Westward Bound

The time has come and we must move on, sadly saying farewell to our friends in Alanya, both the staff and other yachtspeople who we have enjoyed meeting during our time here.

Saturday 13 June 2009

We throw our lines and leave Alanya Marina at around 1.30pm. Before we are a mile off the coast we have an "incident" with a large white 3 masted gulet who lays a course straight for us from the coast. We are in the middle of hoisting sails, with tons of ocean all around us when we have to take avoiding action to get out of the way of this enormous vessel who motors up on us from behind at speed, presumably to give his passengers a birds eye view of us. We are about to bear away but have to head to wind and motor to get out of his way. Our hand signals say it all!! He creates a huge wake just to annoy us then motors off again at speed!

We have an overnight 100 nautical mile 17 hour passage ahead of us and manage to sail for several hours before the overnight calm sets in. We have a good clear night with moonlight soon to assist us. We are alternating watches and hot bedding in the cockpit which is really neat. We are delighted with our radar which is now working well since we replaced the wiring in Marmaris. For the first part of the night we see lots of huge fishing boats between us and Antalya and think perhaps they are servicing fish ranches as we pass one of these fairly close by.


Pippy's turn to sleep as the sun comes up over the Gulf of Antalya.

We make it into our first destination of Gokkaya Limani at the eastern end of Kekova Roads at around 6.30am. This is one of our favourite parts of Turkey. We anchor up in the north western creek and pile into bed for a big sleep but not before we eat a hearty breakfast and have a swim.

We are on our way again by 5.00 am the next morning motoring past Kekova Roads and the ancient under water city of Simena. We have 70 miles to go today to Fethiye and with a combination of motoring and sailing, reach our destination in Fethiye Harbour by 4.30 pm in time to stop for a swim then fuel up on our way in.

With Marmaris in our sights, we cover the 52 miles to anchor off the beach in downtown Marmaris by the next day. We have a wonderful sail with eased sheets and a SW wind, once we lay the entrance to Marmaris Harbour.

We have a very busy time over the next week or so preparing for our first guests on board on 4 July. There are as always a few maintenance jobs to attend to both on and off the water.

However we take a few hours out to hire a car and rendezvous with our old friends from Deep Blue who are in Palamutbuku an 80 km drive from Marmaris. We overnight on their boat and enjoy a fab dinner out at Mirhaba Restaurant with wonderful host Alten. The food is exceptional and it is nice to be back here again - home of the green almonds. Deep Blue has been to Egypt and back since we saw them last. We have a wonderful reunion and say goodbye at 6 am the next morning. They are now on their way to Istanbul.

We decide to leave the dinghy secured to Matelot rather than on the shore while we are away overnight. This involves a complicated routine. Richard takes Pippy and the bags ashore then returns to Matelot with the dinghy, ties it on, dons flippers and swims the 400m ashore again! He does it in reverse on our return the next morning!

Richard swims out to Matelot to get the dinghy ashore on our return from Palamutbuku... You can just see him if you scroll to the right

Matelot is spoilt and gets a new sun awning and hatch covers. The sun is absolutely white hot here and the hatches are starting to show signs of sun damage. A small investment is worth making now to prevent further damage.

We should have tidied up the cockpit before taking this photo!

Alanya Marina - a Huge Thank You! .... Tara for now!

View from the Castle, Alanya

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all the staff at Alanya Marina www.alanyamarina.com.tr where we have spent most of the past month. To Savas, so gracious and obliging - nothing is too much trouble. Mesut - you are a star. The care and attention you gave to our haulout was exceptional. Mr Oktay, General and Technical Manager - your assistance on our technical issues is so much appreciated, especially the power lead which was twice severed by accident during our hull maintenance! Not even a raised eyebrow did we see! Finally Sibel who takes care of all reservations. Thank you Sibel - we did not say farewell to you, so hope this means we will see you again. ... and most of all to our friend Hasan, who we have not seen much of because he is away leading the Eastern Mediterranean Yacht Rally, but whose kindness and generosity is legendary amongst yachtsmen in the Mediterranean.

