide paper, so you use whatever you may have. Toilet paper appears popular, as do Burger King dockets.......perhaps they should provide paper?

The ruins at Ephesus are quite spectacular and provide a great indication as to the importance the city once held. At its peak, it was the most important Roman city outside of Rome. This was where the Roman Empire was made wealthy.  The entire city is made of marble, which was lthe local stone. Even all the roads and paths.  And everyone and everything was taxed. Even the use of the urinals!  In Europe,  some things never change, they still charge!  And it's called a pis tax! They had a colossal sized library, which contained scrolls from all over the known world. They discovered a tunnel from the library that went to the brothel across the road. Seems not everyone who went to the library was there to study! All was destroyed in 700AD by an earthquake. Some 250,000 either died or moved on.

Our tour guide was an interesting bloke. He was raised in the Muslim faith, but he held what he described as 'liberal' views. He no longer practiced, as he believed most only practiced to ensure employment. He said most he knew did not practice the five prayer sessions a day, or adhere to the strict requirements of Ramadan, but said they did to keep solid with employers etc. In fact, he told us cheekily that the afternoon 'Call to the Prayer' to him was the "Call for another two Efes"....Good point, back to the hotel for a swim and a couple of beers!

PAMUKKALE 

Today we went on a tour of the Roma site at Pamukkale. As I said, this city was set up by the Romans because of the hot springs.  However, here the stone is the local limestone, and smaller than Ephesus. Saint Philip was crucified in this city as he attempted to spread the word of Christianity.  A large octagonal Tomb to his martyrdom was built in the 4th century after the Romans were converted. 

The amphitheatre here is one of the best ones we've seen. Although smaller than the one we saw at Ephesus, or the one we saw in Taormina (see Sicily blog), this one still held some 25,000 people and has been restored extremely well. As with each of these amphitheatres, they were used for the entertainment of all city residents. And the entertainment could have been poetry recitals one day, gladiator fights another, a Christian execution or two or a stoning (local boy today, first offence). 

The city of Pamukkale had a population of about 100,000. But the cemetery goes on for miles and miles.  Seems every sick person would make their way there to take in the magical healing Spring waters....and judging by the size of the cemetery, would promptly die there! 

We then visited the amazing Pamukkale Travertenes.  As the hot spring waters bubble out of the top of the mountain, it deposits a high concentration of calcium carbonate on the surface. This builds up to leave a bright white layer behind. These form shallow pools of hot, bright blue water on top of the shining white base. Other areas of run off form long waterfall crystals, similar to limestone caves or ice flows. Amazing!  Our photos don't do justice to the sight.

After walking for some serious time, in 38 degree heat, it was time to visit the 'Pool of Cleopatra. The story goes that Cleopatra used water from Pamukkale and believed she looked more beautiful, and so visited the city and frolicked in the waters, and when she emerged, she looked years younger. I believe the Ponds Institute is located nearby??  Anyway, we swam in the crystal clear hot waters, which contain old Roman ruins. The pool goes from being two foot deep in places to forty feet deep. But you get to swim over Ancient Roman columns and broken statues, laying where they fell after that massive earthquake in 700AD.  Incredible!  And again, some 100,000 residents either died or moved on....Did I mention it hit 40 degrees today? Back to the hotel pool and some well earned Efes!