“’What’s the point of a bracelet if it doesn’t have a story.”    That’s what I told Bora AYYILDIZ , owner of Bazaar Ayyildiz  when I returned to buy the silver bracelet with the pomegranate story.

Sterling silver bracelet with small garnets like pomegranate seeds.

Break open a pomegranate: see the tiny glossy red seeds? Now you can see why garnet comes from the Latin name of pomegranate, granatum . To the ancient world, garnet was a tiny glossy red gem, bursting with fire and brilliance.  http://www.addmorecolortoyourlife.com/gemstones/garnet.asp

      Why did I want any bracelet at all?  Along with her lovely clay pipe necklace and earrings, our friend Jane Parker had been wearing 3 lovely silver bracelets (at least one with a boot sale story) and I really liked them so had set off to find one for myself.  It would be my cruising memento/keepsake/souvenir*.   Well, as you can see, I didn’t get the plain silver bracelet I had gone seeking.  But this one came with a pomegranate story so how could I resist?  And to top it all off, when a link was removed  (now on my necklace)  to make the bracelet fit my stick wrist,  it left 6 garnets representing pomegranate seeds, which is the exact number of seeds Persephone ate in the Greek myth of her abduction by Hades.  Below is the link to our visit to Enna, Sicily where I went looking for the temple of Persephone’s mother Demeter. 

Visit to Enna Part 1 of several | MY Doramac  www.mydoramac.com/visit-to-enna-part-1-of-several/    Jun 21, 2013 – (While in Hades Persephone ate 6 pomegranate seeds so we have 6 months of winter.)      

Other countries we visited also had pomegranate stories.  North Cyprus, Israel and Tunisia. Links are below.

Bora Ayyildiz had other stories to share and traditions to explain. 

“If you have bought or received something new, when you first get home you must drink something in 3 quick sips for longevity.”   Longevity for the item or you or both;  I wasn’t so clear about it.  But I remembered to do it anyway.  Bora told me about the pomegranate’s use to foretell the number of children a couple will have.  And about sifta, the market tradition connected with the first sale of the day. 

“In Turkey, after the marriage ceremony, the bride throws a pomegranate on the ground. The number of arils that fall out are believed to indicate how many children she will have.  http://pomegranates.org/index.php?c=5     (In Bora’s version, the guests throw the pomegranate at the door of the new couple’s home.)

“The first sale of the day is called siftah and is considered lucky by traders. The customer should throw the money on the ground to show they are giving it freely and the trader should leave it there to show he isn’t greedy and grabbing. In practice it doesn’t stay there long but this is the tradition -as it was explained to me many years ago) http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g293969-i367-k1172875-Throwing_money_on_the_ground-Turkey.html   (Bora demonstrated  after the fact as I’m sure I was his first customer that day as I had watched him open the shop.) 

(I remember the bracelet ladies on the beach at Subic Bay in the Philippines made a big deal of the first sale of the day too.  But it also meant they had no change so I had to take more bracelets instead.) 

And then there is the hair, chicken and headache superstition which I found while researching Turkish  traditions. 

•Hair in comb after combing is not thrown to street; if it is thrown, it may entangle in a leg of chicken, so you may have headache continuously.

http://www.turkishculture.org/lifestyles/turkish-culture-portal/superstitions-512.htm?type=1   So watch where you discard the hair in your comb! 

Bazaar Ayyildiz just near the old mosque at the end of Bar Street. 

Bora Ayyildiz opening his shop for customers.  Bora = tempest or hurricane  Ayyildiz = ay (moon) + yildiz (star)    Bora was born in California where his parents were graduate students at UCal Davis.  Maybe that explains his name.  I’ll have to return to ask.  But what a cool name if I’ve translated it correctly.

  Bora showed me this book his parents had made while at Davis.  They collected recipes from the other international graduate students.  Also in the book is a photo of Baby Bora!

I liked the drawing of the bottles with the Japanese recipe but definitely had to photograph the pecan pie recipe for Randal.  Bora said his dad did most of the illustrations. 

I bought this pomegranate to model for my painting attempts.  They came out no better than the ones I did in North Cyprus years ago.   I cut it open to see if that would help me began to see it better to paint it better.   I had thought about hanging it up to dry after seeing the ones in Bora’s shop and learning how to do it.  But this one had a ding on one side so wouldn’t have worked too well and it was really too big.  When they dry the seeds are loose so make a lovely sound when you move it.  This one also had a clipped off crown so not so good for drying.  I’m really too lazy to eat a pomegranate though Reverend Ken suggested that it be broken in a bowl of water and the seeds float to the top. 

