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

Looking down on a rainbow! 

We took a drive over the mountains and through the woods.  The weather kept changing from sun to some rain but it made for lovely photos.  And it only rained hard while we were in drinking coffee in Osmaniye and later when we stopped in Selimiye for lunch.

Ṣahin Café and Restaurant where we stopped on our motorbike in June of 2011.  It was so fun to find the same place and stop again.  Last time it was for lunch.  This time it was for coffee.  The owner brought out bread, two kinds of marmalade, gourd and watermelon, and some lovely herbed goat cheese.  Randal and I went home with some of the gourd marmalade and some goat cheese.

Rolling the flat bread that is a slightly chewy buttery tasting bread just a bit doughier than an English muffin, but almost as light.  She was rolling out several loaves that were placed set under the towels until it was their turn into the oven.

Yum!!!!!

The big plastic bottles were filled with the goat cheese which is also great on salad.

We arrived in Bozburun but so did the rain.  As not much looked opened and no one was quite ready for lunch, we decided to head back towards Marmaris and stop in Selimiye for lunch hoping it would clear up again.  Charles wanted some photos of the boats being built so we stopped at one of the many yards in the area. 

The skeleton of a wood gullet

Doris and Charles. a retired Swiss news cameraman who probably got way better pictures than I did.

One of the workers was happy to answer questions.

From Bozburun we headed to Selimiye looking for lunch.  I think we found the only restaurant that was open but it was just what we wanted.  Warm and charming with good food.  A fire was burning but electric heaters were turned on and soon we were warmed from the chilly day. 

Charles and Doris

A lovely setting on the bay

A map showing Turkish vineyards. 

http://www.mydoramac.com/motorbike-adventure/ our first attempt to motorbike to Bozburun in June of 2011.

http://www.mydoramac.com/biking-to-bozburun/ our actual motorbike trip to Bozburun 2011

Chinese New Year of the Sheep celebrated at Netsel Marina in Marmaris, Turkey.

The lanterns, reflected in the window, were made by Jill and Coni and Gamze.

Jill created the wall hanging and she and Roberto dressed for the occasion!

That must have been some story Roberto was telling as Gwen, Fusun, Arif, and Gamze seemed intent on hearing every word.

I’ve named the Sailor’s Point cat Kara which means dark in Turkish.  She comes to most events but won’t enter into the room unless absolutely invited.  She does know there will be great pot luck leftovers and she’ll get her share.  Otherwise she gets cat kibble that Coni brings for her during the week when folks meet for yoga, movie night, and crafts. 

  After our amazing meal of wonderful Chinese food (even my garlic broccoli got eaten)we played Bingo.

Each card was 1 Turkish lira.  The money was divided among the winners. 

Gamze and Coni were the bingo callers.    Kan was the first to fill up one row and then he filled the second row winning some lira for each win.

But Deborah was the big winner as she was the first to fill the entire card. 

Coni checking the winning numbers.

I cannot remember the last time I played bingo, but it fun! 

Jane setting up her machine.  Jane is amazing and can sew up just about anything her boat needs.  She loaded up her machine and brought it to Sailors’ Point for our Wednesday session.

Deborah had sewn decorations on her hat and now was having the hat sewn together by Jane

Beginning to shape the hat

Fitting the hat

Enough decorations?  Gamze was helping Deborah place the one final star

Coni had hers fitted and now was ready to sew on her stars and moons.

Meanwhile Coni and Jill had been crafting red lanterns for our upcoming Chinese New Year pot luck dinner. 

This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.

We’d bought the material and now it was time to cut out the hats; Deborah was the first to start and then Jill fitted it to her head.

Jill Margaret Deborah Lisa and Gamze in red.

Remember Coni’s old pjs?  They became decorations for the hats.

Jill showing everyone how to do the blanket stitch to sew the decorative bits to the hat.

Gamze was working on her needlepoint and Jill on her sock even as she directed the hat making.

Margaret, a friend from the marina in North Cyprus and also now in Marmaris, is being taught the “European” way to hold knitting needles by Jill.

I was working on this painting of a whirling dervish.  It came out terrible because I left too little room for his feet and when I tried to fix it…..dum de dum dum.  Next week I’ll work on a hat!