"Anna and Treb's Adventures in Turkey "

This trip was so good, that I was ready to sell all my earthly possessions, buy a boat and sail around every where. It was that great. Turkey is fantastic. Lush with history, filled with funny and friendly people and some of the best food that I have had anywhere. It was just unbelievable.

We began our trip by flying into Dalaman airport then spending a night in Marmaris. Marmaris is kind of like a classy Myrtle Beach for the Europeans. We enjoyed a nice stroll along the boardwalk and had some decent Turkish food, but it definitely wasn't the kind of place we'd like to stay very long. But we did have an oceanfront room for about $35 for one night.

It was 30 mins to Keci Buku, where we met up with the lovely crew of Seascape Sail. For once, Treb and I were not the couple with the disastrous travel plans, but instead, several other travelers were laid up by over booked and late flights. We all got there eventually, but it delayed our departure by a bit. Never ones to lose time to kick back and relax, Treb and I found our Canadian crewmates Dave and Jacquie to be lovely beer drinking companions and we sat down to enjoy the view and the poorly drafted Effes bier while we waited on the rest of our travelers. More and more, we found Jacquie and Dave, and then Marilyn, Kaz, Gary, and Brian, to be cut from the same sail cloth, and we just had a great time. These folks could make it to any tailgate and not miss a beat, plus they adored adventuring as much as we. We were minus Marilyn and Brian when we finally set sail, but managed to pick them up in Bozburun the next day. Our "sail" to Bozborun was a 3-hour power-sail into a stiff 25-knot wind, but Treb took the helm early and loved the day. In Bozborun, Treb received an hour long Turkish shave and massage ñ and they even burned his ear and neck hair off! I think he finally realizes why I like to be pampered so much! Bozburun is also home to the Aphrodite hotel where we swam and bathed and ate a lovely dinner, while of course enjoying the fine Turkish brew, which is known as Effes. I also beat Treb at Tawli here.

We sailed aboard the Anna Maria, the same lovely 55-footer that took us around the Dodecanese in Greece back in the summer of '02. You can our Greece pictures here. This time we sailed around the southwestern tip of Turkey, where the Aegean meets the Med.

Datca, Datca Datca. I love Datca. Datca is famous for many, many things. First, it is famous for our first true Turkish bath experience where to get exfoliated down to a soft pulp, fluffed up by soap bubbles, and swatted on the rear by a giant, hulking, honking, old Turkish man (who looked like an overweight Saddam Hussein). I've never felt so clean in my life but as nice as the man was, I donít think I'd want to run into him in any dark alleys! Then, that night we enjoyed some more lovely Turkish food and went exploring for Turkish Rugs. I swore to Treb that we would come away with rugs, and so the next thing you know, we are having a "caaaaaapet paaaaaaaateeeeeeeeee." That is Cornish for a "carpet party." Well, in Turkey, when they sell you a rug, they also must wine and dine you. Or at least, Effes and Raki (kind of like Ouzo) you. I had thought I would spend a moderate amount on rugs and get one nice one. I ended walking away with three, one of which he threw in since I brought so many good wallets with me to the party. I got to roll around in silk carpet (divine!), haggle for hours, be educated on the history of carpet (woven rugs) and kilm (knotted tapestry) that Turkey is famous for and have a rousing time - all from our good friend "Ali." My rugs are gorgeous, except that they are kind of tied up in German customs right now. We hope to pick them up this week.

Then, our captain, the "honorable" Captain Ray informed us that the wedding of Dave and Jacquie got moved up a day, so what do you know, we had a "hen party" (bachelorette party) that night on the boat for Jacquie in which we persuaded her that toilet papering our sister boat was a fine idea. I would have done it, but Kaz insisted that it was Jacquie's hen party, and she should do the honors. Not sure how it happened, but somewhere in the boat crossing, I wound up with three honking bruises on the back of leg that hurt like crazy!:) Oh, what we do for our friends!

The next day, before leaving Datca, we set off to the Olive Farm for a visit on oil making processes and more shopping. I was getting quite the reputation for being a shopper at this point. I bought a ton of stuff for everyone, not just myself though! From the Olive Farm (yummy oils and tampande) we motored yet again (poor winds) to Ova Buku and "Ogun's Place" for the wedding. Ogun is a fine fellow. He prints maps of the area on the back of his shirts so that folks like our fine Captain Ray can use them to navigate. Ova Buku has fantastic snorkeling, although I thought the water was a bit cold.

As Jacquie's best lady, I had to come and get cleaned up and then help Jacquie get ready. Then captain Ray got to marry the lovely couple, while Treb and I prayed we wouldn't drop the rings while standing ankle-deep in the water. We didn't and they didn't fall off the rock in the harbor, so they got married right and tight and we enjoyed toasting to their long happiness well into the night! It was just lovely and yes, I cried! We had a surprise visit from a belly dancer (who was actually Ogun) to the wedding and then this old French lady in orange (Pumpkin woman) tried to pick up one of our crew mates all night long. Unfortunately, we all thought this was funny, so egged the whole thing on!:)

We left the newlyweds in the hotel for some privacy, while the rest of us stumbled back to the boat. The weather and winds were quite rough and evidently there were some issues with another boat dragging up everyone else's anchor lines which is a terrible, terrible, terrible thing to happen. Luckily, no boats sank, and no damage was done, which allowed us to pull out the next day without too much ado.

