sylvinuk-turkey

[sylvinuk-turkey]

Not much happened on our fourth day that wasn’t much different from our first two.

Breakfast, helped out, then swimming in the ocean at the same waterfront place.

The only couple differences:

1) We randomly saw the Canadian family at the waterfront place.

2) We came home early (3:30ish) because we had to pack and eat dinner early to be able to go to sleep early to get up at 5a the next morning.

It was a shorter but still lovely day.

We are now up at 5a. Got to see the sunrise over breakfast. See the moon in the picture? Then we left around 6a. We have a car, which has to be returned in Marmaris, so his mom is joining us for the drive and will drive it back. It’s a 2 hour drive each way.

We will fly from Dalaman to Istanbul to Bologna using Pegasus airlines. Then take the train back into Florence from Bologna. Once there, one of my cousins is hosting us for the 5 days, so we’ll go there. Then my great aunt is having us over for dinner. Its going to be another long but hopefully good day.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

Today was boat day!

There is a Turkish family from Toronto staying in one of the apartment rentals. So, after a quick Turkish breakfast at 8:30a and a quick errand to grab more sunscreen, we headed to the power boat, which was in the local harbor about 5 min walk down the hill.

On the boat, was the Toronto family (2 parents, the kid and the grandma), Gokay’s parents, Gokay, myself and the captains family of 3.

We left around 9:30a and got back into harbor around 5:30p! We swam at 4 inlets around the area. In between each we had Turkish tea, lunch of fresh grilled fish, Turkish coffee and delight and finished the day with some honeydew melon. Separately, I basically got burned on my shoulders in the last couple of days so I wore this t-shirt all day, as well as put on sunscreen pretty much every hour (after swimming every time). I burn so easily, and still got slightly red/tanned today even with all that sunscreen!

Long day in the sun! I am so tired.

But instead of resting, Gokay’s mom bought a large salmon for dinner, so we had to grill it in the backyard. 😬🥱

Although it took about 1.5 hours (started grill around 7p), the meal was delicious once it was ready! The meal included homemade mezze, grilled salmon, salad and panna cotta for dessert. Yes the panna cotta was homemade by his mom, as was most everything else (salmon was all Gokay).

I can’t believe we only have one more day in Turkey before heading to Italy for a couple days with my family.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

Today was much of the same. Catching up on sleep, breakfast (shown below), helping with the apartment rentals and spending the afternoon in the sea.

I’ve been helping Gokay and his parents update their apartment rental website (coming soon). So, I went over the new site design with his dad to make sure he felt it had the right information. We also took pictures of some of the spaces to have more up to date photos for the website. In the mean time if you’re interested we have created an Instagram, please feel free to follow! https://instagram.com/villamanzaraselimiye?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

And then the afternoon in the water relaxing was lovely.

Sadly, since the morning, most of the town has been without power (something at the bottom of the hill blew), so we aren’t able to take a shower at home. So we showered on the beach side as best we could without shampoo and soap. Luckily for Gokay, he had planned to get a haircut and beard shave, and the barber has power. So, he can get his hair washed. I was jealous so I asked if the guy would be willing to do mine. Lucky for me he said yes! Gokay looks so cute!

For dinner, we walked back to the waterfront at the famous fish restaurant - Sardunya. We came last year too as the owner knows Gokay’s dad. When the owner was setting up the restaurant he asked Gokay’s dad for recommendations, so their family gets treated well there. We had mezze (a couple of small appetizers), calamari, and a grilled fish.

Power at the restaurant went out a couple of times but they luckily have a backup generator. Still no power when we got home and went to bed, but it came back on sometime during the night.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

We came to Selimiye with no specific plans other than to spend time with Gokay’s parents at their place here, Villa Manzara. We did not have a specific wake up time, but once awake there was much to do.

1. Most obviously, eating his moms amazing cooking!

2. Helping around the summer apartment rentals (e.g. fixing a tv, helping take pictures of renovations to update the website, etc.)

3. Going in the ocean at least once a day

4. Going to the famous fish restaurant here

5. And a boat trip has already been planned for Tuesday

I honestly couldn’t ask for more! It’s lovely just chilling after such a packed trip, and who can complain with this view!

We had a lovely Turkish breakfast this morning (most things made by Gokay’s mom including the jam), helped around the apartment rentals, did our laundry, and then spent the rest of the afternoon at the waterfront swimming in the sea/bay. Although, most of the time was in the water, we did take a snack break of local beer and calamari.

After coming home, around 5p, and taking a shower. We were called to his parents place and his mom served a “celebratory” dinner of Champaign and Mezze (small plates) including dolma, beats, and a zucchini, garlic, yogurt mixture. Yum! But that was just the appetizer.

We had amazing grilled meat, a yellow squash dish (the squash is new to Turkey), and salad.

We finished with dessert of baklava, tulumba, etimek (a pudding over pre-toasted bread, a biscuit of sorts, it was delicious), and gullaç (this is a special dessert that’s hard to find made with milky rice paper like layers with rose and strawberries in between the layers).

Between a day in the sun (which somehow even with all the sunscreen I got a sunburn on my shoulders), the swimming and all the food we were pooped, so went to bed around 10 and again slept for about 11 hours!

[sylvinuk-turkey]

Today was another long day but a good one!

We spent the night at our family friend Mehmet’s house, which we could tell the inside was lovely, but could only imagine what outside looked like in the dark when we arrived last night. In the morning, looking out the window and off the terrace of our 2nd floor room it was a beautiful property.

PS. Mehmet knows my nonno (Italian grandfather). They met Mehmet’s first year in grad school at university of Philadelphia where my grandfather was his “mean” academic advisor. I say mean because as Mehmet tells the story, he came to nonno after a month or so into the first semester saying “I have too much on my plate, too many hours. Why did you let me take so many?” And my nonno replied something like, “so many of you international students come thinking you’re so smart, you had to learn for yourself.”

Anyway, they had prepared a lovely Turkish breakfast on the lower terrace which I promptly forgot to take photos of. But like normal Turkish breakfast included a mixed fruit plate (pears and orange slices), a mixed veggie plate (cucumbers, tomatoes and long peppers which are a specialty here in Turkey), cheese, simit and bread, scrambled eggs and of course Turkish tea.