Alanya Marina is a short 1TKL (approx AUD1) bus ride from downtown Alanya, the ancient name for which was Coracesium in the 4th Century BC.

Alanya has a chequered history, being inhabited by pirates during the second century BC, 'cleaned out' by the Romans around 67BC. Famous landmarks include the Castle and ancient shipyard built by Sultan Alaeddin Keykubat and the 33m high Red Tower which overlooks the old harbour. Today endless resort hotels pack the coastline of golden sands from Antalya and Cleopatra Beach close to the marina is no exception.

Alanya Marina represents an opportunity for intrepid boating people to make the passage across the Gulf of Antalya off the beaten track, to arrive at a destination which can more than cater for their needs. In the final stages of construction, Alanya Marina is close to some of the most interesting ancient sites in Turkey, many of them untravelled and unspoilt. The sites of Perge, Side, Aspendos, Manavgat, Gazipasa (which has an airport), Anamur and Silifke are all well worth the visit, not to mention the opportunity to travel inland and further east to places such as Cappadocia, Sanliurfa (Abraham's birthplace) and the astonishing Mt Nemrut national park area. To be able to sail and travel from Alanya to these destinations has been a huge bonus to us.


Another Kiwi boat "SY Musketel" gets the lift out treatment

We wish Alanya Marina the best of luck in finishing the construction phase very speedily now. You are so close to being completely up and running. We will always have special memories of our time with you and know that anyone who comes your way will find a ready welcome in your Marina.

Aida at Aspendos from Alanya Marina

The set for Aida is staged in front of the stunning backdrop of the ancient and well preserved tall stage building behind it. Unfortunately this cannot be seen in the photograph.


Friday 12 June

The big day has arrived and tonight we are to travel by bus from Alanya Marina, to the ancient theatre of Aspendos, where we will see the Ankara Opera Company perform the opera Aida.

It is to start at 9.30 pm but we leave early from the marina - 6.00 pm - in order to get good seating on arrival. This strategy pays off as we are in the theatre early and settle down to enjoy our picnic dinner and glass of wine. The surroundings are magnificent, it is a very hot day, cooling down now and the light fades slowly to an Arabian Nights blue sky as the stars come out.

That is.... both the stars in the sky and also the full cast of the show to come who wander out on to the stage in casual dress and perform their warmup rituals.

We are entranced by the performance of the lead soprano who is world class, and the pure spectacle of this magnificent show. It does not finish until 1.30 am!!! The photos say it all... and Richard has his say as well: We loved Aida and the experience was magical, especially the venue of course and we went with a great crowd from the marina so it was a great night out. The lead tenor however was a great disappointment. He was very short, rotund to the n'th degreee, looked like a giant beer barrel with arms, all of which could have been overlooked if he had a good voice - which he didn't!! In contrast, the leading lady, Aida, was world class in all respects......, although there was nothing in the programme to tell us much about her. She was superb - tall, elegant, great actress and superb voice. The contrast especially during the love scenes (almost the whole of the third act) was not well received by the audience. At the final curtain the tenor was booed! However apart from that it was a great show and we felt well worth the effort and expense as we actually stayed over for an extra week in Alanya to see it.



Just a little more information on the Aspendos Theatre: Seating capacity 15,000, this theatre was built by the famous architect Zenon during the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius 2nd Century AD. It is considered to be one of the best preserved ancient theatres, due to the fact that it has remained constantly in use over the centuries and has been renovated and maintained well. It was even used for a time as a Caravanserai during Seljuk times.

Gazipasa

23 NM south east of Alanya Marina we sip on a refreshing cold beer and watch the sun go down.

We had planned to leave Alanya last Thursday 4 June, but changed our minds when we heard that the opera Aida was being performed at Aspendos on 12 June, and a group were organising a bus from the marina. We cannot not miss this, as it will be a once in a lifetime experience.

To fill in the time before then, rather than sitting in the marina, which is still in construction mode, we take a side tour along the south east coast.

