“An extraordinary place in deep, wild forest, far removed from all jarring traces of modern Turkish development. There is a deep and deserted bay within walking distance, with spectacularly clear water and a small private beach where you are unlikely to see more than a dozen bathers at any time. There is a quiet stream and miles of lush wilderness in the background. There are no alligators, though you’d almost expect to see them here.

   The founder and ruler of Camp Amazon is Mr Güneş Tecelli, a retired journalist of legendary fame. His wit and sense of humour are evident in many small details around the camp. In addition to plenty of space to set up your tent, the grounds offer a nice swimming pool and a restaurant of considerable local fame. There are a number of extremely basic, if functional, bungalows for the tentless guests.

   There is a semi-paved road to the camp from Değirmenyanı, 14 km West of Marmaris, as well as a more scenic gravel road that branches off from the narrowest point of the Datça Peninsula and skirts close to the sea.”  http://www.kucukvebutikoteller.com/eng/amazon-club

Marmaris wasn’t far down the highway, but the dirt road from the highway was windy and curvy and we were all a bit greenish when we arrived.  Golden Kew is a resort island which is closed this time of year so we had the trail entirely to ourselves.

Starting out was flat by a lovely farm area on one side and scrub covered hills on the other.

John, our hike leader, pointed out the floating pieces of wood in the trough.  The wood is for bees to rest on while they get a drink and not drown in the process.  Also, indentions in the wood hold water also for them to drink.  Who knew?    Below is a suggestion for a bee waterer. 

“set up a water feeder by filling a pie pan with marbles and then water.  The marbles give the bees a spot to land so that they don’t drown when they come to drink”  http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Building_a_bee_waterer/

We drove up and down to get to the hike’s start and then we walked along the coast and then climbed up and over and then down to where we’d started.  My lungs aren’t quite used  to “up” as all of our walking is flat along the coast most of the time.

Very desolate and lovely but I think part of the protected Turkish National Forest.

Not me.

This is Gamze who also has wild dark hair taking a photo of her husband Kaan walking ahead down the mountain.

Quinn and his dad Gary having a great father-son moment.

Dale and Jane up on the ridge.

This is a great image to use for learning to add people in the landscape of watercolor painting.  Just silhouettes.

A final photo op; Dale with Quinn and Gary off to the side.

A small village or homestead (not sure)  just at the beginning/end of our walk. 

A sweater or scarf from her shaggy coat would be lovely.  Or yogurt or cheese.

Lots of bee keeping in this area.

Wouldn’t you love to hear her stories! 

I think the walk we did was part of the Carian Trail which does have a section by Bördübet.

“The Carian Trail – named after the ancient region of Caria in south-west Asia Minor – recently opened to the public. It stretches from Bodrum and Karpuzlu, by the Aegean Sea in the west, around the Gulf of Gokova, to Icmeler, by the Mediterranean in the south-east. The new trail is already hot on the heels of the Lycian Way, Turkey’s most popular long-distance walk. But it is more than just a footpath. It links ancient roads and forgotten shepherd ways with historical sites and rarely visited villages, and forms a gateway to an authentic side of Turkey that’s rarely seen. “

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/the-carian-trail-turkey-on-two-feet-9698085.html

http://cariantrail.com/

http://nationalparksofturkey.com/marmaris-national-park/

A Randal special at ‘Brothers.’

A Randal special which is a little bit of everything.  It became a Wyn favorite too, especially the eggplant.  I stuck to the wraps as mid-day my stomach can’t always handle all this variety.

The “head” brother. 

He remembered us and that Randal liked the variety plate.  The woman in the plaid shirt is his sister who has just joined them in their larger busier restaurant.  So maybe they should change the name.  We went three days in a row and sat at the same table which was the only one available; all the others were full! Our total bill for the 3 of us ranged from 18 to 21 Turkish Lira.  Divided that by $2.33 = $8.15 divided by 3 meals = $2.70.  Really good food at what seems a very low price.  No wonder they are always busy.  And the menu changes a bit each day making it interesting.

After lunch Wyn and I took a very brisk walk to Iҫmeler, about 5 miles down the coast.  We stopped for a drink and the WC before taking the dolmuṣ back to Marmaris.