After our leisurely breakfast and great conversation, about Mehmet’s companies and how he’s doing some user research of all things, we started our drive towards Efes (aka Ephesus in English). On our way out of town we saw many wineries, turns out Urla and the surrounding area is known for its wineries. Mehmet said more are being built every day, sadly at the expense of the local surrounding forest.

We were meeting up with Allan and Frank at 1:30p. Reminder, we met up with Allan in Istanbul at the start of their trip, and they’ve since also gone to Cappadocia and on a boat trip. This was the trip my parents were going to take with them, but we’re sadly not able to. Gokay’s parents ended up taking my parents spot on the boat and the four of them had a lovely time.

Anyway, Frank and Allen were coming from the boat (Gokay’s parents went back to Selimiye), and we’re meeting us at Efes for a guided tour. Mehmet, Julia (his wife), Gokay and I were arriving a little early and decided to stop at the “Virgin Mary House” which is about a 10 min drive up the hill from the Efes “upper entrance” where we were meeting them and the guide.

The Virgin Mary house was a quick visit. It’s a 2-3 room stone “hovel” that had been turned into a church honoring the Virgin Mary. You go in one door and out the other in a minute or two. Honestly, the walk from the parking lot to the site was longer (and longer on the way back because it was up hill). Then we drove back down the hill and waited ~10 minutes at the touristy cafe across from the upper entrance eating an ice cream bar.

Once they arrived we used the restroom, added more sunscreen and we were off. It was a 2 hour tour from the upper gate to the lower gate. Such a large city of incredible ruins, and we haven’t even uncovered half of it! The guide said they’re actually doing that on purpose as things are much better preserved and secure underground. The ruins spanned from 3000 BC to 300AD (ish). It went from a pagan site, to Greek, to Roman, to Christianity. So there are pegan temples turned churches, the theater is Greco-Roman (Greek because they had to build up a hillside, roman because they didn’t think people would pay attention with a view so they put a building backdrop). One statue, or what was left of one (photo above) showed they knew the world was round, but that information was lost. They had a library, which we took a picture in front of. They also had plumbing and heating including inside these 7 incredible “terrace houses” they’ve uncovered (photo below). It was amazing!

Once we finished we had a little snack at a local shop near the street bazar, since it was Saturday. Then Gokay and I had a van bus to catch, while Allen and Frank made their way to Izmir for their last day in Turkey. So we said quick goodbyes and went our separate ways.

Our van bus went to Aydin, where we had to wait an hour to take a different bus to Marmaris at 7:30p. We stopped in 3 places on the way plus two police stops, so we didn’t get to the Marmaris bus station (otogar in Turkish) until 10:20ish. Then we had to take a taxi to pick up a rental car. Then Gokay drove the manual transmission car 45 minutes through the dark curvy mountain roads to Selimiye. We arrived around 11:45p, after having taken 6 types of transportation today!!! Phew!

His parents were so sweet to stay awake but we all were in bed around 12:15a or so.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

As mentioned in the last post, we slept until 9a, almost 12 hours for me and more than for Gokay.

The all inclusive breakfast ends at 10, so we slowly got ready and made our way to breakfast. Again a lovely spread, they even had an egg/omelette station.

Once we finished we got our bathing suits and bathrobes on and headed back to the pools that I explained in yesterdays post. No one was there!

During breakfast we noticed the thermal geyser wasn’t on, so we started in the top mud pool hoping it would be a little less hot. Although it was still very warm it was not as hot as yesterday. So, we stayed there for about 5 min. Then went down to the pool under the waterfall. Then, after a quick cold outdoor shower we went into the pool. We also had some of the thermal mineral water from the tap. We went back and forth 3 times but then we had to go around 11:50, as checkout was technically noon, but we got it pushed to 12:45p so we could take a shower and pack up.

Worried about it starting to rain again, after looking at the weather, we checked out and walked to the van bus stop to get back to Denizli. While waiting the mosque that was behind the stop made a loud speaker announcement saying they were “pouring Lokma” to offset the sins of a recently deceased person. Lokma is usually dropped dough balls into hot oil, but in are case they were small donuts. A nice little snack for us.

We got to the bus station around 1:50, used the restroom and were able to catch a 2:30p Pamukkale bus (it’s a bus company too) to Izmir. It’s a 3+ hour drive. We arrived around 6:30 into Izmir where a family friend of my grandfather and his wife met us.

We drove to a fish restaurant for dinner right along the water which was beautiful but I didn’t take any pictures. There was a lot of traffic, so we didn’t start dinner until 7:45p. But we also didn’t finish eating until 10. It’s because the fish we picked out and the method takes about an hour. But definitely was a show when it came out! It’s a raw fish that they cover in a mixture of salt and egg whites, which turns into a hard crust. Then they bake it for 30 min to an hour. This way it stays moist on the inside. Then for presentation they put a little alcohol on top and set it on fire and crack the salt mixture off in front of you.

Once dinner was finished drove us to their beautiful house outside of the small town of Urla, near some wineries. When we arrived around 11:30p we were so tired so we went right to sleep.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

After a bit of a stressful evening and pulling somewhat of an all nighter… because sleeping on a bus is meh… we made it to Denizli around 8:30a. From there we caught a van bus to the town our hotel was in, Karahayıt. Then we walked a couple of blocks to our hotel - Pam Thermal Hotel.

Luckily it’s a large hotel so when we arrived around 10a they had a room we could check-in to. We took a 30 min nap, then got ready to go see Hierapolis - the old Roman city ruins, the hamam turned museum, the cleopatra pool and the travertines. Note: it’s in the city of Pamukkale which in English translates to “cotton castle.”

We walked back to the small town and grabbed a quick lunch of handmade gözleme and kofte. Yum!

Then we took a 5 min taxi ride to the north gate of Hierapolis. It was very sunny and warm, but we enjoyed walking from the north gate into the old city, seeing the view, and some of the ruins on the way, such as the grave yard, the gate to the city and the latrine.

Once we got to the center of the city, we went up to the beautiful theater. Incredible feat of architecture, that withstood the earthquakes the other buildings had not. It is one of the best preserved theaters in Turkey.

