Home again.

Sun rise across the grain field in front of our home instead of across the water!!!

Home after a very interesting cruise in the Aegean and Mediterranean sea.
We were on the boat from  the beginning of May until the end of June.
From Didim Turkey in the Aegean we cruised south west to Antalya Turkey in the Mediterranean  and back to Didim.
Le rêve performed flawless over the 732 nm we cruised. Total run time of the main engine added up to 127 hours. Total fuel consumption 179.3 US gallons for an average of 1.411 gal/hour
Total cruising days 28 for an average run of just over 26 nm/day
Many memories and impressions gained.    
Thank you all for your comments and interest in the Le rêve Report.

"Pamukkale" our final destination

You can spot Pamukkale for miles because of the white, snow like covered mountain. Pamukkale in Turkish means "cotton fortress" and that is just what it looks like from a distance.

Thermal water, containing carbonate minerals, comes to the surface on top of the mountain. Cooling in the open air, the calcium precipitates from the water, adheres to the soil, and forms white calcium "cascades" frozen in stone called travertines.

 The first couple hundred feet is a gravel road. when you get to where the water is diverted you start your trek to the top walking on the calcium deposit left behind for over millenniums.  Here you have to remove your shoes and continue bare footed to the top.

                                           Half way up is the first of many travertine. 

The Romans built the spa city of Hierapolis so citizens could come and enjoy the health benefits of the hot mineral water. The beauty of the travertines was just a bonus.

 Here a look from the top overlooking the fertile valley of the "menderes" river with the town of Pamukkale. 

More on our "Pamukkale" trip

We mentioned before how many tomatoes were grown in green houses.
This trip we realized that in the Manderes valley field grown tomatoes were also plentyful.   And the tomato harvest was in full swing.

    

 Not only tomatoes are transported by tractor and wagon.

These pickers (all ladies) were transported to a field ready for harvest.
 

These "maidens" were between fields and waiting for the wagon ride.

We wondered how they could stand the 30 + degrees Celsius heat dressed as they were.
One thing for sure they did not need any sun block!!

Our trip to "Pammukale"

About 300 km inland is a sight that we kept hearing about. So we decided to go check it out.  On the way there we went through all the back roads and this is where you see the real Turkey.
the rout pretty much follows the "Menderes" river. The original name was "Maeander" meaning "winding" The English word "Meanders" is derived from this word. The river's origin lies approx. 600 km inland before it flows into the Mediterranean.  It flows through a wide fertile valley. and all kinds of fruit, vegetables, and other crops are grown here.
Because of the long periods without rain channels are dug and fed from this river.  Water is than pumped on the fields flooding the entire field from time to time to water the crops.

Priene an other ancient Hellenistic city was build on a mountain overlooking this valley.

The temple of Athena  (top picture) was located here. 

Several steps had to be ascended before reaching the top.


However the view was breath taking once one reached
 the site.

Because the silting in of the "manderes" caused the city to lose access to the sea and it began to decline in popularity.

    A view from the old city "priene" over the valley.
This site is close to the sea (approx.15 km) and the valley is very wide at this point.

Lavender is growing wild, tall, and abundant.

 We made a lunch stop in a city called "Dalama" and were called over by these people who were making doughnuts. They were giving them free and as many as you wanted to any one passing by. Obviously they were advertizing(promoting) something which we had no idea what, but the doughnuts tasted very good.

This youngster was very curious about these strangers from a different country and was pleased to be able to say a few words to us in English.

You know you are away from the touristic areas when you draw as much  attention  as we did here.  

The temple of Apollo

The remains of the temple of Apollo.
We just found out this week that this site is right in Didim our home base while in Turkey.

An other lesson in "backgammon"  This guy was really good...

I must not have payed real close attention as Joanne still beat me the last three games in a row!!!







And of course tea is being served while playing the game.

Real Turkish tea........

 

                                                                    

Back to Didim

 June 21 we cruised from Turgetreis to Didim.
A very easy run under normal circumstances but we were aware that later in June the "maltemi" would start.
 I think it has started.
The meltemi is a wind that blows from the NW to WNW.
We encountered much larger waves coming across the Atlantic however I would hate to encounter Atlantic size waves in the Mediterranean.
Reason being that the time between the waves in the med. is much shorter therefore creating steeper waves. 

Even though we had waves approaching 2 meters the water maintained it's in-describable beautiful, only in the med, color. 

