Travel – Page 3 – Sailing Azure Seas

Kalki, Karpathos and Sitia

We motor sailed south from Symi to Kalki. We pulled into the small but colorful harbour about lunch time, tying up to the ferry wharf. That gave us four hours to explore the village before the ferry docked and we retreated to anchor.

We went for a walk in the village, Kalki used to be a sponge diver’s island but then the sponges died out and many people from Kalki migrated away.
Tourism seems to be the new economy for Kalki. There are colorful B and B’s and apartments for rent. Tavernas line the harbour shore. It is quiet and lovely with sandy beaches.

The next morning we were met by dolphins, they were so petite and friendly. We were on our way to Karpathos, then Kasos in an area Heikell calls sea-swept. They are the two most southerly islands of the Dodocanese, in a very angry sea. Heikell certainly called it right, confused seas were the order of the day. Predicted wind was 15 knots but we had almost 20 knots as we got close to Karpathos. We went into a narrow opening between high hills of rocks, to the abandoned village of Tristoma. The wind howled all night and my active imagination thought of what would happen if a rock tumbled in behind us and we were captured in the inlet. There was no phone service, not even an SOS service.

We left at first light the next day, with the wind on our nose on the course for Kasos. A decision was made, it was a longer trip but a tight reach to go straight to Sitia, Crete. By this time, we weren’t surprised with our 25 knot breeze and waves slapping Mercier from every angle. Things were a bit wet in the cockpit, even wet down below. We were thrilled being greeted by dolphins on our way into Sitia Harbour, a day early but safe and sound. James’ sister, Barbara, flew in almost simultaneously.

Sitia is a quiet town and we ambled up to the Venetian Castle, had baklava for afternoon tea, a reward for doing the laundry by hand. The three of us wandered around people watching at the tavernas. Backgammon and cards were being played at many tables. We enjoyed the respite from the drenching waves and prepared for our next adventure.

Farewell Turkey, hello Greece

Richard Niebuhr said “Pilgrims are poets who create by taking journeys.” James and I discuss what it means to leave Turkey, which we are very fond of, which we enjoy and its history we are amazed by. But the farewell is tinged with only a small feeling of sadness, because we hope to come back again. When sailing, we are almost by definition looking forward.
The planning, down to hours and days that one requires to sail, adds to the feelings one experiences in the new port. We pray for good weather and we wait for it. Wednesday”s five hours of sailing with fluky winds, is like a penance we do to get to a prize.

Thank you, Turkey. We have had a great time

Wednesday’s prize is Symi. Here is an island of Neoclassical houses, stacked up the hills surrounding the bays of the islands. It is an island where oregano runs wild by the road. Churches have pride of place and wonderful views. Another penance is walking up hills to get to the views and Symi affords plenty of hills. Symi is a jewel, with wonderful tavernas, shops and cafes and beautiful churches.

Symi - a beautiful town — Symi – a beautiful Neoclassical town

We hike up to the Chora and stop for a coffee at the Olive Tree, while waiting for our coffee, a pack train of horses bring building materials up the hill.

After our quiet respite in the Marmaris Yacht marina, we were back on a town quay in Symi. We had forgotten about the duf duf music and parties on nearby yachts. There would have been 20 people on the 70 foot yacht next to us, singing, dancing and partying until 5:00am. No amount of earplugs blocked their good-humored noise. Ah yes, now we remember. Amazingly, they left before the rosy fingers of dawn on to their next destination. Thursday’s excitement was watching new arrivals collecting other yachts anchors. This is a game where the goal is for a boat to manage to keep its anchor ensconced in the mud, while other boats see their anchors come unstuck. Our new arrivals brought our neighbour’s anchor up to the surface interlocked with their own. Excitement.

Symi, looking from the top of the island

This morning we are on our way to Kalki, heading southwest and saying Hello Greece.

The journey so far:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zkkfRzDGj2mE.kO4m-3hTL-cs

Marmaris Yacht Marina

“Where are you? Where is the blog?” The truth is this part of the proceedings isn’t what we would consider the glamorous portion of the trip. You’ll notice that even our dearest friends don’t sign up for the very beginning of our trips.