On arrival in the undeveloped harbour of Gazipasa we watch the sun go down in very still conditions and much later, see a huge fishing boat come in and unload massive tuna fish the size of small whales into the back of a refrigerated truck bound for the markets.

This morning we take in the view of the high sea wall on the south western side of the harbour, the ruins of ancient Selinus on the hill-top towering over us from the south east, majestic mountains to north east and a row of brightly coloured fishing boats tied up to the sea wall on the northern side. We are anchored out in the middle of the harbour in turquoise water and alternate between cool swims off the stern, reading and eating. We can hear the sound of the surf on the beach outside the harbour entrance and of course, the wind, which has come up overnight and is sufficient that we will not leave the boat to explore ashore until conditions calm down a little.

We plan to return to Alanya Marina next Thursday and may explore a bit further south east along this coast if conditions are suitable.

The view from Ancient Selinus is well worth the climb... That is SY Matelot in the middle down there.




Tuesday 9 June…

Well here we are still in Gazipasa two mornings later. It is our third morning of waking up to still calm conditions and within one hour experiencing 20 knot south easterlies until early afternoon when it all dies down again.

Monday morning is particularly fierce and we have five huge fishing boats jostling for space in the harbour while it passes over, which is does around 2.00 pm. Several small maintenance jobs are attended to on board while we wait for the wind to ease, keeping a sharp eye out to ensure that we are not dragging our anchor.

Later we row ashore and go exploring, - a little further than the bar ashore which we located yesterday to sit and watch the sun go down over a cold beer! We head 1 km straight inland then take a right hand turn to cross over the river. It is another 1km approx back to the base of the hill where the track to ancient Selinus begins. We follow an overgrown (with wildflowers and weeds) ancient stairway right to the top. It is an aerobic walk, which we both welcome after our slothful non-activity of the past few days. We are the only ones on the site and have not seen anyone else up here since we arrived. Selinus was founded by Antiochus IV several centuries BC and occupied since then by Romans, so we are walking on the path travelled by very ancient feet before us. The view from the top is breathtaking in all directions – the Mediterranean stretching out to the south and west, the fertile valley and mountains behind us, the sea a long way below us!

On our return we once again stop for a refreshing cold drink in the bar which appears to be in the grounds of the local tourist hotel. Nevertheless it is a lovely (if a little rustic) spot to sit and watch the sun go down. We take a welcome swim on our return the boat, the heat and perspiration of the recent walk to Selinus still fresh on our bodies.

We are somewhat saddened by the amount of rubbish which floats around the harbour on a regular basis. We think it comes down the river then gets washed into the harbour. Plastic bags and bottles, newspapers, other packaging from all manner of items floats past us. We do a couple of rubbish sweeps in the dinghy, filling up huge black plastic rubbish bags, but it appears to be a futile exercise as it is all back the next day and the locals don’t appear to be very interested in cleaning it up.

The mystery of where the huge tuna are coming from is possibly solved on Wednesday when we take a short cruise 5 miles down the coast, to find a collection of what we later find out are called “fish ranches”. Apparently the tuna are caught alive and put into these pens where they are towed around and fed until they are fat and ready for the market. They have to be towed around as the tuna do not survive being penned up in still water. We discover later there are quite a few of these fish ranches in the Gulf of Antalya. We anchor off the lovely sandy beach, swim and relax and watch the huge fishing boats working them.

Soon it is time to return to Alanya Marina. The wonderful gracious staff at this marina welcome us ‘home’ again and we count down to our next experience… the Opera Aida at the ancient theatre of Aspendos

Cappadocia and Mt Nemrut

Tuesday 26 May 2009



Cappadocia is adorned with wildflowers of all descriptions...


We take a very inexpensive tour from Alanya (Bugra Tours) for Euro 55 per head, which includes all expenses (breakfast, dinner, travel, hotels, entrance fees) except lunches, for two nights and 3 days. After researching the idea of using public transport, we find that this is by far the best way to go. There are a lot of tour companies offering this deal from Alanya and Antalya and we discover later on that they are all sponsored by local businesses in Cappadocia so our tour will include visits to their premises.