From that viewpoint we could see across the valley, and there was a dark rain cloud (and we heard thunder) coming our way, hoping if it did hit the “cloud is passing�� - I say this in quotes as it’s a Turkish saying “bulut geçiyor.” So we decided to go to the museum, hoping we could be inside or in the cleopatra pool when it rained.

The museum was quick, it just had a couple of rooms showing off different marble statues and other small things. Then we did the cleopatra pool. This costs a little extra, plus paying a deposit for a locker which you get back. It was a little cheaper because during last years visit, Gokay got the musekart (because he’s a Turkish citizen) and turns out it lasts for a year. So he’s been getting in all the government run places this trip for cheap or free! We stayed for an hour. It was a nice warm spring, with some algae so you have to be careful of slipping.

Then we made our way to the travertines, which are also translated in English to “fluffy clouds” even though we also have the word travertine. The guy at the cleopatra pool and our guide told us to bring our shoes. But they immediately told us to take them off…we think to save the pools. The idea was to go the whole way down, but after stepping on this stone with bare feet��� no thanks! So we only got about two pools down, got some pictures and then it started to rain! In a way this was very lucky for us because it meant almost everyone cleared out, so we got some great pictures (we used one of those dry bags for the phone).

On the other hand by the time we got out of the pools it was pouring rain and we had to find cover under the nearby cafe. Hoping it would pass quickly we got Turkish tea and waited. After about 20 minutes it didn’t seem like it would let up so we just quickly walked back to the lockers to get our stuff. We were able to hop in one of the vans run by Hierapolis (it costs a little) back to the north gate where we called the taxi driver from earlier and he took us back to our hotel around 5p.

Due to the rain and the fact we already had our bathing suits on, we spent the next couple hours (until about 7) in the thermal pools of our hotel. They have a mud pool (supposedly at 30c but it was waaayy hotter), then a pool at 35c, that the one above waterfalls into, and lastly inside a pool at 40c. Since it was raining we were the only ones going between all the pools. They recommend doing 20 min in, 20 min cooling down (either open air or in the regular pool). You can also drink the thermal water which is naturally slightly sparkling water. In Turkey they actually bottle it as mineral water.

We went to the all-inclusive dinner buffet around 7:30p, it was a lot of food but all very yummy.

Then went back to the room while we waited for the 8:50p belly dancing show. In that short time Gokay passed out! We were so tired after such a long night + day.

So I went to see the belly dancing show myself, but left after 2 or 3 songs because I was also tired. So I set a 9a alarm and went to bed around 9:30p. We slept until the alarm! Lol

[sylvinuk-turkey]

Today was almost like three days in one.

This morning we woke up at 4am for a 4:30a pickup by a van. We were the second of four groups to be picked up. First was a woman who spoke Italian and the other two groups spoke Spanish… so between myself and Gokay we ended up being the translators… which my brain was not ready for that early in the morning.

At first it felt like we arrived late, the sky was getting brighter, many vans had passed us earlier, and some balloons were already in the sky. In the end I think we had perfect timing, there were already balloons in the air we could take pictures of, and some behind us too, so we could see balloons on all sides. Also we got the moon with the sunrise, can you see it in the next picture?

They gave us small food bags which included juice, water, packaged chocolate croissant, and a chocolate bar… Breakfast of champions! Which I wasn’t really hungry for, Gokay went for it though.

Next they helped us into the rectangular basket. 4 square standing areas on either side of a thin rectangle for the two captains. It was 2-4 people per square, ours was the Italian woman, Gokay and myself. Although, it was both Gokay’s and my first balloon ride, it was the most incredible hour+! The view, going up and over a cliff, the other balloons, and the smooth landing. Who cares that we woke up so early! Lol

We came back to the hotel around 7a! Lol so back to bed. Breakfast at the hotel ends at 10 so we set a 9:45a alarm and went up for breakfast. After that we showered and finished packing our bags since we had to be out of the room by noon.

Once we were ready, we walked to downtown Urgup and caught a “bus” (basically a dolmush van) to Avanos. This is the same town the ceramic place was, we wanted to try going to the local museum when it was open, since it wasn’t open on Monday.

The museum was a house built in 1906ish and the owner died. It passed through a couple different businesses and government hands and then ended up as part of the local university as a museum that the students could run. The house is mostly original, and the stuff in the rooms give a sense of what life was like in the region, everything from arts to cooking to bedrooms. The student guide could only speak Turkish, so Gokay did an amazing job translating for me (I’m assuming 😜).

Next, our guide told us about a steakhouse in Goreme for a late lunch. We took another van bus there, but got stopped by police for a security check, everyone had to show proof that they could be in the country. Once they checked everyone we were free to go, but they did take one person off the bus.

Lunch at the steakhouse was incredible! I know it sounds very American, but due to us knowing the guide the chef came out and helped us order. We had appetizers, salad, a bone marrow dish (yum!) and 2 types of steak. We fed some of the meat to a cute cat that hangs out at the restaurant, we asked the waiter first if it was ok. We finished our meal with an incredible baklava and tea.

Next we had to meet a friend of Gokay’s mom in Uchisar, she was the one who made the taxi and balloon ride possible. This time it was easier to just take a quick taxi ride. Turns out she owns an amazing hotel (it was going to be their retirement home but then Covid happened). It has an incredible view and the day was so perfect and clear that we could see the volcano.

Since we were in Uchisar, we figured we might as well go in the “castle” which is the highest point in Cappadocia. We’ve taken many pictures of it in the last couple days, but from afar. So we went in and climbed to the top. Just breathtaking views with more carved out caves.

We headed back to our hotel for a little bit of a break, and then we met up with our guide again. He had offered to take us to the bus station in Nevşehir for our 11:30p overnight bus to Pamukkale. So we offered to pay for dinner beforehand. He again recommended a lovely place, Cafe Antre, which one of his students runs with their sister. The sister makes manti and yaglama. The second was a new dish for all three of us. It’s basically lacmacun, layered like lasagna noodles. You pour yogurt on the top layer and then wrap that layer around your fork… like spaghetti. Then you repeat for each layer. Soooo yummy, and also fun to eat.