The teak is being refitted in places, the head has been reseated and cracks in the gel coat are being repaired and the swimming platform has been reinforced. Our Dock n Go had a visit from Nicolas, who has carefully adjusted the new “brain”. The ZF Dock n Go system over promises in our humble opinion, but Beneteau has decided to create Beneteau Dock n Go specialists (the manifique duo: Jean and Nicolas), which has been a wonderful boon to restoring the confidence of Mercier’s Crew. Fingers are crossed.

We spend our days moving between Yacht Marine and the town of Marmaris. James is so lucky that Marmaris is not an exciting shopping centre like Kas, Istanbul or Kalkan, so that shopping doesn’t keep me from polishing the stainless. Marmaris is however, ship chandler heaven, everything for boats in several different chandlers in town.

Dream - seems a great name for a boat. — Dream – seems a great name for a boat.

We have met several lovely people here at Yacht Marine. There is a pool, a lovely restaurant, a ship chandlers, The Library, a reading room which has free wifi. The ladies in the office are very helpful and friendly; they also have wifi, so see us regularly.

In Turkey, they have a law about sim cards, which no one has clearly explained to us. If you are going to be in Turkey over two months, then do not buy a sim for your own phone. If you do buy a sim for your own phone after two months, it will be disconnected until you pay a substantial tax. No one mentions this at any of the Telco offices. Instead buy an inexpensive phone in Turkey and use that phone. There might be other strategies, but we are just going to those places with free wifi.

There is a large live aboard contingent at the Marmaris Yacht club and they have a very interesting social club which includes tours around Turkey.

Boat watching is the activity du jour each and every day here. Beautiful gulets, extraordinarily large motor yachts and catamaran, small yachts and it is like a ballet watching the travelers take large and small yachts in and out of the water. But like every big town, there is always one neighbour that likes to “collect” and Yacht Marina is no exception. We hope to be ready to sail very soon, wish us luck.

Cappadocia Beginnings

During last year’s travel through Turkey, we were amazed at the history. We were fascinated by the various peoples who lived here over the millennia and fascinated by the Hittites, Lycians and Carians. This year, we decided to start our season in the geologically rich area of Cappadocia.

To say it was otherworldly, magical and surreal seems almost like an understatement. There were three volcanoes that threw tufa – a pumice-like stone, over the area of 160 square miles and later lava covered the tufa. Over the course of thousands of years the soft tufa eroded and left fairy chimneys, which were later transformed into rock hewn cave houses.

We had flown from a storm tossed Sydney to Cappadocia, with its cool April weather and blue skies. We stayed at Koza Cave Hotel in Goreme, on a hill overlooking Pigeon Valley. Our cave hotel was reminiscent of the dreamy movie, Winters Sleep. It was like walking onto a movie set: Turkish carpets on limestone floors and carved lintels and rustic artifacts. Koza Cave is family run hotel with personal attention to guests, recommendations and help with bookings. It was a lovely place to base ourselves, with views of Pigeon Valley from our room.

Between the 10^th and 12^th Centuries, monasteries and churches were carved into the tufa and a great example is at the Zelve Open Air Museum at Goreme. We viewed frescoes that have been partially restored and also saw the skeletons in their opened graves in the church floor. As busy as the Open Air Museum is, you feel it is sacred ground.Our tip would be to plan to be at the Open Air Museum at Noon, because the tour buses take their groups off for lunch and it is quickly quiet.

We ran into Mustafa*, a taxi driver, with great local knowledge. For a reasonable price, he took us to view Love Valley, Pag Basa and an old church on the Goreme-Avanus Road, which has not been restored. Mustafa was able to drive us to these sights, so that the sun was always behind us for photos and he was able to tell us about the different sights we were seeing.

There was one downside with our stay in Cappadocia. We were signed up for a balloon trip and at 5:00am found ourselves waiting to be ferried out to the balloon field, but the wind came up strongly and Butterfly Balloons weren’t able to take us up. This means that Cappadocia has to go back onto the bucket list. Now we are off to Marmaris.

*Mustafa C works for Goreme Muze Taxi.

