Friday, August 29
A day of relaxation, swimming, and more Turkish experiences.

We left our hotel to go on a 1½ hr drive followed by a 40 minute waterway cruise to Turtle Beach, where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean.

At the embarkation point for our boat cruise, there were some spectacular carved tombs from around the 4th Century BC. Absolutely amazing, and was a tiny reminder of the grandeur of Petra, albeit a small percentage of the size.

Turtle Beach at Dalyan was a beautiful place and we had a great amount of time to swim in the sea. Very clear waters, gentle waves, a warm day, clear skies. Who could ask for more? We even saw a huge turtle swimming around our boat, who unfortunately didn’t co-operate with the photographers.

We then headed back on the boat to the marina for a wonderful meal of barbecued sea bream, followed by another boat ride in the other direction for a mud bath! Absolutely fantastic! This area has been famous for its hot mud and springs. The sulphur smell certainly reminded us of Rotorua.

Saturday August 30
Another day of beautiful holiday relaxation.

Our first stop was interesting and poignant. We drove to an old abandoned ghost-town of a village which evoked a sense of tragedy and great loss within us. When Turkey became a Republic in 1924 there was a population exchange between the Greeks and the Turks. All Greeks in Turkey were repatriated to Greece and all Turks in Greece were repatriated to Turkey. The plan was that each would be given the others homes in each country. However, it ended up being a painful and difficult process because of the anger in each community brought about by this compulsory policy. Each community had to leave everything and only take a suitcase to their mother country. The anger ended up being vent through destruction of property, so these towns are now ghost town ruins. It seemed such a tragic waste, and the futility of the policy was so sad. The human fallout of such a practice has ongoing consequences to this day. The sad history of the relationship between these two countries results many individual family stories. This particular village, Kakavoy, was first established in the 16th century. We could easily imagine its beauty even though today’s reality was anything but.

We then drove to Oludeniz, and the Blue Lagoon, a magnificent Mediterranean beach. It was a place where relaxation was so easy, and to swim in those waters was such a joy. Even I didn’t want to get out. It was a pebbly beach, and the water was beautifully clear. It became very deep, very close to shore, but the high salt content made floating so easy and fun. No waves at all …. my kind of beach!!

This small bay is surrounded by mountains and as the thermals are so good there are literally hundreds of paragliders taking advantage of the location. When we were in the water [without a camera] there were easily about 40 paragliders above us.

We took the option of being dropped off in the town of Fethiye and walking back to our hotel, just to take in the atmosphere and have a coffee and ice cream along the bay. It’s a very pretty little spot.

Tonight we all opted for a sunset cruise dinner. And why not?? It was a balmy night, with hardly a breeze, great food, great company, and God’s exquisite handiwork to witness. What a marvellous blessing!