09/30/2009, Yacht Marine Marina, Marmaris, Turkey!
There's an old joke about Canadians that goes something like this:
Question: How do you get a crowd of Canadians out of your pool on the hottest day of the summer?
Answer: Say "Could everyone please get out of the pool?"
This is meant to say that Canadians have a bit of a reputation for being tediously polite conformists. Some people have gone so far as to accuse us of being boring. While the Americans believe in "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and the French ascribe to "liberté, égalité, fraternité", we Canadians have taken "peace, order and good government" as our motto. It's a bit embarrassing, but there it is.
So, you can imagine my mortification yesterday, when a very angry man with a strong Germanic accent accused me of queue-jumping in the marina office. Which was ridiculous. Of course I wasn't queue-jumping. There are no queues here. The Yacht Marine office is a confusing place, with four desks manned by marina staff around the periphery of the room and several armchairs in the middle. If everyone is busy, you take a chair and wait. But how do you know who came in before whom? Any more than four people in the chairs and things deteriorate. My preferred strategy is to find a comfortable armchair, settle down with a good book and wait until someone decides that it's my turn. To improve my chances of eventually being helped, I look up and smile hopefully at a staff person from time to time. My strategy must have worked better than the angry man's, because I got called before him. He was certain that he had arrived before me, and he was furious. Even though both I and the marina agent instantly and simultaneously agreed to let him take my place, he would not be placated. Maybe he was just having a bad day. But by then, thanks to him, so was I.
After a long hot day of working on the boat, we cheered ourselves up with a nice swim in the marina pool and then took in the "end of summer" party in the marina restaurant. A huge buffet with lots of Turkish treats, complementary wine and beer, and a performance by traditional Turkish dancers... it was great! Except that just as we were starting to eat our dinner, another man (who would have gotten along famously with the angry guy in the office) came up and accused me of stealing his seat, while his wife berated their friends at the other end of the table for letting me "get away with it". Twice in one day!! So in the middle of our meal we had to pick up our plates and cutlery and find new seats. Fortunately, it all turned out well in the end, because we met some very friendly people and had a nice evening. Little did I know that my next faux-pas was just over the horizon.
With two very large bags of laundry to be washed, I decided to pay the extra to have the laundryroom staff do it for me. I couldn't believe my good fortune when the price they quoted me (25 TL) was actually less than I had paid to do two smaller loads in the self-service last week. I wondered why anyone ever used the self-service, but it all became clear when I returned to pick up my laundry. Was it my imagination, or did the staff person look a little annoyed with me? She passed me my bags, then motioned me over to a sign on the wall. "Washing of underwear is self-service only". Oops. I scurried back to the boat to look up "I'm sorry" in our Turkish phrasebook. Then I unpacked the laundry, and found that our underwear had been washed, but not dried, and separated into little "his and her" mesh bags.
It's funny how little experiences like these can make us feel like we are a very long way from home. And it got me thinking ...travelers, fairly or unfairly, become unwitting ambassadors of their countries. We need to be constantly aware that our behaviour can colour people's impressions of our home countries, and that cultural differences affect how people react in certain situations. Customs and actions that are usual and acceptable in one culture may be considered rude and unacceptable in another. In Turkey it's considered impolite to cross your legs, to show the soles of your feet and, apparently, to expect a stranger to wash your undies. So perhaps, in certain northern European countries, there is a strict and mysterious protocol for assigning places in queues and seats at parties.
In any case, I've vowed to be on my best behaviour for the rest of my stay. But when I go for my swim this afternoon, don't even think about asking me to get out of the pool!
| Turkey 2009 |
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Comments [1]
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/yofy/
We are always happy when we see comments on our blog. It was fun to realize that someone from "down under" was reading our postings; thanks David V and Marlie, your comments always seem to arrive just as we're wondering "is anyone actually reading this stuff??" If we ever make it to Australia (maybe some day, but probably not on Aisling...) we're coming to find you! We were also delighted to receive a comment from Bill Vasili in Maltezana last week. Thanks also to our friends and family who regularly give us comments and feedback, either by email or directly on the blog.
