Category Archives: Turkey

Camel Wrestling

B Dock

Netsel Marina

Marmaris, Turkey

Günaydın,

   It’s a gloomy, overcast Tuesday morning here in Marmaris, but no heat needed in the boat so that’s nice. 

These are the photos Randal took at the camel wrestling event in Selcuk-Efes this past Sunday.  He took our small camera so the distance photos aren’t so great.  I’ve included links to some videos so you can see it for yourselves.

Ru

DoraMac

Camel Wrestling

Posted 02 January 2014 – 12:44 PM   by Chris Drum Berkaya

“The mighty camels of the Aegean and SW Turkey camel wrestling circuit are in full heat for the camel wrestling season running from December to March, and from Çanakkale to Kumluca( Antalya), throwing their weight against each other for their owners’ prizes of championship titles, prize winners carpets and even money.

Before they compete, the wrestling bull camels ‘tülü’, strut, spit and straddle in display in the fields beside the sports arenas where they are gorgeously decked out in enormous wooden packsaddles (havut), richly decorated with embroidery, bells, bobbles, mirrors, flags, scarves: a riot of colour and texture, crowned by the all-important peş- the cloth with the camel’s name and often its hometown embroidered for all to see. The rituals of dressing camels extends to their attentive owners and their carers – the ‘savrans’ where the orange scarves draped around their shoulders, the waistcoats and tweed jodphurs and the special leather boots proclaim them as the dandies of the  ‘deveciler’, the ones of the camels, though nowadays some prefer to put their money into the onerous costs of buying and maintaining the magnificent beasts.

They cost a proverbial fortune- to buy- an estimated 20,000TL, plus transport, kit and feed and to employ a carer, if the family members aren’t doing it. But family is usually involved and they treat their camels as part of the family. They might be with one owner for the whole span of their ‘professional’ life. The youngest camels might be broken into the saddle around 4-5 years old, and start wrestling from 6- 20 years old. A long career where injury and damage is avoided at all times, with referees and teams of handlers calling the wrestle- limited to 10 minutes, and hauling the camels off each other once a result is declared or there is too much aggression such as biting each other.

The wresting camels are not often the lean and sinewy cartage camels of the Aegean and Taurus mountains that even now sometimes carry firewood or more often terrified tourists in summer.

According to the Çanakkale professor Dr, Vedat Çalişakan who has made an all too rare study of camel wrestling, the wrestling camels are imported from Iran, Afghanistan, and the central Turkic republics, and are bred to make male camels given a special genus called ‘Tülü’. They are hybrids from crossing ‘the single-hump female Arabian camels of Dromedary species and double-hump Asian male camels of Bactrian Camel species (Camelus bactrianus)’. The dark and shaggy haired beasts are far heavier and powerful, where power and agility counts in forcing its opponent to the ground by crossing and leaning down over necks, or just shouldering to intimidate them into bolting away.

Camel-wrestling is definitely not a blood sport, and derives directly from the tussles of male camels in the wild. However the present traditional wrestling of the Aegean and SW seem to have started when the nomadic camel herding Yoruk people met the milder winter climates of the coasts, and that is the area that sees the tournaments held in the villages and the towns, where amazingly the whole family- men, women and children, young and old turn out to watch their Village favorites, socialize, picnic and enjoy the whole spectacle. And spectacle it is. Indispensable to any tournament are the roaming bands of ‘zurna’ (Clarinet) and ‘davul’ musicians entertaining the tables of raki-drinking and doner-eating tables, until they get their tips. So are the balloon-sellers, scarf-sellers, and yes camel sausage sellers, where old camels go. ( it is spicey but not bad!)

Whatever you do- don’t miss a chance to see the truly unique, traditional camel-wrestling tournament when it comes near you. The Deveciler Dernekler – cameleer associations are growing in number, possibly to take up the organizational load where the diminishing numbers of local municipalities will give up, and with the growth of internet and facebook, they have gone on-line and linked up- producing a calendar of every tournament held in the season.