This really turns out to be a win win situation as we visit the carpet factory and see the silk being spun from the cocoon, and the carpets being woven which we find fascinating. We visit the local pottery and leather production factories and have an opportunity to buy the high quality products afterwards.



Richard has a go at the pottery wheel in the pottery factory.




The stone factory is fascinating where we see high quality Meerschaum pipes being made. We learn that the Meerschaum absorbs 40-45% of the nicotine and is moulded and carved after being soaked in water when it goes soft – almost like cheese. Some of the items on display at these places are very tempting but we do not have the budget for buying and never feel under too much pressure to do so. There always seems to be someone buying from our group so we don’t feel too bad but do enjoy the experience immensely.

The other plus factor with our tour is that we are able to negotiate a break in the middle. We leave our Bugra tour after the second night and join another tour (Nese Tours) travelling from Cappadocia to Mt Nemrut, Sanli Urfa, and Harran, returning via the fascinating city of Gazi Antep (Pippy wants to go back there one day). We join up with the next tour group from Alanya on Sunday morning for our return trip home to our boat.

So, what are our impressions of visiting all of these amazing cities and travelling this far east into Turkey?

Tuesday 26 May

The early start (0500) is a bit of a shock as we stumble out of the marina entrance in the dark with our backpacks. We are the first on the bus so there is a bit of messing around while we meet up with the rest of the tour group – around 10 of us. We will be following the old Silk Road all the way to Cappadocia.

It is mid morning by the time we make our first stop at the Mevlana Museum in Konya, formerly the Rose Garden of the Seljuks Palace. Mevlana is revered as one of the world’s greatest mystic philosophers who died Jan 1231AD. His tomb (Green Tomb) and many other amazing relics (ancient Koran, rare calligraphies of amazing detail, sarcophagi to name a few) are housed in this museum, which also served time as a Dervish Lodge. We see the tiny cells which the Dervish trainees had to spend time in as part of their training, and the boards they practiced their whirling on. The quality and uniqueness of the items we see here leaves us in awe of the ability and spirituality of these ancient people.

We have wound our way over the mountains guarding the Antalya-Alanya coast where swathes of red poppies flourish amongst the pine trees and patches of high up snow. We are now on a vast fertile inland plain and the sameness soon lulls us off to sleep for what seems like a moment. We awake to find ourselves gazing at a vast field of shimmering green wheat bordered on the road-side by a wide mass of vivid blue and yellow wildflowers. Beyond and above this, the small puffy white clouds in the blue blue sky seem to say “look at me… look at me…!” It is all quite mesmerizing except that the colours of the flowers keep changing and it becomes a bit of a challenge to see how many different colours there are.

Our next stop is the Sultanhani – a Caravansarai on the Silk Road about 40 km out of the city of Aksaray. This is the largest Caravansarai on the Silk Road, built by the Seljuks in 1229 and fantastically restored. Our impression is of an incredibly civilised society. The buildings contain kitchens, Turkish baths (separate for men and women), accommodation for animals in the winter, sleeping rooms and living areas and finally a small mosque in the centre of the large inner courtyard.

In the shady courtyard



We learn that caravans were allowed to stay here for 3 days free of charge and that the local villagers were given tax breaks if the caravans were not robbed or raided while in their territory. The first recorded insurance agreements were made in these parts where it was possible to insure the camel or horse against failure during the journey. Caravanserais are located along the Silk Road approx 20-40 km apart and there is a lot of restoration work being carried out on these old sites today.

We walk in awe under the carved arched entrance past the mosque to the huge stables at the rear, which still seem to smell of the animals who have occupied this space over the centuries. Today it is just pigeons, eerie light and a cold stillness, which is somehow wrong. This space should be thronging with noise and activity and the ghosts have obviously not yet departed.


The stables are eerie and huge....