I squeezed it into juice which is quite good and needs no sugar.  Lovely color too! 

Rest stop at Joya Delmar between Netsel Marina and Yacht Marina

Tuesday was a perfect day for the 6 mile walk along the coast and over the hills so Jane and I packed up some Netsel library books to swap at Yacht Marine’s library.  Joya Del Mar, the small resort/restaurant/marina mid-way on our hike,  was the perfect place to take a break.   Turkish coffee for Jane, cappuccino for me, and a shared plate of fresh fruit were just perfect.

Wednesday we walked another 6 miles to Iҫmeler and half the way back and Jane still had the energy to jump up and down!

Jane modeling the jewelry she crafts from clay pipe pieces she hunts along the Thames in London.  She selects them for their color and uniqueness as many are just plain tan.  http://www.mydoramac.com/mudlarking-at-new-crane-wharf-wapping/ tells lots about the historic clay pipes found in the Thames and my adventure with cruising pals to find them.  None were this lovely. 

Coffee morning at Kahve Dünyası

Randal reading the paper, Scruff and his owner Georgina, Colin, Ken, Doug, Jane (red jacket) and Tony.  Between Monday movie night, Tuesday Happy Hour, and coffee mornings, Jane pretty much met the whole gang (minus those off in Cappadocia, Jane and Tom back in the UK, and Princess Connie diligently doing lots of boat work.)  Sean and Ron and Jack came after the photo ops.

Jane takes a selfie with Mayor Colin                And, of course, Buttons!

Back to Fethiye

The forecasted rain held off while Jane and I walked the 15 minutes to the small bus station. 

THANKS FOR COMING JANE!!   Next visit will be in London or Virginia.

http://www.janeslondon.com/ is Jane’s blog about life/art in London.

http://www.janedesignedthis.com/ is Jane’s graphics company

http://www.janemadethis.com/ is Jane’s site for her leather wallets and holders.

The old windmills; off in the distance you could see the new ones that look like airplane propellers.

Stone houses, artists’ shops, restaurants!  Perfect place!  We were just too early in the season for most of them to be open late Wednesday afternoon.  Maybe it would be different on the weekends.

Hürriyet Abla Marifetli Eller

Art Gallery and private home according to some internet info I could find in English. 

I knew the word Hürriyet meant freedom and Abla meant older sister and finally remembered that Eller meant hands.  I really like the name of this place!

Hürriyet Abla Marifetli Eller translated by Google =  Hürriyet sister deft hands   Hürriyet  means freedom or independent.  I love the stone and blue doors.

Lots of cats in Datҫa too.

This might well be an almond tree just starting to bloom.  Datҫa is famous for its almond cookies.

I love the ladder to the roof of the stone house.  Across the road was something better!

A wise woman of Datҫa: 85 years young and loving her life

I saw this lovely lady in her yard and asked if I could take a photo.  Her English was excellent so we started to talk.  She has 2 daughters and one son who are all doing well. She moved to Datҫa in her retirement.  Her story includes studying Greek and Latin but when her husband died very young, she went to work as a secretary to support her children.  She has a beautiful stone house, a garden of flowers and orange trees and two cats for company.  She said her life is very happy because her children are well and she has all she needs.  The famous Turkish poet Can Yὕcel also studied Greek and Latin.  Maybe had things been different this woman would have been the famous poet of Datҫa.

Same door and motorbike from 2013!

Michael’s photo

Cat in the basket in the window

A friendly restaurant just near the small bus stop.  We had coffee here in 2013!  Two women would have missed their bus if Debbie hadn’t called to them that their bus was about to leave.  They’d missed the previous one while drinking their coffee.

The old windmills; off in the distance you could see the new ones that look like airplane propellers.

Stone houses, artists’ shops, restaurants!  Perfect place!  We were just too early in the season for most of them to be open late Wednesday afternoon.  Maybe it would be different on the weekends.

Hürriyet Abla Marifetli Eller

Art Gallery and private home according to some internet info I could find in English. 

I knew the word Hürriyet meant freedom and Abla meant older sister and finally remembered that Eller meant hands.  I really like the name of this place!

Hürriyet Abla Marifetli Eller translated by Google =  Hürriyet sister deft hands   Hürriyet  means freedom or independent.  I love the stone and blue doors.