Expect a heavy political presence this winter as local elections candidates glad-hand everyone around. Bodrum’s mayor will be hoping for his extended family owned camels to win at Ortakent on the 5th January, while also promoting his candidateship for the new Bodrum Peninsula post as did the Konacık mayor before Christmas with their first ever tournament. International tourists might be heading for the most famous Selcuk Tournament on the 19th January, but Kumluca in Antalya is hoping for a record-breaking attendance on 12 January, while at the foot of the Taurus mountains, near Fethiye Karaçulha is hosting  the tournament on 2 February. Look for the camel parade the day before, and if you are so lucky- an invitation to the ‘halı’ evening where all the camel owners and local organisers and politicians, meet the night before the tournament to network, drink ,dance and raise money for the tournaments’s costs.

Usual entry fee is 10tl, that partly goes to local projects.

Calendar: ( wet weather and slippery arenas are dangerous so events are ocassionally cancelled)”

http://www.turkeycentral.com/topic/19843-winter-is-camel-wrestling-season/

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

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    “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/

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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. 

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Time for a new hat

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

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Notice the orange scarves…

I have mine draped around my shoulders as I type. 

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And ancient tradition updated with cell phones

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Connie and Jane looking at the orange scarves

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He convinced her; Connie bought some too.

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Connie preparing for her special photo..

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

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

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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.)

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Waiting in the wings….

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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.

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Camels were obviously for wrestling and not for transport.

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

art on my own

B Dock

Netsel Marina

Marmaris, Turkey

Merhaba

      While Randal and Wyn (and pretty much everyone else) were off on the bus trip to Emphasus and camel wrestling I was back on DoraMac reading and creating my own paste paintings. It was so much fun when Jill taught us that I just wanted to try it again.  If you have never tried it, it’s really lots of fun.  You could then use the finished page as background for anything or cut it up to use for collage.  Anyway, it was lots of fun. 

Ru

DoraMac

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Drying in the cockpit.

I mixed some school glue with some watercolor paint.  Then I sort of wet down a page of my small art journal.  As I’d made lots of glue paint, I also got out my big sketch book and tried it there too.  I’d not intended to make a print but the page blew over so I made a print from the original and I actually like it better.  It’s the one on the right below.  The design was made with the end of a plastic spoon which had a ridge in it. You can use fingers or a comb too or the squeegees like Jill made.

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First ‘print’ on the left and second on the right just on photocopy paper.

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I then made a print from this original though  the paint had dried a bit too much on this one to make a really good print.

My ‘sort of daily’ art journal.

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Each day I write down words and pick a few to illustrate.  The first day was a toasted simit with peanut butter and Brussel sprouts….   I’d bought the white pen in Michael’s Roanoke and tried it out on my journal cover.   Sadly I’ve fallen way behind on that project but got back to it Saturday while Randal and Wyn were away.

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View from my seat at the pilot house table

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A quick Saturday morning watercolor….  Not bad….

Go Pats!   Cape Cod Connie and her partner Paul are huge Pats fans as is my friend Bruce.  I’m more a Sox fan but I’m cheering on the Pats too!  Go Pats!

Paste papers

B Dock

Netsel Marina

Marmaris, Turkey

Iyi Geceler,

     Jill Wolfe on Two Oars taught art for many years and is happy to share her knowledge with our Wednesday morning group.  This past session saw folks making ‘paste papers.’  I missed the Wednesday session but was lucky to catch the following Thursday morning follow-up. 

Ru

DoraMac

“Paste paper is one of the oldest decorated papers used by bookbinders, and can be found in books that are centuries old. Going back hundreds of years (and continuing today), sometimes bookbinders would use up their leftover bookbinding paste by throwing some pigment into the paste and brushing it out on some paper to make decorative papers to then use in bookbinding. They would then make strokes or stipple patterns with a brush in the paste, or use a tools to draw or comb designs in the paper and let it dry. One of the distinctive qualities of paste paper is the rich 3-dimensional patterns and designs. This is achieved because when the paste is first applied to the paper and a pattern made in the paste, it is thick, with peaks and valleys. As the paper dries, the paste is sucked flat into the paper, leaving a 3-dimensional pattern on a 2-dimensional surface. “

https://lilbookbinder.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/paste-paper-tutorial/

https://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/bookarts/documents/cbac_pastepaper.pdf  is a good ‘how-to’

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

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

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

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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

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

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I chose a blue paste paint

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

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Definitely no straight lines….  Sort of Kokopelli-ish

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This one is Hannah’s I believe

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

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Also Hannah’s

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Hannah and Jill laying them out to dry. 