Wyn drank a beer surfed the web while I had Turkish tea and made friends with a lovely cat. 

Looking towards the far end of Iҫmeler

Back in Marmaris this roasting machine caught Wyn’s eye so we went to have a look.  We left with two bags of freshly roasted nuts; some covered in coarse salt and some covered with sweetened sesame seeds. 

  Denizli Dried Fruit and Nuts Shop  Denizli is a town in Turkey so maybe they have a certain flavor to their nut processing.

Another shop also caught Wyn’s eye.  Yufka is translated as ‘thin layer of dough.”  They are used for various Turkish dishes including bὄrek,  “ a family of baked filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough known as phyllo, found in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire.” Wikipedia

The baker was happy to show Wyn around and pose for some photos

Bread in various sizes, shapes, textures and tastes is available.  My favorite is still the simit!

Our waterfront dinner at Felini’s

We were early so Wyn and I could make the 7 pm movie at Sailor’s Point.  Winter time sees most restaurants pretty empty during the week.  It drizzled on and off while we ate, but was warm enough for us to sit outside.

Fresh grilled sea bream that attracted the cats in the vicinity.  I gave them a bit but then our waiter sent someone with “cat food” to lure them away.  Maybe he thought they were bothering me though I tried to say I didn’t mind them at all.  Maybe they get all of the leftover head, tail and bones.

These men were having a game of backgammon.

Wyn leaving DoraMac for his return to Wales.

Much was shrouded in the smoke from spectators’ cooking fires.

    “They are very proud of their camels and eagerly beg you to take a picture of them standing together. Don’t believe any camel owner that tells you to rub camel spit all over your face because it is good for your complexion. Instead tell him that you will only do it,  if he does it first and then get the camera ready for the classic photo opportunity of when a joke backfires.”

http://turkishtravelblog.com/camel-wrestling-turkey/

Connie told me that it was mostly a male spectator sport, but here’s a few women enjoying it also.

Our friend Doug in the red jacket maybe warming himself by their fire. 

Time for a new hat

Irene looks on as Doug models his new ‘Turkish’ hat

Notice the orange scarves…

I have mine draped around my shoulders as I type. 

And ancient tradition updated with cell phones

Connie and Jane looking at the orange scarves

He convinced her; Connie bought some too.

Connie preparing for her special photo..

Possibly even more of a PATS fan than you Bruce…. Possibly!?

Traditional music and dried beef sausage hanging  in the background.  Or maybe it’s camel? 

Turkish tailgating!  

Connie told me, “Know what it’s like?  Our tailgaiting!” Lots of food to go with the festivities which made lots of smoke from the barbecues .   (For those who don’t know, people in the US bring food and drinks and barbeque grills to sporting events.  They set up everything out in the parking lot by their cars and have a party before the game begins.)

Waiting in the wings….

The camel on the right has been lifted from his front feet.

“A camel can win a wrestling match in three ways: By making the other camel retreat, scream, or fall. The owner of a camel may also throw a rope into the field to declare a forfeit if he is concerned for the safety of his animal.

Camels wrestle with others in their same weight class. Camels have different tricks, and contest organizers match camels with different skills. Some camels wrestle from the right and some from the left; some trip the other with foot tricks (“çengelci”), and some trap their opponent’s head under their chest and then try to sit (“bağcı”); some push their rivals to make them retreat (“tekçi”).

A camel wrestling event involves considerable pomp and ceremony. The camels are decorated, and participate in a march through town followed by musicians on the day before the event. The actual wrestling can be somewhat underwhelming to someone not familiar with the intricacies, although onlookers must often flee from an oncoming camel that is retreating in defeat from his opponent.

In the heat of the tournament, camels spew foamy saliva in their excitement. Additionally, camels are retromingent animals, and so spectators would be advised to beware not only of flying saliva but of flying urine as well.”

http://www.selcukephesus.com/what-to-do/camel-wrestling.html   has a video link as well.

Camels were obviously for wrestling and not for transport.

http://www.today.com/video/today/40840381#40840381  video from the Today show

Jill had made up some of the ‘paste paint.’  You mix paste and color.

Green paper was thoroughly wet down to pre-shrink the paper.