We went to MiGROS again (the grocery store) to pick up some snacks for our bus trip. Not sure I’ll need food since I’m so tired I’m sure I will sleep the whole bus ride! Then our guide drove us to the bus station.

We waited a little… and a little more… my picture is us stuck in the parking lot waiting and the moon rising… it was beautiful but we were cranky. The bus was 30 min late, but we got on it… and it will supposedly arrive around 9a tomorrow. We are still up at 2a… and have made multiple stops.

Our guide gave us some recommendations on how to go through the pammukule sites tomorrow so we are very prepared… but we might be asleep…

[sylvinuk-turkey]

Today (Tuesday) was another great day! You can’t go wrong with learning about history, seeing incredible sights and amazing food!

We got to sleep in a little, and the guide and taxi driver picked us up at 10a.

We started our day by driving through a town called Mustafapasa, there was an old house, turned hotel, that was the main location of a popular Turkish tv show, and a church.

Then we drove for an hour, past the agricultural areas, seeing how they’ve cut large storage areas into the mountain sides (like wine cellars) to keep produce. We ended up at Kaymakli Underground City, which goes down ~200 ft and is one of at least 3 underground cities (not the largest). Kaymak is a type of cream they usually mix with honey and spread on bread for breakfast. But here they make it differently, they dry it! We got to taste some after touring the 4 (of at least 8) stories of the underground maze-like city. A mix of storage, spiritual places, wine making and cellars and defense - a great place to hide and defend the small passage ways if anyone comes to fight.

Next we drove to pigeon valley for another incredible view point. Gokay was very excited about the pigeons and bought some seeds to feed the birds. We washed our hands thoroughly before lunch, I promise!

The guide asked if we wanted very local food, and we obviously said yes. So they drove us through the industrial part of town lots of car repair and part shops and lumber yards. It was definitely a little weird to find an amazing restaurant in the midst of all of this, but working people have to eat! It was the most amazing Pide (wood fired oven made), and meat (tepsi kebabi) that you can put into the bread. Plus some foaming ayran (a salty yogurt drink, which I like).

We then drove to the Goreme open air museum to see the amazing spiritual complex (churches and monasteries) built into the rocks and cliffs. You know how yesterday I mentioned I was sad to see how terribly treated the frescos were in some of the other places. Well this place, due to being both government run and weather protected, had incredible full color frescos. You’re not allowed to take photos, and guides are not allowed to talk inside because the CO2 could ruin the frescos. The tour also included a couple storage rooms, kitchens and dining rooms. Including one dining room that had a last supper fresco at the head of the long table. It was really cool to see. Its crazy to think this imagery was done in 4th - 12th century, which some is earlier than European churches!

Our second to last stop of the day was the three beauties. At first when taking pictures I had only seen two or the wrong three. But as we walked across the built viewing platform I noticed there was a third small one. There is a myth about it being a family (father, mother and child). The mother was the daughter of the king, and because she wanted to marry/married a shepherd (the father) he banished her. They had their child and she thought “maybe by now he’s forgiven us.” She thought wrong. When they showed up, the king was very angry and banished them again. As they left, the king sent an army after them. The mother prayed for help and the story is that god turned them into stone so they couldn’t be hurt.

We finished our guided tour seeing the top of the hill in the town where our hotel was, Urgup. There used to be an exhibit in the small building about the local librarian. The story is, no one came to the library, so the librarian would take books on his back or on a donkey around to the villages to share knowledge. Now it’s a government building. Next to it is a “museum” which used to be a family home, turns out the librarian was an uncle. Instead of making it into a hotel, the family preserved their home and items from 4 generations back. It was four levels carved into the cliff face. It had balconies and everything! Incredible!

We got dropped off and let the taxi driver go after we paid him the fixed price that was agreed for the two days. The guide stayed. Gokay and I quickly changed, it had been a humid day with a little rain, so we were sweaty. Then the guide took us to get dinner and supplies for our sunset picnic.

He was very sweet, he said he’d get some local wine if we picked up the food. So we started at the local grocery chain and got cherries, olives, cheese and the wine. We then picked up chicken Döner (tavuk Döner) to go. He drove us to Kizilcukur Valley to eat and watch the sunset. We spent an hour eating and talking. We were first there but many cars came a little later. We also had two dogs come up to us, we fed our leftover Döner and some water to them. It was beautiful.

We got home around 8:45p and went to bed quickly after that as we had to be up at 4a for a 4:30a pickup for the sunrise ballon ride.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

We arrived at 1a to our hotel, in the rain. It is a room in a cave which is cool. But we didn’t spend much time enjoying the room, as we were tired and also knew we would need to wake up at 7:30a the next day.

Our guide and taxi driver (two separate people) met us at 9a at the hotel. Due to Gokay’s dad being famous in the tourism industry here, somehow his mom and dad convinced the dean of the local tourism school to have one of the grad students give us a two-day personal tour of the area.

He was very knowledgeable, speaks both Turkish and English, and was all around a lovely 30-year-old who’s getting married in 24 days! Had to share his “meet-cute.” His fiancé was on one of his tours, they connected on social media because he thought she was cute. After 2 years of conversing on social media, he asked her on a date… they live 12 hours (driving) apart from each other!

Luckily, it was cloudy but not raining this morning. So, we started at Devrent, a rock formation on the side of the road, which the guide called “imagination valley” because you can see a variety of shapes (e.g. camel and Virgin Mary) in the rock formations aka “fairy chimneys.”

Then we went to two sites, Zelve and Pasabaglari which were both government protected, so we paid to get in. But they were incredible! This area was covered in ash by 3 volcanoes at least 9 million years ago, which created this easy to carve, sandstone. Hence the cave hotels, and also these amazing sites of formations formed by air, water and change in temperature as well as caves dug into the rocks. If you’ve ever been to the indigenous sites near Sedona, it’s similar.

After that we went to a local pottery workshop (Alaaddin), where learned about the pottery of the region and the two types of clay they use. First red terracotta, from the river bottom. And the second was a white clay they mixed with quartz to make it strong. We got to try using their foot powered pottery wheel, with a pottery master, to make terracotta bowls. This was Gokay’s first time doing pottery!