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Jill working

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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!

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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!

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Claes Bertha and Folke come to visit

B Dock

Netsel Marina

Marmaris, Turkey

Merhaba

   Clase and Bertha are looking for a boat.  They have been sailors for years but now are thinking a trawler would be the best option.  They came to Marmaris with their boat builder friend Folke to spend some time on DoraMac.  The weather did not cooperate!  They arrived at DoraMac on Monday in the rain and it rained and rained.  We’d planned to do a ‘sea trial’ Tuesday but the Marinaros didn’t feel it was wise to remove all of the lines crisscrossing the marina holding all of the boats safely in place.  There is no path through the water to leave the marina when the lines are tied from the bow of one boat to the bow of boats across the way.  We were told that if conditions improved, early Wednesday morning the lines would be removed and we could leave the marina.  Thankfully that happened and we were able to go out for a 90 minute cruise in the somewhat bouncy waters.  We returned, docked DoraMac, retied the lines and got everyone to the taxi for the short trip to the Marmaris bus terminal for the noon bus to Izmir where they would catch their flight back to Sweden. 

Whatever their decision will be, we really enjoyed our time with Claes, Bertha and Folke  and wish them a wonderful cruising life. 

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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.

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

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Folke took photos of everything  inside and out! 

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

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

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Leaving the marina for the ‘test drive.”

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Claes and Bertha at the flybridge helm.

Solo Exhibition Mosaics Yüksel Dıyaroğlu

B  Dock

Netsel Marina

Marmaris, Turkey

iyi Geceler,

   Pink sky at night sailor’s delight!  Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warmer.  Not that we can complain when there’s no snow or freezing rain.  Unfortunately when our Swedish visitors come for two days, Monday and Tuesday, the forecast is for rain.  So it goes.  They are coming to see if DoraMac is the boat for them.  It certainly has been a lovely home for us.  She is spiffy clean and looking really good! 

   Most days are devoted to DoraMac, but I still get out for walks and some art activities.  The new exhibit at the Art and Culture House and our first Wednesday arts group were my two adventures this week.  That and trying to find a shop that sold bubble wrap! 

Hope everyone is keeping as warm as they can. 

Ru

DoraMac

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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.

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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

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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!                                                

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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.  

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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. 

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Yüksel Dıyaroğlu 

Solo exhibition : Mosaics

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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

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

Revisiting my favorite hill-side scenery

B Dock

Netsel Marina

Marmaris Turkey

Mutlu Yıllar   or to be really formal  Yeni Yılınız Kutlu Olsun.   Translation in both cases is Happy New Year! 

There will be festivities at Sailors’ Point this evening.  It starts at 8 pm so Randal and I will have to stay up later than usual just to make the beginning of it all.  Our tradition is to be awakened by the fireworks going off at midnight.  Sound really carries when you’re near the water.  The last time I actually stayed up until mid-night was to watch game 4 of the 2004 World Series.  Thankfully for the 2007 Series we were in the Philippines so I only had to get up by 7 am to watch the games.  And by 2013 it was somehow not so much on my radar that I can’t even remember the series; and we were home!  The point being, Randal and I aren’t ‘stay up until midnight’ people unless we’re on watch and that’s a whole other story. 

Yesterday morning I took a break from boat cleaning to go for a morning walk while the sun was shining.  The forecast has been rain all day for days.  So I get out while the getting’s good. 

So from DoraMac : Peace, good health, good friends and whatever you wish for 2015.

Ru

DoraMac

Morning walk around Marmaris

With the weather this week always calling for rain, I get out and walk early before the rain actually arrives.  Thankfully we’ve had more sun than rain the past few days.  Tuesday night the wind howled, it rained, it hailed.  Luckily we’d come back to DoraMac from Happy Hour at Pineapple just before it all happened.  But early Tuesday morning I’d gone walking up the hill to the castle and it was just lovely.

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Easy to know which way the wind blows

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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!!!!!

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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.

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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.

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

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A lovely small courtyard.

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Always lots of cats!