Lots of cats in Datҫa too.

This might well be an almond tree just starting to bloom.  Datҫa is famous for its almond cookies.

I love the ladder to the roof of the stone house.  Across the road was something better!

A wise woman of Datҫa: 85 years young and loving her life

I saw this lovely lady in her yard and asked if I could take a photo.  Her English was excellent so we started to talk.  She has 2 daughters and one son who are all doing well. She moved to Datҫa in her retirement.  Her story includes studying Greek and Latin but when her husband died very young, she went to work as a secretary to support her children.  She has a beautiful stone house, a garden of flowers and orange trees and two cats for company.  She said her life is very happy because her children are well and she has all she needs.  The famous Turkish poet Can Yὕcel also studied Greek and Latin.  Maybe had things been different this woman would have been the famous poet of Datҫa.

Same door and motorbike from 2013!

Michael’s photo

Cat in the basket in the window

A friendly restaurant just near the small bus stop.  We had coffee here in 2013!  Two women would have missed their bus if Debbie hadn’t called to them that their bus was about to leave.  They’d missed the previous one while drinking their coffee.

John, Debbie and Michael climbed to the top of the fortress.  I stayed below (where the red line is)  where we ate lunch.  As of late, avoiding breaking my neck or any other limb has become uppermost when off on an adventure. 

“A point of note on the general settlement pattern of these villages is that the locations chosen were never in the immediate coastline, but always at a mile’s distance or more from the sea and at a relatively safe altitude on the slopes of a hill. The reason was from times immemorial was the fear of pirates, advantaged as they were by the intricate geology of shores of southwestern Turkey and of the many islands and islets that are its natural extensions, in an environment not unlike that of the Caribbean Sea. Piracy remained a serious security problem well until the beginning of the 20th century and especially during the weakening of the Ottoman Empire and the issue often necessitated foreign intervention.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dat%C3%A7a#Tourism

Blooming time for poppies.

Poppies always make me think of the WW1 poem “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian physician Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.   We checked into Turkey in Ҫanakkale  which is the biggest town near to Gallipoli.  Before our cruising days I only knew of Gallipoli from the Mel Gibson movie.  Now I know Aussies and Kiwis and ANZAC Day. 

http://www.flandersfieldsmusic.com/thepoem.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHJeto0ObxI  is a 6 part series about Australian and New Zealand nurses who served in the Dardanelles and other  the battle sites.  Though fiction, it is based on real nurses who took part and made a real difference in the survival rate of the soldiers and in the advances in the care of soldiers.

Debbie and John who always had a flask and his tea!

Michael holding a poppy.  We really are “miles from nowhere.”

Sparkling wine to go with our bread, cheese and tomato sandwiches. 

I thought my pack was heavy, but John had lugged up a full glass bottle of very cold wine.  I shared mine with Rhino Randal who then needed a snooze.  

It was lovely sitting and relaxing over some sparkling wine until it was time to get going and my legs felt like lead!  I always walk several miles each day, but Marmaris miles aren’t mountainous miles and I can certainly tell the difference.  I think we averaged 2.something miles per hour the second day.  John’s phone had an app that calculated his mileage and calories burned.  Maybe we broke even considering the breakfast the hotel provided and the snacks along the way.  They also provided a half loaf of crusty bread as a sandwich for lunch which I managed to eat every bit of.

Yea!  Goats!!

Just at the end we finally saw some goats.  We’d seen goat poop and donkey poop and cow poop but no animals except for a couple of turtles/tortoises 

Michael’s photo 

This hike was an out and back.  It was shorter but perhaps steeper.  Or maybe my legs were just tired from the 8 miles the day before.  Legs, lungs, everything!

The peninsula – between 15 kilometers and 500 meters wide and with the highest point, being the 1.162 meter high Kocabağ mountain, which at times rises steeply up from both the Agean and Mediterranean sea – extends approximately a hundred kilometers from Marmaris in a westerly direction until Knidos. Besides this important excavation site there are further such sites on the eastern side of Datça itself and below the village of Emecik. Those who go hiking and look closely, can discover little known historic settlements and cultural sites from the Carian and Mycenian cultures through to the Knidian and Roman and up until the Byzantine times. “The Turkish settlement of the peninsula probably began from the sea during the time of the Seljuks”, wrote the specialist in Middle Eastern and oriental studies Horst Unbehaun. According to his analysis the Roman name Stadia for the Dorian city of Knidos changed to Dadya in Ottoman times, out of which emerged the name Datça in the 1930’s.

http://www.gebekum.de/e/gd_e_010.htm

Michael’s photo

Here we are pointing the way.   And very color coordinated I must say.