It seemed to me that the local
 fishermen try to stay in the lee of any Island when the seas get rough.

Even though it is hard to capture on camera they were bobbing up and down like a cork and we wondered how the fisherman were able to keep from falling overboard.

Needles to say we spent a lot of time cleaning the boat as we picked up a lot of salt from the spray.
If we would have scrapped all the salt off the boat it would have gone a long way to filling our salt shaker.

 One of the chores once back in Didim ( Our home base for now)
was to finish installing the pasarella (I call it the "gang plank")

Carl asked me how we fitted it on
 Le reve and I will attempt to explain this here.

First yacht works made two fittings that were bolted on the swim platform. A raiser slides into it and the gangplank fits into a bushing in the center of this raiser. 

The above picture shows how the gang plank is suspended off the dock by means of two lines attached to the end of the plank and passing through two u bolts installed on the roof of the cockpit and from there fastened to a cleat installed on the post supporting the cockpit roof.  The lines are attached so that when the  plank is laying on the dock the lines are snug. Two bungee cords ( one on each line) are attached to the upright post and over the lines pulling them out so the plank is now suspended and not scraping on the dock when the boat moves slightly from side to side.  When stepping on the plank the bungee cords allow the plank to go down on the dock and getting on and off the boat is easy.  

I installed a bracket on the back of the transom that serves two purposes.

1/ it is a permanent place for the BBQ so it is out of the way at all times but easily accessed when cooking.

2/ The gang plank is set in a fitting just like the ones in the center of the swim platform and when folded up
(like almost all do) it rest up against this bracket and is held in place by two snap in place fittings thus securing the plank while on the way. 

Here is a better picture of how it is secured against the bracket.

Flour mill

 Ahmet  (the carpet man) on the right, toured us through this flour mill next to his shop.

They grind wheat into flour for human consumption.

Here is a local  farmer and his family who just had a couple of bags of wheat ground to flour.

 As we toured through the country we noticed these structures every so often.
When we came to this one there was a team of land surveyor's working on and around the structure so a good opportunity to ask what it was.
Turns out it is a well which collects and stores rainwater for the surrounding inhabitants.

This one, even though in poor exterior condition, was still being used.

the interior

 The last day of the Nelson's visit was spent touring the interior by car.
In Kariova we came across a carpet store. The owner (Ahmet Cetok) was a third generation descendent from Ataturk.

The Nelson's bought this rug.
On the wall behind them are five generations from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881 to 1938). He was the founder of present day Turkey. After he defeated the Ottoman Empire in the first world war he became leader of the Turkish national movement in the Turkish war of independent.  and became the first president of Turkey. He is credited with transforming Turkey into a modern, westernized nation.

What are the chances of running into a descendant of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk .!?!? 

Dalisa yasak saha

In this anchorage a herd of goats greeted us. They seemed to be wild and came to the waters edge to drink. What surprised us is that they were actually drinking salt water.

 The goats were not the only greeters.
Some anchorages we would be visited by locals wanting to sell their product which would be anything from food, table cloth's, pottery, and any other trinkets tourist would buy.

Upon taking the dingy down and we went exploring the hills and wondered where the goats went during the day.
I followed them through a valley but eventually they climbed up what seemed to be a 80 deg. rock face and that was a far as I could follow.   

  The goats were not the only one's ascending.
Mike found a different path and made it all the way to the top of this 1200 ft mountain. Coming back down was a different story that I won't go into other than to say it had us all shaking in our boots. 

However the pictures he came back with showed the anchorage with the beautiful Mediterranean water    from a birds eye view.

Backgammon.

Backgammon or "Kullanma Kilavuzu" as the Turk's call it is a popular game in Turkey.
This rug sales person was willing to play for a rug. Double the price or free if I won.
After buying some pillows he decided to play for fun.
Nothing like learning from the locals.

Contrast

This little fishing boat seemed to have it's own mooring in a very popular anchorage where they (husband and wife) returned to after an early morning fishing trip.
At night they pulled a cover over the boat and spent the night. We think this is their permanent tie up and dwelling. 

Earning his keep.

 Mike is earning his keep by polishing the stainless steel railings.......

 And swimming out to shore and tying a line to the rocks from the stern of the boat to keep us from swinging............

Mission completed...... now for a refreshing swim..........

Back in Fethiye

                                   We wanted to be back in Fethiye for their local market.

It has been a long day for these vendors and they are taken a little power nap.