Ten Things we did in Istanbul

We have more Istanbul fun to share, so we are going with fewer words more photos.

1) We tried new food and drinks. Here we are lining up to try pomegranate juice. We were walking back to Sultanahmet, after we had been to the Grand Bazaar. The pomegranates were picture perfect.

Drinking Fresh Squeezed Pomegranate Juice

2) We visited a Harem.

Visiting the Harem at the Topaki Palace — Visiting the Harem at the Topkapi Palace

The Harem conjures up erotic images, but most of what we have seen are the beautiful Iznik tiles. You do begin at the hall of the Eunuchs before wandering through the chambers of the Sultan and the concubines. It is clear that it was the Sultan’s Mother who was the ruler of the Harem. There is a sense of enclosure and mystery behind these colourful tiles.

3) We visited the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar, to see shops full of fruit & nuts to gold.

4) We missed the demonstration at Taksim Square, but this small boy hanging on to the trolley gave me palpitations.

5) There are so many churches in Europe. In Istanbul, we visited mosques and listened to the call to prayer. You feel transported to a more exotic location just by hearing it. In Istanbul we saw young women in scarves together or with friends in completely secular, modern clothing. There were a few burqas but I had the feeling they were sightseers like me from other countries.

6) We met the nicest Turkish people. They are friendly and proud of Turkey. Here we met lovely work colleagues who insisted we share Pandeli’s famous walnut cookies to have with our coffee. We had a great conversation and we were warmed by Turkish hospitality in Istanbul and all through Turkey.

Friendly engaging Turkish people — Friendly, lovely, engaging Istanbulites

7) Bosporus Ferries & Castles

8) Street Food

Not really street food because they cook it straight from the boat, ‘Balik ekmik’ – Fish in bread, with a big serve of onions. For over a hundred years, the fisherman had been bringing their catch here from the sea of Marmara and the Bosporus Strait. At some stage they decided to value add and serve the fish cooked. This is right at the Galata Bridge underneath the gaze of the New Mosque.

Mackerel Sandwiches at the Galata Bridge

These fishermens' kitchens are very ornate and the sandwiches fly out. — The fishermen’s kitchens are very ornate and the sandwiches fly out.

Meat is also an option — Mussels or Meat are also possibilities

9) Visited Galata Tower in Karakoy. This medieval stone tower was built as Christea Turris by crusaders from Genoa in 1348. The nine story tower is a quick tram stop over the Galata Bridge from Sultanahmet. You have a 360 degree views of Istanbul and the Bosporus Strait. The coffee shop on the square at the bottom of the Tower was the best coffee we had in Turkey.

Visited Galata Tower - the medieval Genoese stone tower. — Visited Galata Tower – the medieval Genoese stone tower.

10) We didn’t queue.

The interior of the Blue Mosque is still a mystery to us, because we couldn’t make ourselves wait for the two-hour queue, even at 8:00 am. We saw it from so many other angles, but not the interior. Suggestions on beating the queue will be happily received.

That is probably it for Istanbul and Turkey until next April, but thank you for joining us.

The next post is all Sydney. Hooroo til then!

Carpet Museum at Haghia Sophia, Istanbul

We had a few more things to talk about in Istanbul. Now that we are back at home and respectably moved in, I thought I would share a few more photos. While I am sure I should blog in order, I enjoyed this museum so much we will start here.

One of the first things you should do in Istanbul is buy a 3 Day museum pass and you can have entry without queuing for tickets at each site. Having said that the museum pass doesn’t include the carpet museum. The carpet museum at Haghia Sophia is absolutely worth a visit and if you go early, as we did you will have the museum to yourself with the guard’s full attention, which was wonderful because he shared his knowledge of the rugs and carpets with us.

Restored carpet on display at the Haghia Sophia's Carpet Museum — Restored carpet on display at the Haghia Sophia’s Carpet Museum

Louise and Frosty were scouting out Istanbul and sending us wonderful tips, including visiting the Carpet museum. Their photos convinced us it was worth a visit.

The Carpet Museum is now housed in the circa 1742 Imaret attached to the rear of Haghia Sophia, immediately adjoining the Sultanahmet entrance to the Topkapi Palace and the Ahmet lll fountain. The Imaret was used as a soup kitchen for the poor with sinks, ovens and stoves to prepare food for the poor.