Off for our crossing to Bozuk Buku with rough waters. So rough, that Dave was feeling a bit sea sick. Still haven't really gotten the sails up for a good sail yet, but using the motor keeps the beer cold, so always a positive spin on everything! Here, we got to see the Loyma Fort built on the coast. Some folks did some hiking, we just chilled and swam and enjoyed doing little to nothing.

Day 5, off to Kapi Creek on a long windless crossing (about 35 miles). It was so painful, that we were forced to pull out the Effes (local Turkish beer) just to get through the day. We were taking navigation bets, and I honestly had no faith that Ray could get us, there, but he proved us wrong. Along the way, we got to see a cool water spout a few miles to starboard. In Kapi Creek the French "wankers" (excuse my French) emptied their bilge tank into the bay (which is illegal and gross) and got ugly about it when our fierce captain Ray told them to stuff their bilge back where it came from. On the up side, Kapi Creek had a little lady that makes homemade pancake/crepes on her boat and comes right up to the dock to sell them. Kapi Creek also has a little villager that hand makes carpets in his home and we got to see them being made! Kapi Creek was lovely swimming! Need to exercise to keep off all the divine food from my hips! Every place we went delivered fresh baked bread to have with breakfast! It was yummy!

Day 6, off to Gocek for a short windless crossing, where we got hit hard with some torrential rains. We'd run out of beer this time, and decided a wine party with cheese and bread and olives for lunch for just the thing! It was lovely! It didn't stop us from shopping though! My only regret is that I didnít pick up this very lovely ring I found. That night, I got to eat garlic prawns (shrimp, for those of you from South Carolina). It was like dying and going to heaven, except the next day, we got to get up and head on a bus trip to see the Dalyan River Trip and funerary monuments (a necropolis - i.e. dead people) carved into the side of a mountain. Fantastic! We ambled around the ruiuns of Kanau and then were off to play in the mud at a natural mud bath and springs. It was lovely, but Treb chickened out and didnít want to get dirty. It felt so good on my bones!

We lost Kaz and Gary that day, as they were only there for 7 days. It was quite sad. That night, Ray must have felt the need to punish us, b/c we still didn't have beer, so (cough, cough) we raided the Angelina because they were basically teetotalers and didnít really need their beer after all and we had more people on our boat any way, and Ray kept drinking it all up, so really, it was justifiable. Plus, to this day, we are convinced Dez stole two flats of beer from us to begin with. Right, Dez?

Day 8.we got the sails up today. More reason to party. This time, we got to see Tomb Bay for lunch - more monuments in the mountains, some hiking and swimming and some lovely HOT weather. It was great. Then we were off to Cleopatra's baths for more hiking and to meet the character of Regip. Regip cooks on his boat so he doesn't have to pay taxes. He once had to go to jail, b/c he wouldnít pay taxes, but then again, they were charging him more than he ever made cooking for the sailors. So Regip just docked a two-decker boat, built a kitchen downstairs, and put tables upstairs. The food was fantastic once again.

Day 9 was a lazy trip to restaurant bay. All of our meals were very similar. Meat. What kind of meat you might ask? Meat we were told. Adana kabaps, lamb, prawns, chicken, bread, fries and salad. It was all about the same, but very, very good.

Day 10, we arrive in Fethiye for our last night and departure the next day for Istanbul. None of us were ready to say good bye, so we met up for dinner and farewells. Both Jacquie and I cried. I'm sure at some point in our lives, winds being what they are, we will all cross paths again, but for now, it was time to let the lines go and head back in different directions. Again, we were the beneficiaries of cheap, fine Turkish accommodations, as we stayed in a 3rd floor waterfront room (that would sleep 5 easily) for only 40 euros.

Next day was the first day of Ramadan, so some of the Turks fasted all day (we felt guilty eating), but then at night they had a big festival out next to the Blue Mosque. We didn't see it, but we were told that the Turks were all sitting down with plates full of food at sunset; and as soon as the last prayer call was completed, they dug in! We ate some delicious Turkish food at the Ramadan fest, and it stuck us as ironic how friendly and western this Muslim country was while our friends in Iraq feared increased violence during the Holy Month.

Turkey is one of the best places weíve ever visited. The people are friendlier than anywhere else weíve ever been. They LOVE to talk to Americans. And there is something surreal about hearing the prayer calls five times a day whether you're out sailing in southwestern Turkey or walking right next to the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque.

If you want to know my favorites for your traveling purposes, Turkey and Italy would be one and two respectively, which probably Greece and Croatia coming in third.

Anna Courie

View Anna & Treb's photo collection from Turkey