While still wet, paste paint was applied; a design squeegeed,  and then allowed to dry

The paper was re-wet and then a second color was applied : This was Jill’s work  You can keep adding layers as long as the paste paint doesn’t dry out in the container. 

You can see why this process was used to make the decorative end pages in books

My first attempt where the hand is quicker than the eye of the camera.

I chose a blue paste paint

I wanted to avoid straight lines for some reason so did ‘finger painting.’  Actually you remove some of the paint to make the design.

Definitely no straight lines….  Sort of Kokopelli-ish

This one is Hannah’s I believe

Jill had cut the design into the squeegee to make the lines in the paste paint

Also Hannah’s

Hannah and Jill laying them out to dry. 

Jill working

I made a second one, guess which one it is. 

Wednesday,  while we were ‘sea trialing’ DoraMac,  was the first paste paper session.  Thursday was a short follow-up which I went to though had to race away as our friend Wyn Jones was arriving and I’d promised to be back to the boat for his arrival.  I’ll have to collect the dry pieces another time.  Jill heroically got everything ready and organized the cleaning up too.  So fun to have an art teacher among us!

Walking back to B-Dock on Thursday after the paste paper class.

We have had the ‘winter rains’ here for several days but Thursday night’s sunset was beautiful!

Women have much in common no matter where they’re from or the lives they lead.  I really enjoyed my time speaking with Bertha and wish we’d had more time.

We took Bertha and Claes and Folke to Aciktim our favorite lunch place.

Folke took photos of everything  inside and out! 

We stopped at the new center where traditional arts are taught.

Thankfully the weather cleared for several hours Wednesday morning so out we went for a very short cruise.

Leaving the marina for the ‘test drive.”

Claes and Bertha at the flybridge helm.

A frosted window and pink sky morning.  A cold 50 degrees inside our pilot house as well as our sleeping cabin.  First one up turns on the electric heat in the salon and then Randal lights the diesel stove and the boat warms up quite fast, especially on sunny mornings.

View across the way; I love the light on the white buildings.

The Art and Culture Center had a new exhibit so I decided to walk over and see.  I was intrigued by the title “Mozaikler” which I knew meant mosaics. It was doubly good for me to go as I got some of my walking exercise too. 

It was a chilly morning!

Reflections on a Frozen Fountain     # 1  and  # 2

Actually the fountain had been turned off so with nothing to stir the water, it froze.  Too early for freezing anything in Marmaris according to the locals.  But then we seem to be there for the “coldest, wettest, hottest, driest…” so I’m not surprised.  If it wasn’t warmer last January in London, it at least wasn’t colder!     Of course, compared to the weather our friends in New England are having, Marmaris is downright balmy!                                                

The waterfront has an   m now along with the Subway that we saw last time we were here. Subway is open though never busy, but McDonalds appears to be closed for the winter.  

Most of waterfront still looks the same as when we were here in 2013;  empty during the winter except for the weekends.  Many of the shops in the bazaar are closed and the rest seem to open later than in the summer months. 

It’s about a 12 minute walk to the art center at my new rapid pace that I developed while we were in London and I walked everywhere. 

Yüksel Dıyaroğlu 

Solo exhibition : Mosaics

Yὒksel Dıyaroğlu  on the far left  (rom the artist’s facebook page, photo by Dursan Kaplan)

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=868358966560650&set=vb.100001596649537&type=2&theater

My photo.

Randal’s love of Roman mosaics made me curious about this exhibit.  I found that they weren’t mosaics per se , but rather painted to look as if they are. 

This particular painting stopped me when I realized the sculpture of the man holding the bouquet of flowers is the one on the newish pedestrian mall.  Funny enough, I actually think I saw the artist today.  He is rather distinctive with his white hair and ponytail. 

This past Wednesday we had our first  ‘arts/crafts, textiles, whatever’ meeting.  Jill on Two Oars is the leader this year.  She taught High School art for years and is willing to teach us some of the crafts connected to paper crafts.  This coming week we’re going to attempt a version of ebru, Turkish paper marbling. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llLlFcq3K3U is a great 3 minute video introduction to the art.

