Turkey

Myra ruins

A wonderful Soviet built and Greek operated hydrofoil (still in service after all these years!) crosses our path

Irene motored a short hop from Greece to Bozburan, Turkey early in the morning the first day of October, 2019. The town basin was packed with gulets and cruising boats, but luckily we spotted a young Turk waving on the quay, in a spot between a UK flagged ketch and an enormous motoryacht. We dropped the hook and squeezed on back. After taking our lines, our guide told us – “Raise the flags right now, Turkey and your country. Very important, first thing!” As it happens, Ginger had spent the morning going through lockers looking for our Turkish courtesy flag, procured in Scotland last winter, but had not been able to locate it. So with quick directions from our guide, she sprinted to a nearby hardware store. When she returned with the flag our guide nodded in approval. (Shortly after hoisting our new flag Ginger found the original one, in a “safe” spot.) As we hoisted the moon and star and the stars and stripes, he turned his attention to the  huge motor yacht next to us. A deckhand had started the endless deck and window washing such vessels seem to engage in, and soapy water was streaming into the harbor. “No, stop now! This is a big problem, no soap allowed in the water!” Though we have known for years that Turkey has some strict rules regarding grey water discharge we were surprised to actually see those rules enforced in a harbor. Soap is bad for antiquities (and coral but there’s not much live coral here) and grey water discharge is forbidden in many areas. Turkey is very serious about their environment. And proud of their flag. 

Gulet in motion: flags waving - check, awnings spread - check, babes sunbathing on deck - check. All systems go – engage full throttle!

After completing formalities with an agent, a first for us, we explored our surroundings a bit. 

Turkish people are kind and gentle to the semi feral cats and dogs they coexist with.

Awesome motorbike.

An all-weather delivery trike

Rugs and tarps protect a motorbike garage

Cool carpet saddlebags.

 

Spiffy Fiat

Antolya is an agricultural region and well-kept well-used tractors are everywhere. Cats like to nap on the seats.

We set off down the coast, heading for our winter destination, the Setur Marina in Finike. One night we anchored south of Kaş at Nuri’s Beach Bungalows, where Ginger could float at Irene’s bow and see ancient tombs carved in the hillside.

This would have been a wonderful anchorage if a nearby party had not blasted truly obnoxious music all night. Earplugs couldn’t touch the din.

In a few days, we arrived at Finike and received a warm welcome at the marina from Barbaros, the personable manager that we had corresponded with. His good English skills and knowledge of the long term visa application process helped us get sorted right away, and we settled in for a winter. An active international liveaboard community provides entertainment – game night, Sunday coffee, weekly social barbeque, and a movie night. 

So many weekly events to attend!

The national flag waves from the travelift

The Turkish coast guard walks the docks to check papers every so often. 

Thumbs up, our papers are in order.

After sailing so many miles this season, we craved walking to stretch our cramped muscles. Finike could not be better for this – hospitable welcoming people, safe from crime, with many beautiful views, many tasty little restaurants, beach walks, hill walks, city walks, country walks. 

A Turkish bath is not far from the marina

We walk past this tree often

Whirling Dervish statue

Small boats go out daily to fish

Ginger enjoys shopping at the weekly open air market

Women at the market make tasty pancakes

 

Ginger shops while Peter sips chai

Heat seeking cat at a truck stop tea stand

Recycled olive oil cans make a roof over the doorway

Swiss boat dog Gioia visits Irene

Many gardeners live here

Finike hillside

A construction site near the marina

The golden face of Ataturk (Father of modern Turkey) gazes benevolently over the townspeople. (Maybe a bit unsettling to American eyes)

Finike has scenic river channels cutting through town

Good fun paddling on the river

Our trusty inflatable kayak is ready to explore fresh water

 

Where the Akçay Stream empties into the Mediterranean

Our walks through town sometimes lead up and down long public staircases

We often meet some goats on our walks. And chickens, cats, and dogs, of course. The dogs have a charming habit of sometimes tagging along with us, just enjoying the walk

Cactus and minaret

The road out of town along the beach has a beautiful blue bike lane

Beautiful Finike

Walking with Hope and Howard, our only American neighbors at the marina. We haven’t seen many American yachts here in the Med. In this part of the world, most boats flying the US flag are actually just flying a flag of convenience (usually a Delaware homeport) and are owned and sailed by non-Americans.

We found a place not too far from Finike to go snow skiing with our South African neighbors, Frik and Petro

There is a nice ski hotel at Davraz, a four hour drive from our marina

 

We make a point to visit local Roman and Lycian ruins. There are a lot of them. Many ancient stone ruins in Turkey were left relatively untouched because locals over the years did not often construct buildings in stone, and so had no need to tear down ancient work to reuse the materials.

Roman amphitheater at Arykanda

Shore party (Candy, Marina, Gioia the pup, and G, P, and guide Ramazon) navigate the ancient steps of Arykanda

Candy Masters took a break from nasty UK weather where she is wintering aboard her ketch “Endeavor” to visit us for an enjoyable week. “Endeavor” left on her voyages from the same dock at Shilshole marina as us in 2005, one year before we did. We crossed paths (missing a reunion only due to our radio failure) in Argentina in 2008.

Ancient tombs are a conspicuous feature of the Lycian region

Dramatic faces at Myra

Broken relief carving

The acoustics are good, Peter can hear Ginger and Candy sing on the stage far below

Our knowledgeable and entertaining guide Ramazan was born to a shepherd family near the ruins of Arykanda. A sheep herder himself as a young man, he was lucky to get work at the site and educated by the archeologists in charge of excavation. As much as we enjoyed wandering the ruins alone, it was wonderful to have answers for our many, many questions.

 

A meal with friends

 

Quirky charming local Köşk restaurant 

In between walks and explorations we plugged away at our standard off season boat work - varnishing, painting, fixing and cleaning. Good weather makes it all seem easier than usual. And amazingly our lockers are not growing mold! We also research the next leg of our journey, making sure we have onboard (and offline) all the charts, pilots, and guides that we need to keep out of trouble. It seems like we are always getting ready, always preparing for the next leg of our journey!

This man walks the town selling simit (like a dry bagel)