A few people have mentioned that they do not feel comfortable adding comments or asking questions in an open venue like a blog. So.....in case anyone has questions about sailing or traveling in the countries we have visited..practical stuff like can I get my propane tanks filled in Europe, how much does diesel cost, what are the visa requirements for Canadians, etc. etc. ...we have added an email link. But we hope that won't discourage anyone from leaving comments or questions directly on the blog!
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09/26/2009, Marmaris, Turkey
Our day-trip up the Dalyan river gave us just a tiny taste of the wonders that a visit to Turkey has to offer- and it was delicious! It felt strange to be doing a cruise on someone else's boat, but it was much dryer than our dinghy would have been, and it was great to be able to relax and enjoy the view. Our skipper Walter was cheerful and friendly, although since his English was only slightly better than our Turkish, he was unable to tell us much about the sites along the way.
Our co-passengers were four Germans who had charted a boat for two weeks. All spoke good English, and we enjoyed talking with them during the cruise and hearing about their previous sailing experiences in Turkey.
On the way to the mouth of the river, Walter took us past some caves under the cliffs. We'd previously gone right by these in our dinghy without even realizing they were there.
About half an hour later, we motored past the long sandy beach that is a turtle nesting ground, and into the labyrinth of rushes in the river that would take us to Kaunos. It quickly became clear that it would have been a bad idea to attempt this journey on our own.
This protected area is said to be populated by many beautiful birds, but we saw only two- one was a beautiful turquoise colour, and one was pure white, similar to an egret.
We disembarked at Kaunos, the site of an ancient Carian city that dates back to the 9th century BC. The city adopted a Hellenistic (Greek) culture, so the site resembles many we have seen in Greece and Sicily. There was an impressive theatre, the remains of a Greek temple and an old Christian basilica and baths, among other things. A big difference to the sites we have visited in Greece was that we were permitted free access to all areas. (In Greece, the temples are typically roped off and can be viewed, but not entered.)
This local resident was a little camera-shy!
From the site, the old harbour, once open to the Mediterranean but now fully silted by the river, was clearly visible.
The highlight of the expedition was seeing the tombs along the river banks. Because Kaunos was so close to the Lycian border, these were built in Lycian style. Apparently there are many other examples of these throughout Turkey. Walter pointed to the large tombs and said "kings" the middling-sized tombs were "generals" and the small ones were "soldiers".
We disembarked in Dalyan and had half an hour to wander through the streets and have lunch. The town is pleasant, in spite of the numerous tourist-focused businesses that line the streets.
We had a great lunch at a very low price in a small sidewalk restaurant: delicious Turkish bread, hummus, eggplant salad, tiny cheese rolls similar to Tunisian briq, squash fritters, Fanta and bottled water, for 16 lira. Then it was back to the boat, where we had to wait about half an hour for the other passengers to return, but since it was a very pleasant place to sit we really didn't mind. On the return trip, at times the river was quite crowded with boats, many carrying Turkish passengers enjoying the last day of Seker Bayrami.
When we got back to the anchorage, we took a look at the calendar and decided that we should head back to Marmaris rather than continuing on to Fethiye bay as we had originally planned. The sad reality is that we have run out of time. We left early the next morning and spent one night in Netzel marina, which is more expensive and not quite as nice as Yacht Marine, but has the advantage of a location that is just steps away from the town of Marmaris. While we were at Netzel, we got another quote on the deck work, hosted a small onboard party with Bill and Karen Foss and their friends, had dinner at Ney (good, but not as good as the meal we had in the little café in Dalyan, and a lot more expensive!) visited several chandleries and shopped at the weekly farmers market. Now we are back at Yacht Marine, and the next few days will be consumed with the tasks required to get the boat ready for the winter. If we move quickly, perhaps we'll have time for a little land-based sightseeing before we fly home. And if not, we'll be back in the spring!
| Turkey 2009 |
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