We took a nice walk down the river walk, and then headed to lunch, at an old “kervansaray” (Caravan Palace for the music fans out there). An old inn to bring animals to and stay as a stop during a long journey. We had a fixed menu of soup, borek/appetizers, an entre with meat and rice, and then a fruit dessert. Can’t forget to mention the local wine. Due to the ash this region is great for growing wine grapes.

During lunch it started pouring but somehow the rest of the afternoon we were lucky because we were inside or in caves while it was raining and walking outside when it wasn’t.

We spent the afternoon seeing more caves and rock formations. We saw an old church built into a hill side with old frescos. This church was not government protected, so it was not in great shape. It was under someone’s current cave house that was also a cafe we had tea at as it poured rain.

Next we saw the famous “love valley” which has the most phalic shaped fairy chimneys. It was amazing because it cleared up enough for us to see one of the younger volcanoes of the region covered in snow.

We finished our day at Ortahisar looking out on the large fairy chimney has previously been a castle, because it’s so easily guarded. Sadly, a lot of it has collapsed.

We needed a nap at the end of this long day, but we went out to the local town of Urgup near our hotel and had a local dinner at “Cappadocia restaurant.” It was recommended by the guide and it was yummy.

We were going to do a balloon ride early tomorrow but with the possible rain, it got moved to Wednesday morning, so we have a chill night and tomorrow morning before we go around again.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

It’s been about 9 months since Gokay and I were last in Turkey for this incredible trip. And now we are back again!

The hope was we’d be with my parents this time and we’d all have an incredible experience. Sadly fate did not have that in mind, as 2 months ago dad got into a motorcycle accident and my parents were not able to go on their trip.

This trip started with a lot of weird emotions because of the accident, including a lot of frustration and yelling at Turkish Airlines… yeah they suck.

The first week here this year was a whirlwind.

Starting with our travels - SFO Friday night of the 26th (1 hour delay) > Frankfurt > 4+ hour layover > Florence (1.5 hour delay), night in Florence Airbnb > train to Bologna > brunch with Anna and Ottavio > Bologna airport > Istanbul arrival Sunday night of the 28th right after Erdogan won the election.

Once in Istanbul we spent the week:

- Shopping/doing chores,

- Seeing Allan for dinner (Frank got a cold),

- Going to a hotel Hamam (different one this trip but it was amazing)

- Spending time with Gokay’s grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins (including some I hadn’t met last time)

- Got a tour of the local university by Gokay’s cousin who goes there

- A lovely dinner with Gokay’s high school friends

- I worked every evening Tuesday - Friday, from 4p-midnight (plus or minus)

- A lot of eating

- And a little sight seeing

I can’t believe we’ve been here for a week, and now it’s time already for us to do our vacation/tourist week in Turkey. We will be flying to Cappadocia tonight, then to Pamukkale, Izmir, Efes, and ending in Selimiye to see Gokay’s parents for a couple days.

We will end the trip with a couple days back in Florence visiting my family.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

So Saturday was our final vacation day but it was our travel day. And due to the craziness of travel, the craziness of Sunday with getting back and jet-lag, this post is a little bit delayed.

Saturday, we woke up around 8a Istanbul time (10 hours ahead of pacific time). We finished packing, finished shutting Gokay’s parents apartment, since they wouldn’t be back for another month or so. This included turning off the water, so we had to take showers and use toilets first. We also took out the trash and made sure we didn’t leave anything. By 9:30 we were out the door and in a cab to the new Istanbul airport. This is the first time I have been to this airport as all other flights have been out of the Asia side airport (Sabiha Gokchen).

Pulling into the airport, it’s clearly a large and newly built airport with a huge mosque out front. The taxi driver was pulled over at a checkpoint and the trunk was open (security 1). Im counting because we went through soooooo much security which was astonishing to me.

Once we paid the cab driver we entered the airport. As with all other Istanbul flights, there’s a checkpoint right as you enter the front door. This line took about 15-20 minutes. You don’t have to take anything out of your bag, but you do have to take off your jacket, take out anything in your pockets, belt and anything metal (Fitbit).

Next we made our way to check-in. Which we were very nervous about based on our experience from London where we could only take one bag even though we read online we get one bag and one personal item (turns out we weren’t crazy, the site did say that, we took a screenshot this time in case we were given any issues). So, we got to the area for check-in and we actually were able to do a self check-in and never saw a single person. So no bag issues… yet. So we still had some concerns.

Then we headed toward “regular” security… quotes because nothing was regular about this security experience 😬🙃. Gokay headed off to the e-check for Turkish citizens which would have been faster than the actual experience we had, but sadly the technology didn’t work right and his fingerprints on one hand didn’t match the system. So he had to get back into the everyone line. So for this security experience started with a ticket check line (security 2). This line took about 20 minutes. Once your ticket is scanned, you get pushed into lines to get your passport checked (security 3). This line has about 15-20 people in front of me, but it took about 30-45 minutes. Next you’re pushed into the bag check, which you have to take out laptops, toiletries/liquids, etc. This line was the worst of all! It was about 5 wrap arounds and then it split into a line for each belt & scanner. This took over an hour. Total it was about a 1.5+ hour experience, good thing we got there 3+ hours early, there were at least two sets of people who clearly hadn’t and pushed their way to the front of the lines. Because Gokay and I went into separate lines, we had to go through all of this separately. So we met on the other side.

At that point since we hadn’t eaten breakfast it was time for lunch. So we got some sandwiches and drinks at one of the counters since we weren’t sure what would be available later. We decided to take it to the gate and eat there. However, turns out, unlike airports I’m used to where the seating is open, all gates were closed with glass walls. And our gate wasn’t open yet… so we had to get in line. So we sat on the ground and ate. 😭

About 15 minutes later, the gate was open, and here we met security 4-6! lol Turns out certain countries (e.g., UK) don’t trust the Turkish security - Gokay asked. So first we went through the ticket/passport check, checking we were supposed to be on this flight (security 4). Next our ticket and passport were checked and stamped (security 5). Then finally (security 6), supposedly randomly, they opened up our suitcases and bags, wiped them down with the paper to check for residue, and also wanded us down to check we were carrying anything.

Finally we got to sit, and finish our sandwiches/food. We sat for awhile and turns out our flight was 30-40 minutes delayed. At the original leave time (1:05p) we started boarding, and left closer to 2p, which was longer than the 40 minute delay. I was very nervous about making our 2.5 hour layover at this point.

