Over the mountains and through the woods…to a dead end….

Sunday we went off for a day trip from Marmaris to Bozburun but didn’t quite make it to Bozburun as you can probably gather from the title. We had a lovely day getting ourselves lost between Turunc and Amos finally turning around when the road ran out in Camiyani. We had lunch in Osmaniye and got to watch the local pols hobnob* with the owner of the small restaurant. We passed them later having more tea at the small restaurant down the road.

Our route for the day was from Marmaris, past Icemeler, a tour around Turunc looking for the one petrol station we might see all day, past Kumlubuku, back and forth trying to find Amos, then off to the dead end of Camiyani; then back through the woods emerging on the “real road” to Osmaniye for lunch; through Bayir and a stop in Selimiye and then back to Marmaris. We left the boat about 10:15 am and returned by about 4:30ish. Other than our stop for lunch and a brief stop in Selimiye we sat on the motorbike the entire time. A bit too much sitting but we’re both getting used to it. At first I could only last about an hour without needing a break. Now I can sit almost 3!

The scenery was reminiscent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, but more dramatic and desolate.

Looking back on Icemeler and the far distance, Marmaris.

We’d already done some climbing to get to this point, but at this point we still knew where we were and where we were going. Our next stop was Turunc to find the only petrol station between Marmaris and Bozburun that we knew of. We had filled our tank in Marmaris but SINCE THIS WAS THE ONLY PLACE FOR GAS WE KNEW, I WANTED TO GET SOME. The small station was sort of hidden on a back road so we had to ride around town and ask directions a few times…but then found it. I went off to the WC and Randal filled the bike and also got some extra “to go” and off we went to Amos. The signs to Amos weren’t exact and neither is our map. We had to backtrack and then take a road that said Dionysos which looked more like a driveway up to a hotel which it was except that it kept going and so did we towards Camiyani. http://dionysoshotel.net/index.php# is the hotel’s website if you want to see where we won’t ever be staying.

A beautiful sunny day was great for traveling these roads.

So we went over mountains and along roads that seemed more for bicycles and walking than for cars. We finally got to Camiyani.

Camiyani

Camiyani seemed to consist of a mosque, some houses and farms but not much else. We were afraid to bike into the center because there seemed to be no road out the other way. Even as we passed the farm houses to where the road became dirt and then ended we saw no people, animals or anything moving. It was about half past noon so maybe they were all indoors eating lunch which was what we wanted to do.

We backtracked out of Camiyani. (In my head I was calling our friends Linda and Michael to ask them to send aid to repair a blown tire, worry wart that I am.) We rejoined the “real road” and stopped at the first café we found. Good choice!

Happy Randal!

A mosque and olive? trees across the road. Luckily the prayers were short because they were loud.

Salad, bread, beer and tea. That would have been enough but we’d also ordered a chicken dish each and some fries.

My chicken kabobs which were wonderful.

Randal had grilled chicken breast but we cut it up and added it to the sizzling kabob oil and spices. Yum!!

While we were eating the local Demokrat Party van pulled up.

About a dozen men, one woman, and a small boy came in for tea. The van played rousing Turkish “get out the vote” music.

Bir iki uc !  Smile!!!

That’s one two three in Turkish which took me a few tries and some help from the owner and his family.

Chopped up peanuts in honey garnished with pistachios, almonds and walnuts.

Our souvenir was a large jar of this for us and some small ones for our friends. www.ahugida.com/tr is their website. (the “Tinned Nuts” page is a bit x-rated.)

Selimiye

I think we rode over those mountains to get to Selimiye one of those lovely coves on the Turkish coast.

Pretty desolate and rugged.

Always colorful plants to contrast with and compliment the stone.

One last look at the map and back to Marmaris.

Actually we didn’t stop to look at the map, I wanted water and Randal wanted ice cream.

And so ends another adventure on our motorbike. Randal has rigged up some fittings to the motorbike so we can now use our bicycle panniers and have more room for an extra shirt or some souvenirs or maybe even a picnic lunch! Our next adventure is an overnight trip to Fethiye southeast of Marmaris on the coast. It is about 97 miles according to the website of a guy who bicycled that route. That should take us about 4 hours with stopping so we’ll leave early in the morning to allow us time to see Fethiye in the afternoon. We’re only planning for one night but preparing for two…just in case there is lots to do we can’t resist. We are thinking of going back with the boat on our way to Cyprus later this summer.

Ru

Doramac

*Origin:

Hobnob comes from an earlier phrase, to hob or nob, meaning "to drink together, taking turns toasting one another," probably from Middle English habbe "to have" and nabbe, a contraction of ne + habbe, "to have not," hence, "to have and have not, to give and take." http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2002/09/21.html