It went down; I kept going up.

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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.

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Mediterranean Blue

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

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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. 

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

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Looking back towards Marmaris town

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

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Outdoor dining! 

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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!

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Interesting window displays. 

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

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

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Big boat!

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

Christmas at Joya Del Mar

B Dock

Netsel Marina

Marmaris, Turkey

Iyi Geceler,

     To have been absolutely correct I should have written Iyi Akṣamlar.  You say Iyi Geceler when you absolutely won’t interact again that day.  But here I am again with the photos from yesterday’s festivities.  Today was mostly boat work!

Ru

DoraMac

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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

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

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

Greg , Quinn and Roberto were a bit further behind.

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

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

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

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

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

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Connie and Gwen

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

It was beautiful inside and out…….

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The wine coolers changed colors. Cool!

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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.

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Back deck with a pool for the summer time diners.

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The beach

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Looking toward Yacht Marine in the distance

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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!

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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!!!!!

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Christmas cracker crowns!  Connie Jane and Tom.

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Ours was the slightly rowdy table !

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“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.”

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

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They were great and sang lots of crowd favorites.

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

Visit to the Art and Culture Center

Iyi Geceler

Christmas Day the weather cooperated beautifully. I took a morning walk to town for the post office, open here on Christmas as it’s only a holiday for visitors. At 2 pm I met up with about a dozen cruisers who walked the 3 miles to Joya Del Mar for the Christmas Dinner Gwen had organized for us. I was certainly glad I’d walked as there was soup, shrimp and avocado salad, spring roll, turkey with stuffing and then a huge chocolate dessert. I skipped the soup and had a few bits of Randal’s dessert and was still daha doldum. “much full!” Much fun!

Today we were ‘back to work’ on the boat though I did take a lovely early morning walk to beat the rain; which actually didn’t come until evening. And we took our first motorbike ride to the big Migros and the Import Shop looking for boxes of Fruit’N Fibre for Randal’s breakfast. It’s imported. At Migros it was 25 TL (divide by 2.25) and still a crazy amount for cereal. At the Import Shop it was 16 TL so we bought 2 boxes. We’d cleaned out the frig and cabinets before we’d left for the US so must stock up again. Hopefully the weather will again cooperate and we’ll motorbike to the Sunday Market for fruit and vegetables and whatever. Always fun. I’ll share few Christmas Lunch photos next. This email is my first visit this year to the Arts and Culture Center.

Ru

DoraMac

One of my favorite places in Marmaris is the Art and Culture Center.  I love to see the changing exhibits; and the coffee shop is full of people interested in the arts!  Not that I can speak with them, but you can feel their energy and interest, their aliveness.  (Our time in London cost me much of the Turkish I had learned.  Thankfully I still have Peter’s notes from our classes in North Cyprus so if I’m not too lazy I’ll get them out and study!)

Monday morning I walked to the Center for a quick visit as there’s too much boat stuff to be done to linger anywhere.  After three months away the whole boat needs a good scrub inside and out so for now that must be my main focus.  But as exercise is essential, I do take an hour a day for a walk.

There are two exhibits at the Center now: paintings and photographs.  I believe the paintings were all done by students and teachers in the classes offered at the Center.  The photographs were from a photo club.  Some of the subjects are universal and some are reflective of Turkey.

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The former fish market now the Arts and Culture Center.

The galleries are on each side of the building.

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Watercolor studies which really look better than my photos convey.

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Various portrait studies.  Ken, the cello player painting made me think of you!

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I instantly thought of the musical Cabaret

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I like food paintings

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I drove myself crazy for a while trying to draw/paint pomegranates but never thought to just draw the seeds.  I think these were colored pencil or pastels.  Not sure.

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This one really caught my eye.

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Very vibrant.

The photos were wall sized in height.  Here are a few.

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IT’S THE FRESSNESS THAT COUNTS is spelled out in Scrabble letters.