Flight was an easy 2.5 hours to Heathrow. We slept most of it.

We got in around 3:30p London time with a 5:30p flight. Luckily, it seems we made up some of the lost/delayed time. Then we had to get from terminal 2 to terminal 3. This was pretty easy, but it was far so it took awhile, walking to a bus shuttle, then to security checkpoint (security 7). This one, being an international flight transfer point was meagerly manned, so even with 10 people in front of us it took almost 45 minutes! At this point we basically rushed to our gate, with a quick stop at the Virgin info desk who couldn’t help us to get seats together since check-in had closed by that point. So we made our way to the gate which was through a lot of duty free corridors and at the end of a terminal wing… sooooo much walking/running.

We were lucky that went we got to the gate we were able to ask again to see if we could be sat together, and since they had to check our passports anyway since we came from another flight, they were able to seat us together and in a row that didn’t have anyone else again! Woot!

This flight was long! I didn’t sleep as much because I was trying to wait until night in SF (landed at 8:30p PT). So it was a lot of tv watching with some dozing off here and there towards the end. Luckily they served food and/or drinks 5 times throughout the flight. First drinks, then dinner with drinks, then a snack, then coffee/tea, then finally “English tea” which was basically a scone with clotted cream and jam, as well as two finger sandwiches and a chocolate. We made it home, but we had to go through one more “security” with customs. I have global entry so it took me maybe a minute to get through. Gokay took about 35 minutes. Luckily throughout this whole day, because we packed light, and knew we might have some trouble with transfers, we didn’t check any bags. So we went right to the curb and got an Uber, headed to Gokay’s place and got his car and headed to mine. Finally getting to crash around 10:30p pt. We luckily slept through the night!

Sunday was spent doing laundry and grocery shopping and chilling because jet-lag hit hard, I took about an hour nap took Heading to bed a little early, and hoping this week back at work isn’t too bad.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

Today was the last full day in Turkey. We set an 8a alarm to wake up today so Gokay could spend time with his grandma. She woke us both up at 7:50a by coming into the room. Lol So we got ready and spent time with his grandma. I showed her some of the pictures from the trip. She and the caretaker homemade borek, and so we helped start that and Turkish tea. Then Gokay’s aunt and uncle came over with simit and clotted cream (just for me! 😋). So we had a lovely breakfast, and spent the rest of the morning together.

We walked a little with his aunt around to try and find vacuum bags to be able to pack our bags this evening since our flight from Istanbul to Turkey again only allows us one bag. We found some. But also saw this beautiful mosque.

His aunt then had to go to work at the hospital, her hours were flexible in the morning, when she left we headed by taxi off to the ferry that would take us to Istanbul.

We picked up the tickets at the check-in, since his mom previously ordered them. We sat down and Gokay went to get us a snack. While he was away, the boat boarding started. I was worried about timing, since I didn’t know when it left, so I texted him to come back without the snack. Good thing I did because when we tried to scan our tickets they were for the previous day. In less than 15 minutes, Gokay had to run back to the front desk, get a number, wait and then buy 2 new tickets. Luckily, he made it with like 5 minutes to spare, so we got on the boat. It was packed, everyone has assigned seats (not like the WA ferry system). Our seats were in the middle of the boat so no good views of anything. It took about 1.5 hours to cross the Bosporus to old Istanbul. From there we had to get a taxi… which wasn’t easy with everyone else from the boat taking them and Uber taxis not coming to pickup. So we ended up (20 min later) getting a taxi after it dropped people off at the ferry.

We made it back to Gokay’s parents Istanbul place about an hour later and started packing fervently because we had to make sure everything could fit in our suitcases before we checked in in case we needed to buy a checked bag. Remember we can only take one bag each on the plane… not one plus personal… just one bag total. Hence buying the vacuum bags earlier in the day.

While packing Gokay’s friends texted saying they were on their way to a local restaurant to meet us for dinner. But we didn’t see it because packing, so by the time we saw the texts they had just arrived. So we quickly walked over to the restaurant - Tike (10-15 min away).

Gokay met these two friends at an American boarding high school. So they both speak English and Turkish. It was lovely to meet them, and I’m sure Gokay enjoyed catching up (but most of their convos were in Turkish so, I’m assuming. ;) We had a few small mezze dishes, 3 types of meat Kebop dishes, and then dessert. All with Rakı (the licorice alcohol). I was enjoying the conversation so much I totally forgot to take a picture of the three of them together. Hopefully another time soon.

Then we headed home, finished a little packing, checked in for out flights and went to bed. We will leave the apartment around 9:30a.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

Another travel day, heading to Yalova to visit Gokay’s grandma and the aunt and uncle who we had the seafood dinner with. Meaning I didn’t take many photos…

We woke up at 7, and spent 10 min getting ready. When we left the room, the dining table was fully set with breakfast! Gokay’s mom is lovely. We spent about 20 min eating with his parents and then we said our goodbyes. We drove the 2 hours back to the Dalaman airport.

Once at the airport, we had to drop off the rental car. But instead of car places away from the airport, like we have in the US, they come to you (similar to when we picked up the car). So we drove up to departures, sat there for maybe 10 minutes (since Gokay called them when we were about 20 min away) and a guy walked up in a company shirt, did the check, and drove the car away.

We went through first security (which I’ve mentioned before), and we are bringing back to SF some local Selimiye honey, so they told Gokay to check his bag (for free with our tickets so no worries) I didn’t have to though. While checking in the woman’s computer broke so check in was slow, luckily we had time. Then we used the restroom and made our way to normal security. Gokay told me to take out liquids and computer(s) and phone. So I did and put my stuff through. I beeped due to forgetting my Fitbit again… but then beeped again, so they had to check my body… which I had tight clothes on a no pockets or a belt so not sure what beeped. Then they took my backpack (my suitcase was fine) because they found some electronics…

So they went through my cables and cord bag. No problem. Then they opened my Bose noise canceling headphones case, which inside I have 2 AAA batteries for the headphones to work. And they took those! I haven’t had issues with batteries in ever?! Especially, since phones became a thing. Gokay was fervently talking to them in Turkish and they brought over paper with rules on it (in Turkish). Turns out, I got the translation after the fact, the paper says you can’t have “bomb making supplies (e.g., batteries)”… so I guess they thought I was making a bomb… from 2 AAA… which were clearly with/for my headphones. Gokay and I were so peeved we just walked away and found our gate, which the plane wasn’t there yet. So then we decided to get a drink/snack. As we were doing that I thought - ‘oh I have Toblerone in my suitcase that his mom gave us as a gift and we could snack on that.’ At that moment I realized I didn’t have my suitcase (about 10 min after we left security). I was so flustered by the battery stuff at security I totally forgot my suitcase!!! We ran back (1 min, not very far) and grabbed my suitcase from the conveyor. Phew.