Rare and beuatiful piece from Carpet Museum

The Hurriyet Daily News describes the three different chambers lining the courtyard and their carpet: The first gallery displays carpets from the Anatolia Seljuk, the second gallery displays Central and East Anatolian carpets from the Ottoman era, while the third gallery contains carpets from Usak,along with the ovens.

The Ovens at the carpet museum. Feeding the poor in its earliest form. — The Ovens at the carpet museum. Feeding the poor in its earliest incarnation.

If you have children or you are still a kid at heart, you will enjoy the interactive carpet on the floor in front of the oven. As you walk over this space the tiles illuminate a carpet under your feet. Our wonderful guide showed James how to spread his arms to attain the full effect. There was a bit of laughter as these two men tried to assist me in getting the perfect photo.

There are plenty of English displays, so you learn about the different carpets with the aid of our very able guide. We enjoyed this museum and we loved the fact that we were able to learn more about the carpets, musing about how long they have survived.

Our favorite Istanbul guide in front of beautiful prayer rugs, each square for a person

Istanbul, Not Constantinople – a song

We arrived late, checked into the hotel in Sultanahmet on Wednesday night. We were determined to get up to make the most of our few days in Istanbul. We are at the bottom of the hill but it isn’t long before we see evidence of the Blue Mosque, minarets shining brightly in the sun. In fact, in this historic centre of Istanbul, many famous sights are within easy walking distance.

We follow our gaze at the beautiful Blue Mosque and end up at the Greco-Roman Hippodrome, a race course for horses or chariots, but now is a park with several ancient structures including the Obelisk of emperor Theodosius, who in 390 brought one third of the obelisk from the temple of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt. Looting and re-purposing has been going on for a thousand years.

The Blue Mosque or Sultanahmet Mosque stands in quiet beauty facing the equally beautiful Hagia Sophia, once an Orthodox Cathedral from 537 to 1453, then an imperial mosque until 1931, when Ataturk converted it into a beautiful museum.

We took the tram over the Galata Bridge to the Galata Tower, visited Taksim Square and had coffee at the Dolmabace Palace. Galata Tower is a Genoese medieval stone tower standing over the Golden Horn’s junction with the Bosphorus.

What the tower gave us were 360 degree views of Istanbul. We finished our day shopping in Arasta Square and there is always the Grand Bazaar tomorrow. Try YouTube for the song, it’s very catchy and you too can have an earworm.

We find ourselves in Marmaris

One of the immutable facts of sailing is that first the weather, then the boat has control over where you are going. Louise, Frosty and James and I were all set for a lovely night at My Marina in Ekincik but the boat decided to spit the dummy. It resolved itself, but since we had left so early, we decided the wiser course of action would be to go straight to Marmaris.

Marmaris is a beautiful harbour with mountains coming down to meet the sea in almost circular fashion. Marmaris is famous for its barbers and fire shaves, many restaurants and beautiful harbour, with four marinas in the vicinity. Mercier will winter here on the hard stand in the marina.

We woke up to a perfect sunny day on Netsel Marina and with great efforts from Frosty and Louise, James managed to wash the sails and get them dried and folded ready to be stored for the winter. Swanno will be happy to know that Louise gave the stainless another polish and James is having a cover made to keep the cock pit under cover.

In the evening, we wandered round Marmaris enjoying sculptures and fountains that dot the large Town Quay. The fountains are quite a vibrant area full of fisherman and children, who come in the cool of the evening to watch the spectacle.

Fish spouting water on the walk to Youth Square

The Octopus is on the Town Quay and at night looks quite mysterious, with it’s iconic eyes looking for prey.

Our favorite sculpture is Octopus, with the head of an alien

We wandered about town finding a rooftop terrace, whiling away the time watching boats moving about the harbour, docking and people enjoying posing for photos on the town quay.

Frosty and Louise have left for Istanbul this morning. They are headed for the glamourous port of Istanbul. We wish them a safe flight home and hope they take good notes in Istanbul for us. We managed to have some fun last night with the local ice cream man. In Turkey, even selling ice cream is a chance to be a “showman”.