I can’t really balance my way across the rocky streambeds so had picked up a light stick the first day.  There was a brisk chilly breeze, but it definitely warmed up as we walked up.

John has explored many of the hiking trails in the area and had chosen the routes.

A few days prior to the hikes, he had driven to Datҫa to check the routes for bees and rushing streams which can be a problem this time of year.

An abandoned stone house in a lovely setting.  Very reminiscent of the area around Karpaz on North Cyprus.

A sign post indicating the route was part of the Karia Yolu or Carian Trail.

http://www.cariantrail.com/

My camera, John the photographer.

Abandoned stone fountains and plantersin what looked like a planned garden area made a great resting place.  We all managed to have some snack too though it was less than two hours since breakfast. 

Michael, John and Debbie taking the photo of the trail map

I also took a photo showing the loop trail.

Views from our lunch spot overlooking the Mediterranean.

Back in Marmaris is was raining, but 40 minutes further along the peninsula towards Datҫa we had a mix of clouds and sun and cool breezes and t-shirt weather.

Most of the trail was packed dirt road.

Rhino Randal, me, John and Debbie

Michael used my camera to take the photo. Hard to know how to credit photos when they are taken by someone else with my camera.

Debbie had requested we see some turtles/tortoises and one showed up each day.

I think they must have opened the hotel just for us; we seemed to be the only guests this time of the year.

http://www.adaburnu.com/default-eng.htm hotel website

View from my balcony

We arrived at our hotel around 2:30 and after checking in met up at the restaurant for something to drink. While we were there, a man joined us who claimed to be the hotel manager. He also had a farm nearby with goats and he demonstrated that they were goats by making ‘milking motions.’ Though his English was somewhat limited, Debbie understood him to say the hotel provided a beach area for nudists. After a bit, the restaurant manager brought him a glass of cherry juice mixed with vodka and we began to think it wasn’t his first of the day. John, refreshed from a short nap, came along and suggested a drive to Old Datҫa and off we went leaving our pal to his Vodka and cherry juice. But he wasn’t kidding about the nudist beach.

Turkey’s first hotel for nudists welcomes foreign guests to bare all

By Travelmail Reporter

Updated: 12:32 GMT, 29 April 2010

Nude sunbathers will, however, have to share their beach with the goats and chickens that belong to the hotel owners

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1268851/Turkeys-nudist-hotel-Adaburnu-Golmar-opens-May.html#ixzz3UwZJUTST

Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1268851/Turkeys-nudist-hotel-Adaburnu-Golmar-opens-May.html#ixzz3UwYyHjvB

Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1268851/Turkeys-nudist-hotel-Adaburnu-Golmar-opens-May.html

Websites about the Carian Trail which included our second hike.

http://www.cariantrail.com/index.php/sections/datca-peninsula http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/the-carian-trail-turkey-on-two-feet-9698085.html

http://hkb-hkb.blogspot.com.tr/2013/12/dugumlere-ruh-katan-kadn-canan-goren.html

Exhibited works were carried out from household waste

was opened to visit the exhibition consisting of works from his so-called artist Canan Quoted recycling of waste material.   http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=tr&u=http://www.haberler.com/canan-goren/&prev=search

Each one of the characters below is about as big as my hand..

These are about the size of large and medium embroidery hoops abut are made from baskets with the image on the lid.

Denise, Deena, and brand new Deelara

Denise’s husband Erin and proud papa T K

She’ll be a singer like her mom!  Now it was just some lung strengthening exercises.

Erin, Denise, Deelara, Deena and TK

To remind everyone just how important Denise was to us in North Cyprus here are a few of the stories from that time.   Erin was the “behind the scenes” guy but he made the best fried calamari and knew the best hiking trails.    And it was Deena and TK who came with us on our Turkish carpet adventure back in 2013.

North Cyprus Deks memories

http://www.mydoramac.com/deks-walk-1/

http://www.mydoramac.com/deks-walk-10/

http://www.mydoramac.com/deks-walks-and-charmaine-and-linda-arrive/   which tells about DEKS walks # 11 and 12

Our visit to the carpet village with Deena and TK

http://www.mydoramac.com/revisiting-the-carpet-village-of-karacahisar/  with Deena and TK