We made our way through the more northern parts of Turkey, "the road less travelled". The northern parts are tilted towards resorts and vacation towns predominantly Turkish visitors. Many of the towns were very similar with restaurants that all used the same menu and beach stores that all sold the same things. We hunted out the different and varied and found the old Roman villages with an amphitheater and Apollo temple. Foca was one of those towns with the added benefit of a marine officers training camp. Colleen had rings indented on her eyes where the binoculars were glued as she gazed out at the dock full of cadets doing calisthenics . As we moved south the towns became more sailing centric and so had more varied fare and better castles and shopping.

Much of the north has steep mountains that run into the sea. The method of developing these areas is to cut into the hillside and build huge concrete retaining walls then erect ugly 3-4 story apartments on the flat parts that were created. There are several mysteries about these developments; 1) who would want to live in them 2) if they are all full there is never going to be enough parking 3) where does the water for the pool and showers all come from in this arid land 4) where does all the sewage go 5) why so many, there were areas that were covered in new construction 6) will all the people go to the beach, because the beaches are very limited and tiny. These are the thoughts that run through your mind as you pass by at our leisurely cruising speed of 2-7 miles an hour.

We were blessed with visits from Graham and Allena, Keegan, and a last minute Tom Healey. It's not easy to get to Homecoming as we are usually in a small village not near anything, we appreciate the efforts made in traveling.

Graham and Allena crossed over with Keegans time which made it even better. We had a beach BBQ and visited the castle at Cesme along with the amphitheater at Ildir. It's great to see them but you can't help but hum that cats in the cradle and a silver spoon song, when you coming home son we'll have good time then Dad you know we'll have a good time then. Grahams all busy with work and life and Keegans all busy with life and graduate school. You grab it when you can. Quality time is definitely time you have your children trapped on a boat, no way out until the dinghy is dropped.

In Sigakik we wandered through the ancient winding town and kept coming across a young boy all dressed in white with gold trim. They put him in a chair and carried him into a big hall, it looked like a wedding. We got to talking to some one along the path and they explained that when the boys turn around 11 they are circumcised and have a becoming a man party involving many envelopes of money. We decided that the kid hadn't gotten the knife yet as he was still smiling.

We went to Ephesus. We decided to take the local bus called a Domish. Domish translated means "cram in". The highly efficient Domish careens along the main road while the driver answers his cell phone makes change and beeps to call out people at stops. The charge is $1.50 a ride roughly. We made the 30 minute ride in 30 minutes while stopping, dropping, and picking up people. Ephesus was a beautiful archaeological site with a large amphitheater and iconic library. It was also super hot and away from the water and Colleen was melting away, so we opted for the door to door service of a taxi back.

We left the boat at Oren Marina for a visit to Istanbul for a few days. Istanbul is part in the European continent and part Asian. Bisected by the Bosporus strait Istanbul is the guardian of the passageway between the Black Sea and the Med. It was fascinating to see all the ships traversing the strait while ferries went back and forth. Turkey invoked the Montreux convention which stopped all war ships from transiting the strait during the Ukraine war. War is an odd practice, on one hand they are trying to kill the enemy in any way possible, on the other hand they obey an agreement from almost 100 years ago. We went to the spice market and the bazaar which are never ending labyrinths of small shops jammed full of jewelry, rugs, trinkets, spices, nuts, each varying in a small way. The varied mosques we visited told a tale of how the current president Erdogan has wrested power from democracy and tilted Turkey away from secularism. The oldest was the blue mosque, it had massive columns holding up the dome with its characteristic blue tiles. The blue mosque was an ancient mosque for 100s of years. The Sophie mosque had been a mosque for a few hundred years than a church for a few hundred then a museum and controversially was just now made a mosque again. In a ham handed way the Erdogan government made the conversion hanging Arabic signs over the frescos of Jesus and Mary. It felt wrong and looked wrong. The last mosque Erdogan just built bigger than the others and sat like a sore thumb on a hill. We chose not to go, it felt wrong as well. We have nothing against Muslims it is the chipping away of religious freedom that is saddening.

The morning we were leaving I managed to sneak in a visit to a hamman, a Turkish bath. It was an original hamman near the ancient bazaar and built with beautiful white marble. Women and men were separated, which is a good thing because you basically walk in and they hand you a towel that is not meant to cover you but to lay down on. Picture a fish being scaled, then picture a piece of meat being tenderized and pounded, then you get the picture. In a very hot room women are sprawled out on a marble slab sans clothes. Hamman workers in black bra's and underwear determine that you have marinated enough on the steaming marble and come over and start scrubbing. Let me tell you they have some powerful arms, I lost my top layer of skin and a bit more. My lady proudly showed me the 60 grit loofa with all the dead skin she had sloughed off. She then soaped me up. I could not breath at one point I was so covered in bubbles. She would say "turn" and I knew to flip over. Finally, she had a bowl of clear water to pour over me. She passed me off to her compatriot who led me into a different room where I was massaged with oil. Once I got into it I did not want to leave!

Ataturk is revered here. His image is everywhere, I mean everywhere. If you are at the barber they will have a photo of Ataturk getting his haircut, at the vineyard a picture of him looking at grapes. He was very photogenic and I can only imagine he kept a retinue of photographers busy. Ataturk brought the modern (pre Erdogan) republic to fruition. The literacy rate was 2% when he changed Turkey to the regular alphabet from Arabic and required schooling. He made freedom of religion along with myriad other systemic changes that set Turkey on a successful path for many years (pre Erdogan).

Probably the biggest difference between Greece and Turkey is the size of the dogs. In Greece the cats predominantly ran the Taverna scraps from the table trade. In Turkey you see cats, but what stands out are very large dogs. Tom called them wolfhounds. In Greece and Turkey the sidewalk is flanked with watering bowls, food bowls, little houses, and beds for the animals to sleep. The wolfhounds can be seen laying in doorways where the air conditioning spills out and cools them. We rarely see them in motion as its hot, very hot. A loud motorcycle or a car peeling out triggers them all into a tizzy and they jump up and run after the noisy offender barking. Greek and Turkish animals both eschew bread and French fries. They sniff them, but will not take it, fish or meat only, thank you!


*** Please note there are Photo & Homecoming's location links depending on what you are using they are either at bottom of the page under the first blog written or to the right or left of the page.