The Showman of Ice cream sellers in Marmaris. More. Weezy?

This will be the last blog until we are in Istanbul. It isn’t exciting to hear about cleaning and packing, but hopefully we will have things to report from Istanbul.

A photo gallery of the Turkish Turquoise Coast

M is a very unusual Super Yacht. It has an inverted bow, which makes it look like one half of a large catamaran. Google it to see the bow, what would an inverted bow add to performance?

"M" with inverted Bow — “M” with inverted Bow

Early this morning in Fethiye, James and I are saying, ” Is that Frosty snoring?” No, Frosty doesn’t snore. It was a man sleeping in the cockpit on the boat next door and here are where his fellow crew members were forced to sleep: on the bow, where the noise of the traffic might drown out the constant but sonorous snoring from their friend.

I said I understood their reasoning for sleeping on the bow and they burst out laughing, These lovely Russian ladies are part of a flotilla of five and usually sail on dinghies at home. They said Mr Snorer was a lovely guy.

Now that I have shown two boat photos, I am allowed one kitten shot. This gorgeous little fellow had found a perfect spot and the shop owner was happy because everyone stopped to look at her lovely wares. Kalkan.

James, Louise and the adorable Frosty at Hotel Unique

The four of us were admiring this very well pruned olive grove, saying someone takes great pride in the pruning. Later in the morning, we saw a large herd of goats come down and they all stood on their hind legs to get their breakfast. Goats can stand on two legs for quite a while.

Having fun here, off to an anchorage tonight.

Kalkan, Cold Water Bay and Wall Bay Restaurant

We had a lovely afternoon and evening in Kalkan, we swam, saw a turtle, shopped and enjoyed some wonderful Moet left by Rene and Richard. Very appropriate as we had a slightly late birthday celebration for Louise. Thank you Commodore and Mrs Chapman. We then had a great dinner of Turkish mezes and desserts at the Olive Garden.

On the way back to Mercier, we spied Aladdin’s lamp and Frosty was busily making wishes.

The long sail from Kalkan to Butterfly Valley, was punctuated by rock formations and fault lines, but once you get to Butterfly Valley and Olu Deniz, para-gliders are numerous. Colourful and almost dangerous, the para-gliders sail close to the shrouds and close to the mountain. They seem to land so close to sunbathers on the beach, a worry if you are on the shore.

We spent more time at Gemiler Island and swam at Cold Water Bay, where two men from a gulet climbed the cliff and jumped off to Cold Play and the roar of the crowd. Once back on board the gulet, they marched around with a giant Turkish flag to a Turkish marching band. We decided to return to rustic Wall Bay Restaurant. Here we were immediately surrounded by Russians. Five boats sailed in one after another, each with two men and six women. The Russians were female, beautiful, about 22 years old and in very brief bikinis. Men on Mercier, and the boats around us, on the dock and boats across the way turned as one and focused laser like stares onto the Russian derrieres as they tied the boats onto the pontoon.

We had wonderful calamari, meze and sea bass sis kebab for dinner. The food at this remote but charming Turkish restaurant is authentic and so is the raki and the entertainment.

Raki with turkish coffee at 10 PM, Louise was ready to dance.

We had seen this gentleman perform earlier in the evening with an Anatolian flute. For the Mercier crew, he sang a song about raki, while playing on a baglama, which is a similar to a mandolin. We came back to the boat and listened to music, sang and danced to Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin and Leonard Cohen.

In the morning, we headed over to Deep Bay for a swim and passing Sarsila Bay, we spied a flotilla with a gulet and Mariner Boating flags, we motored over to have coffee with Trevor and Maggie.

Maggie and Trevor - Mariner Boating Flotilla — Maggie and Trevor – Mariner Boating Flotilla

We had coffee and a tour of their gulet, seeing over the entire boat. It was great to catch up in Turkey and we may be joining them for a gulet trip in a few years. It would be fun to have someone else do the cooking. Just ask Maggie.

Happy Belated Birthday Suse, hope you saw our Facebook message

Category: Travel