Of Turtles and Tortoises Tuesday, 8th July 2014 It just gets better. Marmaris was good - lively and much bigger than when we were last here. A useful stop, we renewed our Turkcell Sim, stocked up (missed the market though) and got some useful information from a nearby Swiss yacht. The Cunard liner Elizabeth deigned to come and join us for the day here, dwarfing even the Castle on the front.From there we went to Çiftlik Bay, on the Rafet Baba restaurant jetty. Th...

A woman's prerogative to change her mind. Turkish Fjords 1st July 2014 I am allowed to change my mind. From being a bit "iffy" and finding some things difficult, we have decided we like it here. There are two Turkeys and we have been on the beautiful side. We have gone up and down the Hisaronu and Yesilova Gulfs. They are deeply indented and covered in pine. Little boats wind their ways through, some selling fish, bread, honey or linens to those at anchor.Orhaniy...

From Worldly to Wild - Gӧgova Kӧrvezi to Datça Saturday 21st June 2014 The contrast has been amazing. From the tourist concrete jungle to sweet little Çӧkermle, and then into the wilderness. We travelled virtually the whole of the Gulf of Kӧrvezi, covering over 100nm and found the getting out to be more challenging than the getting in (wind and wave directions). We stopped in some great places, again with wonderful names: Castle Island and Snake Island (Seh...

Sunday, 15th June Bodrum & Big Boats, Çӧkermle & Gӧgova Kӧrvezi (Gulf)They even had the football on here in Çӧkermle, being 2 hours ahead of UK time, glad we did not bother to stay up and watch! We have now been in Turkey just over a week. We were a little concerned at first after leaving Kusadasi. Everywhere was built up - soulless tourist development without a break, with the attendant ghetto blasting musak. All the boats are huge - not just big y...

Ephesus Sunday 8th June 2014 We caught the bus (sort of a mini-bus called a dolmus) to Ephesus. Efes (as the Turks call it) is something else, comparable in impact (but different in styles) to Pompeii or Delphi. It is also vast - home to a third of a million people at its height. It used to be one of the key commercial ports in the region. Silting over the centuries caused it to eventually be abandoned and it is now miles inland.Originally a bronze age settlemen...