Holiday Potluck and Gift Swap

Netsel Marina on the hard

Marmaris, Turkey

Iyi Akşamlar  (Good Evening)

        We arrived back in Marmaris just in time for the Christmas Potluck and Gift Swap.    It’s always an evening of good food and questionable gifts; but that’s the fun of it.  Last night was no exception.  One of the biggest food hits were Randal’s Pecan Pies!  I took some of the credit as I washed all of the dishes needed to make and bake them.  There were some old faces (figuratively) and some new faces and some young new faces.  And one very impressive face who won the biggest prize.  I don’t remember all of the names of those new faces, but hopefully after we’ve been here a while I will. 

Ru

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Netsel Mall all decorated for Christmas

All of the Turkish Santas have been on the Mediterranean Diet so are on the thin side.

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Ibrahim and Tom having a pre-dinner chat

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Lots of good food and pecan pie.

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Jane explaining pecan pie as it’s not something Turks know; Karo syrup and pecans aren’t sold in here.  Our ingredients were all bought along our way here and we brought the Karo syrup from home.

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Quinn and Colin experienced pecan pie eaters!

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Hannah-Ruth picking the first gift; as she’s the first she also gets to go last!

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A bottle of wine; but no worries about her age, she lost the bottle a few rounds later.

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Joan watches  as Bill opened his gift which also went to someone else fairly quickly!

We celebrated Joan’s 89th birthday in 2013 before we left for England!

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Some gifts sort of remained a mystery;  a bib-apron?

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Tom had a good time though I don’t know what is final gift was but none of his three tickets was the raffel winner.

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Jill needed her chocolate treats to be explained; dried fruits covered in chocolate or something like that.

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Jane’s pick was a calendar from the Marmaris SPCA

Joan had picked a similar calendar with dog pictures.  The money really goes for a good cause and who doesn’t need a third calendar?

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Colin had this bottle for about 1 round and then it was gone too.

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Mogens picked these funny boxers, but alas, he didn’t get to keep them either!

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Randal lost his bottle of stuff right away too.  Those bottles moved around all evening!  He did go home with a great gift assortment from the Netsel Mall Coffee Shop,  Kahve Dunyasi ; chocolate spoons, chocolate covered coffee beans…..

Notice Randal without glasses.  Since his cataract surgery he has great distance vision.  But he’ll need to get new glasses here as we left Roanoke before his eyes had fully adjusted.

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Gwen picked a soup mug with some soup mix and instantly traded it for Colins’s bottle of wine!

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For fun, Randal had substituted one of his Cellars of Roanoke Wreck Repair  vintage 1948 labels on this bottle of local wine, but it got lost in translation as Gwen tried to explain in Turkish what the deal was. 

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Here’s the story about my gift pick. 

I had bought something in Roanoke for the gift exchange.  But when we got here I thought we should have made donations to the animal shelter for the gift swap.  Someone really did think of it.  You make a donation and  receive a dog calendar and cat calendar in exchange for the donations.  Jane picked the cat calendar.  Joan picked the dog calendar but wasn’ t so enthused about it.  So I decided that no matter what I chose from the table, I would then swap it to Joan for the dog calendar.  My mystery gift was a packet of holiday cards, not so really hard to part with.  I  took the very simple calendar from Joan and gave her the cards.   I felt good about “my donation to the dogs!”  Not sure what Joan thought!

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Rose Toilet Water was Quinn’s surprise gift.

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Quin hadn’t let his mom take the battery operated light from Bill earlier on but he wasn’t so thrilled with the rose toilet water he chose so swapped it for the lamp himself.

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Paul instantly swapped his gift!

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Connie, from Cape Cod, chose something useful for boats so was quite happy and not mean at all.

Then it was time to sing!

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Mogens and Hannah-Ruth played for the carols

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Everyone sang

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Some with great enthusiasm!  

Not sure if Connie is drummers drumming or maids a milking!

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Sibel wins the grand prize!

Guven Marine* donated this huge gift basket for a cruiser raffle to help support the events we have at Sailor’s Point during the year.

Sibel was the grand prize winner!  As she’s the most famous sailor among us, it seems fitting.  

“Osman Atasoy and Sibel Karasu have gone down in history as the first Turkish navigators to reach Antarctica, covering 8,500 miles in their 14-meter craft, Uzaklar II”

http://www.mydoramac.com/first-turkish-sailors-in-antarctica/  tells the story as we were here for their big return!

*Guven has been organizing the work on Doramac and keeping an eye on her while we were in the US.