Easy to know which way the wind blows

Not sure if you can tell, but our new passerelle lets us walk off the boat fairly easily.  Our old one was at quite an angle making it really hard for me to get off.  Now I just hold onto the dingy straps for some balance and it’s so much easier.  Yay!!!!!

Netsel Marina bridge

There are three bridges cross the canals that flow into town from the bay.  This one is the closest to the waterfront.  I started here and then decided to walk up the hill-side towards the castle.

Part way up the hill-side I came upon this empty space that would be so tempting for just about anything; home, studio, shop, café…. Wood floors, lots of windows and light and a great setting.

Homes climb up the hill-side all with wonderful views of town or the bay and, unfortunately, the neighbors’ satellite dishes.

A lovely small courtyard.

Always lots of cats!

It went down; I kept going up.

Orange cat, blue window, purple flower and the lovely winding stairs.

This path dead-ended at the gates of a restaurant so I turned around to follow a different route.

Mediterranean Blue

I’ll never tire of this combination; seaside colors.

Narrow walkways have always attracted me much more than huge boulevards with massive architecture.  They hold more surprises.

Just a quick visit into the Marmaris Castle so I could take photos from the castle walls.  I will visit again to see the displays.  This is the first time we’ve been here that the castle has been open.  Our first year it was being rennovated.  Then we missed the season.  Now it seems to be opened all year round except for Mondays. 

Photos from the castle walls.  If I zoomed in (way in) you could see DoraMac.

Looking back towards Marmaris town

Walking down from the castle I passed by this cute wine bar.

Outdoor dining! 

The first woman had no cane or I would have thought I had met her earlier.  I really do like the mix and match patterns and colors.  I sneak the photos because I think, unlike the ladies on the http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com. blog, these ladies would be shy about their ‘fashions.’  Because if I’d really taken the time with each one, I’d have definitely noticed the different head scarfs and sweathers and sock patterns!

Interesting window displays. 

The vests were burlap and the skirts dried herbs.  I definitely must return to both shops when they’re open.

The ‘coffee club’ was still meeting so I stopped for a chat.    Buttons in his new Christmas sweater.

Big boat!

Standing on B dock looking back across to the castle.  We do have a lovely view of town!

Christmas morning delivery!  Connie surprised us with home-made cashew cracker jacks and we surprised her by being away when she came by. 

Off to Christmas dinner at Joya Del Mar

I planned to walk the 3+ miles to dinner and talked some folks into going along.

Connie, Jane, Jill, Lisa, and Hannah-Ruth

Greg , Quinn and Roberto were a bit further behind.

The sun fought with the coming rain to make lovely colors.

Stopping to take some photos; we arrived just before the rain came.  But it was a brief shower that passed quickly.

The “man in charge” and his staff did a great job!  These were the shrimp/avocado cocktail-salad.

Connie and Jane with a glass of pre-meal punch.

Connie and Irene in the dress she’d knitted and Connie in her Black Dog shirt.

Connie and Gwen

(Here’s a Connie, there’s a Connie, Everywhere’s a Connie Connie)

It was beautiful inside and out…….

The wine coolers changed colors. Cool!

Soup, shrimp cocktail, huge egg roll, main meal and then dessert required lots and lots of silverware!  Randal and I chose turkey, the other option being lamb so tender it fell from the bones.  The bones went home for the marina dogs.

Back deck with a pool for the summer time diners.

The beach

Looking toward Yacht Marine in the distance

Men in Hats, Randal (sans glasses) and Paul with his fedora!

Both lovely men in lovely hats but they couldn’t compete with the woman below!

She wasn’t with our group but would have fit right in.  It wasn’t her hat but I’d seen her try it on so asked for a photo and she kindly ( and bravely) obliged. 

Cheers!!!!!

Christmas cracker crowns!  Connie Jane and Tom.

Ours was the slightly rowdy table !

“Mayor Colin” and the lovely Jane from Hydeaway.  Colin handles the morning net fairly ofter, shows the Monday movies, has office hours at the coffee shop every morning;  hence the term “Mayor.”

Nadida, the agent who helps us all with the Turkish rules and regulations, Bill and Joan!

They were great and sang lots of crowd favorites.

A very Edward Hopper – ish image of the staff taking a well-deserved quite time.