As if this is not enough for one day, we are almost at Cappadocia when we stop to visit the small underground city at Saratli. It is fascinating but quite enough for both of us to go just a small way underground and see how people lived at times when they had to hide themselves away from marauding invaders. The rolling stones, which covered passageways in time of need created the most interest and are reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie. Apparently some of these cities of which there are several in Cappadocia, are much bigger and go a long way underground.

The landscape has suddenly changed and we are now seeing small pinnacles of rock pointing upwards in the moving scene outside the bus. We stop and take in the view above the town of Goreme. Who could fail to be blown away by this region and group of small towns with their cave homes built into volcanic material deposited more than 8 million years ago?


These structures are truly amazing...and people actually live inside some of them! The small black square in the middle is a window.

Wednesday 27 May

It is a tummy tingling climb during the tour the next day to climb up ladders inside one of the thousands of conical structures where the Turkish cushions and rugs are just right for adding a cosy touch. We visit a cave home and an early Christian church now deserted due to the 1950s earthquake. The frescoes are still clearly discernable despite many obvious mindless attempts to destroy them. We are not allowed to take flash photos as it will destroy the frescoes. Thank goodness they are now respected and protected.

We walk through several valleys and the combination of a huge variety of wildflowers and the honey and red coloured cones and cliffs is a treat we are really happy to be enjoying. We are well rugged up as it is cold in Cappadocia and a bit cloudy today.

A visit to the Leather Showroom provides us with quite a bit of entertainment as our Polish friend Ania really wants a black leather jacket but the price is too high. The bargaining begins and we all take a keen interest, disappointed when Ania gives up and walks out with us towards our waiting bus. However the bargaining begins afresh on the front steps and our guide Mustafa coughs up some loan cash to finalise the deal. Ania has her jacket for an amazingly good price and Mustafa gets a cheer all round!

Thursday 28 May

Our wildflower trail along the Silk Road continues as we say goodbye to the people on our Bugra Tour and start our Nese Tour to Mt Nemrut. Our drive takes us along high flat terrain and the green wheat fields begin to turn golden as we go further west. It is a treat to see golden wheat fields with red poppies sprinkled in amongst the ripening wheat. Mt Erciyes soon raises its snow-covered peak ahead of us glittering against the clear blue skies. We are 8 on this tour, 2 Americans, 1 Canadian, 1 Hong Kong and 2 NZ (us) plus driver Nagir and guide Serkan.

It would be true to say that we pass by every imagineable gorgeous landscape on this section of the journey as we travel eastwards across the high plains and over mountain ranges of this magestic country. It is a long day with frequent stops for breaks, especially at Kahramanmaras which is the home of Mado Ice Cream made from goat’s milk – mmm Richard is in heaven. The texture of the ice cream makes it very sticky and long lasting in the heat, and particularly yummy as you don’t have to rush to eat it before it melts.

Eventually we arrive at the very forgettable hotel in Khata, enjoy a wonderful dinner of typical Turkish food, then pile into bed for the 2.00 am start the next morning. We are to climb to the Peak of Mt Nemrut and watch the sunrise. At least the bed is very comfortable and before we know it someone is banging on the door telling us to get up.

Friday 29 May

There is a bone chilling wind blowing this morning so we take a blanket from the hotel room and put on every layer of clothing we can manage for the 500m climb from the carpark to the tumulus (man made mountain top) concealing the tomb of Antiochos I dating back to the Commagene Kingdom between the 1st century BC and 1st Century AD. The tumulus is made of little sharp sided stones and is about 50m high. Antiochos I had the surrounding area decorated with statues of gods with heads 2m high. These still remain today although the heads have fallen off. This is what we have come to see.

We climb out of the bus in the darkness and the freezing wind whips at us as we climb so it is with a feeling of satisfaction that we reach the top and shelter behind a rock ledge awaiting the sunrise.




Early morning light reflects on the Euphrates River way below us...





Here comes the sun!