After that, although it was only 11a, we sat and had a beer… it was necessary. Then when they called boarding, we lined up and got on the plane. We were in row 5, so easy on and off. It’s a very short flight. We arrived at the Asian side Istanbul airport, and once off the plane we got Gokay’s luggage and some money at the ATM. Then we headed out to the bus terminal outside the airport to get a bus to Yalova to visit Gokay’s grandma, as well as his aunt and uncle I met on the first day here.

I made the assumption it was one bus with maybe a couple stops before we got off… nope! We got on one bus, about 10 minutes later we got off and switched to another bus. This bus took us over a bridge toward Yalova, and it seemed we were close and then the bus pulled over and we got out again! We were herded into the parking lot of a grave stone store, eek, and into a Dolmuş (said dol-mush, which is a 6-10 person van/taxi. It felt very sketchy… but it drove us the last 15 minutes into downtown Yalova. From there we took a taxi the last 10 minutes to Gokay’s Grandmas. So if you weren’t counting that was 6 different vehicles in 8 hours to get from Selimiye to Yalova… 😣 In the middle of all this I remembered it was my dad’s birthday! Luckily, this time zone is first so I got to wish him a happy bday around 4a PT. Lol I got to call him after dinner too, but I digress.

Once we arrived to his grandma’s place, we were ushered in by his aunt and grandma and sat in the living room where she tried to tell me about Gokay in Turkish and I didn’t understand anything. Gokay did a lot of translating. His grandma had made, and then aunt served, a type of cercasian food called velibak, with grapes and tea. According to Gokay this pancake like food is normally a lot thinner but his grandma wouldn’t take help from anyone to make them.

Then his aunt started working on dinner, his uncle came home and I took a shower. Then we had dinner of grilled fish, parslain yogurt, potato’s, salad and of course Raki (the licorice alcohol). With watermelon for dessert.

After that, Gokay, his aunt, uncle and I did a nice walk along the boardwalk of Yalova which is literally a block from both the apartment (the aunt and uncle live in next door building). It was a beautiful sunset and a beautiful, busy, boardwalk. You can see Istanbul (both sides) from here.

On the way back we got ice cream, and Gokay had me try a Turkish style of ice cream sandwich (Helvali), which is made with two filled wafers (4 total layers of wafer) with the ice cream between. It took us a while to order because Gokay had to read the flavor list to me (luckily not super long… but still long). I picked 3 flavors: 1) honey with clotted cream (balkaymak), 2) blueberry (yaban mersini) and 3) raspberry (frambuaz). Yum!

We stopped at his aunts house where we turned on the tv to hear the news about the queens death (😭😔) and had some late night tea, and then headed back to his grandmas to say goodnight and sleep.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

Phew was this an early morning as we had to drive to Marmaris to catch a ferry to Rhodes.

Last night we went to bed around midnight and woke up at 6a. By 6:30, Gokay and I were ready and eating sigara boregi with Turkish tea (Gokay’s mom must have woken up earlier to fry them for us. Carly and Adam were ready by 7, which was our leave time, so they had decided to use their morning for sleep and packing, as today we were splitting up, they are staying on Rhodes and going onto Athens.

We left at 7, drove to the ferry terminal on the other side of Marmaris (about an hour drive). We arrived around 8:15a, Gokay parked the car and his mom checked us in. Then we got in line and had to go through customs (I got a Marmaris stamp!) by the time we got on the boat, not many seats were left so we were in the middle of the upper floor. No outside seating on this boat. It’s more like an airplane. The ferry left around 9:15, and got to Rhodes around 10:30. Gokay, his mom and I slept, Adam and Carley were in a different row, not sure what they did. Once off the boat we had to go through customs again where I got a Rhodes stamp in my passport.

For those who know nothing about Rhodes, like myself before today, it’s an island that has passed hands a lot. First, it was Hellenistic Greeks, then Byzantine, next Ottomans took it over, and then randomly Italians came in the early 90s, and finally it’s back in Greek hands. Due to this there is such a variety of structures and styles placed inside the old palace walls some feels very old, some feels middle eastern and some very European. Every corner is different. Although it was a beautiful city it was very very touristy.

We officially left the harbor/pier around 11a, and went to Adam and Carley’s hotel to drop off their suitcases, even though they couldn’t check in yet. Then we headed into the city and walked around. We ended up near an info office and got a free map. Then we headed to the palace and instead of paying 8 euro we decided to get a combined pass which gave us 4 sights for 10 euro.

We saw the palace which had some beautiful mosaics but not enough descriptions about the palace itself or how it’s changed over time.

Next, Gokay’s mom had told us about a mosaic museum, which was right next door to the palace. But turns out it was under construction. At that point Adam and Carley were getting hungry, not having eaten breakfast. So Adam found a nearby place on Google. The sparkling lemonades we all had were good, especially since it was very hot and we were all thirsty. The food was large portions for the price, but they did not have the best food or service… but it was food, so I can’t complain.

Once we finished we ended up back near the info office we started at for the other 3 museums on the combined pass - archeology, museum of crafts and a church. The church had the most description of how it went from a church to a mosque back to a church and how fires and earthquakes had affected it over time.

Once we finished with the 4 places of the combined pass we were struggling on what to fo next, so we did a little walking through some of the different city wall gates and made our way back to Adam and Carley’s hotel to let them check in. Due to timing and not having phone service in Greece we decided to say our goodbyes at this point.