Today is to be a full on 20-hour day of touring as after Mt Nemrut, Serkan and Nagir take us on the most wonderful experience.

We go on to visit the site of the frieze of Apollo shaking hands with Antiochus I......






then the mountain top tumulus of Karakus which is the tomb of the princesses commanding a panoramic view of the Euphrates River shining with a turquoise light against the dry landscape the valleys and cliffs below, the ancient Roman Bridge on the Khata River then back to the hotel for breakfast. We visit the Ataturk Dam – 2 kilometres across the top and 800 metres high, harnessing the Euphrates and Tigress Rivers, this is the biggest dam in the Middle East and the 6th largest in the world.

Sanli Urfa near Abraham's Cave



We stop at Sanli Urfa to check into our hotel and for a traditional Turkish lunch of kebabs (also visiting Abraham’s Cave and the sacred pool not to mention the wonderful bazaar), then on to the town of Harran 18 km from the Syrian border and the beehive houses....The women of Harran dress in colourful ornate clothing even when dressing casually....





a nine thousand year old site dating back to Neolithic times (still being excavated), and the ruins of the first University of Islam. We learn that this is where Abraham spent the last years of his life.

We return to Sanli Urfa around 8.30 pm for a late dinner, all thoroughly exhausted, but not too tired to sing our way back in the bus led by Gerry the American who can sing like an angel. Not to be out done our guide Serkan sings us a Turkish folk song which is truly lovely. His accomplished tenor does real justice to the haunting melody of this song. We are happy troopers for sure.

Saturday 30 May

We are up and on the road again by 8.00am. We are travelling to Birecik this morning to see the colony of bald headed Ibis which are an endangered species. On from there to the very interesting city of Gazi Antep. We are lucky to get a tour into the centre of this city because Gerry, Arlene and Linda are leaving us here and Serkan and Nagir insist on dropping them at their hotel. It is a wonderful city of bazaars and interesting winding back streets. This city is also considered to make the best baklava in the whole of Turkey with pistachio nuts rather than walnuts. We have been driving past many plantations of pistachio trees to get here and figure this must also be the pistachio centre of the world!

We are treated to a special CD of music, which Gerry and Arlene are using for a show they have written which will open in Texas in October. The music is all written by a married couple – now passed away – and rights are owned by their two sons. It features a lot of hit songs sung by such artists as the Everley Brothers, and other names we have since mislaid in our boat brains. We spend most of the trip this morning singing along as the eastern Turkish landscape passes by outside. Our guide and driver are very amused… we hope that their smiles are not just out of politeness!

We wave goodbye to our new friends after swapping email addresses. This reduces us to 3 in the back of the bus and the drive back to Cappadocia is all a bit of a blur as we sleep on and off and stop every so often to freshen up.

All good things must come to an end some time... goodbye its been great to meet you!

We are booked in for one night at The Flinstone Cave Hotel at Goreme. We arrive around 6pm to check into our cave room. The weather has improved and it is a clear sunny day. We hastily dump our bags and with Karen from Hong Kong make our way up to the top of the surrounding cliffs to watch a true Cappadocia sunset.

Saturday 31 May

Our night in the cave is an experience we are glad to have done but will not repeat. Richard’s face is puffed up with hay fever and he is very groggy this morning. We meet up with our Bugra Tour Group this morning at Sayan Onyx Stone Factory in Avenos 7km away, only to discover that in the rush to get away Richard has left our precious camera in the hotel room back in Goreme. Pippy must have looked a bit upset because a lovely young man from the Stone Factory staff soon has us in his car racing back to Goreme to collect the camera. We are blown away by their kindness towards us especially when this same young man absolutely refuses to accept a large tip. What a relief to get the camera back. We will never forget you.

Once again the journey back to Alanya Marina is a vague memory of dozing, refreshment stops, reading and wishing we could “be there” already! We arrive back on Matelot around 7pm and open all the hatches. She is like an oven down below. It is suddenly very hot in Alanya.

This last 6 days has been a truly memorable experience.

We must now make our plans of what we will do next….