Gokay, his mom and I, walked around the town a little trying to find a mosque she wanted to see as she remembered liking the area nearby it. Turns out we went in a circle, which honestly I didn’t mind too much, even with being hot, tired and thirsty, because I got to see more of the town.

Once we found the mosque we sat down for some cold water and drinks. All three of us ended up with fruit smoothies. It was lovely to sit and relax after a hot couple of hours. That brought us to 4p which was perfect timing for us to head back to the harbor to catch the boat back to Marmaris. Good thing we arrived a little early because turned out Gokay threw away his paper ticket, so he had to wait in line to get his ticket again. Not a problem just more of a time suck, meaning we didn’t get a window seat on the boat like we had hoped. We had to go back through customs again on both sides, this time on the boat Gokay slept, his mom relaxed, and I read for a little until maybe the last 20 min where I fell asleep. Gokay and I both regret not bringing headphones… the trip there and back were long both car and boat.

Once off the boat in Marmaris, his mom stopped at two stores to pick things up, and we headed back to Selimiye. We arrived around 7:40, so although I had wanted to take a shower, we also didn’t want dinner too late. So we dropped things off, quickly changed, picked up Gokay’s dad and headed to a local Italian restaurant.

It was on the same boardwalk as the seafood restaurant we went to. Nothing too fancy, but again Gokay’s dad knows the owner, so we got seated pretty quickly. That being said it was already 8:30p, and I was hungry. So hungry, that I forgot to take pictures of the food before digging it, also it was bad lighting… 🙃

We got a bottle of rose for the table, Gokay and I shared a spaghetti bolognese and a pizza with roasted artichokes, arugula and cheese. And enjoyed it all while on the waterfront. When we were paying, the owner was nice and offered us dessert, panna cotta with lemon curd and a tiramisu. Yum!

We headed home and spent the evening packing and getting ready to travel back to Yalova to visit Gokay’s grandma.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

Today was boat day! Woke up at 8:30, with a 9/9:30ish leave time since we would get breakfast on the boat. But we ended up leaving around 10.

Because there are 6 of us and only 5 fit in the car. Gokay’s mom left a little earlier and took a shuttle to the marina in Bozburun. We arrived by car around 10:20, and got on the boat. It was a motorboat, with a cabin inside, a table in back, driver wheel in the middle and a covered laying area with a bench seat at the front. It also had an upper story with seating but it wasn’t covered. We got under way around 10:40 (Gokay had to park the car).

Once we left, a full Turkish breakfast was served on the way to our first location. Simit, bread, menemen (egg and tomato dish), cucumbers, tomatoes, butter, honey, and obviously Turkish tea.

We got to the first location, and finished breakfast. This location was a cute little cove with a couple other boats. Beautiful turquoise water. We all got our sunscreen on and all jumped in. Not all at the same time but at some point all 6 of us were in the water. Gokay’s parents have a couple of snorkeling masks, one was this cool full face one with the snorkel on top, it was awesome! Thinking I should buy one… if I ever live near water I can swim in. 🤣 Once the captain and his wife had finished the dishes, we got out of the water and headed to the next place.

This place was a cove where a lot of similar day tour boats were. There was great swimming, lots of little fish, rocks, saw some huge sea urchins in the rocks (p.s., we saw some in the water at the rock beach of the restaurant, Gokay’s parents said it’s very unusual but because of warming oceans this is the first year they’ve seen them). Many of the boats were making lunch by grilling fish/kofte meatballs on little grills off the back of their boats. Our boat did the same. When lunch was ready we got out and enjoyed grilled fish, kofte, tomato/cucumber/onion/pepper salad, potato salad (a little different than the US, they put pickles in). It was lovely.

After lunch we chilled. Some people napped. Gokay and I went swimming again, I also wrote some of this and read a little.

After about an hour we got going again to a third place. This location was extremely deep, with steep terraced rock formations right up to the shore, so the boat could get pretty close. It sadly was the most littered, we saw a tire, a broken plate, a couple of rope pieces lots of bottles. We were coming back to the boat and the anchor came undone so we had to get in quickly and go to the next and final place. While on our way they served small cookies and “cake” which was more like coffee cake.

The final spot was near an old Roman settlement, so there’s ruins of a tower in the sand bar we stopped near. There was nothing but a couple of rocks near the tower in this water. It was all perfectly white sand and waist high water only a couple of swim strokes away from the boat. The captain told us not to dive/jump in because it was so shallow. We finished up and we were served MORE food- watermelon. Once we got back we had the 6 ppl to a small 5 person car dilemma, so Carley and Adam stayed behind at a bar, while gokay took myself and his parents back. I drove back with him to get Carley and Adam. While on the way got an amazing above view of Selimiye.

Next was dinner… yes more food! Gokay was asked to grill lamb shanks and skewers. While the rest was a smorgasbord of cold appetizers such as dolma and artichoke hearts. So Gokay got started on setting up the grill. It was an hour+ process from start of grill to finishing the meat. But it was so yummy and perfectly done.

So once it was done we ate it all with some wine. I’m so full! And then the dessert came out… pana cotta with cherry sauce and chocolate mouse on top. Plus the cookie like dessert we had the other day with breakfast.

Due to having an early morning tomorrow (6a alarm set) we finished our dessert, cleaned up and headed to our rooms. I’m finishing the journal entry and we are going to bed.

[sylvinuk-turkey]

So although we got in at 1a to the hotel, it took awhile to get settled and even a little longer because Gokay pressed the wrong button on the AC remote and took about 30+ min to fix it. Once fixed we passed out. But between my darn body clock and the windows not having black out curtains I woke up around 8a. At least it was to this view. Gokay woke up around 10a, we all had breakfast from 11-12 with the view behind us.

Then we headed out around 1p for beaches and to see the town. First we drove the 30 min back up the road the direction we came last night and went to the “touristy” sand bar beach/inlet. It was a little rocky, and we were told not to dunk our head in (the water doesn’t really circulate well and it’s the Marina), so we just walked down and back. We dried off a little and then headed back to Selimiye.

Once in Selimiye we picked up Gokay’s dad and headed in the other direction down the road to a local beach. Which Gokay had described as not crowded and you can drive right up to it… turns out Selimiye has changed since he was last here�� much more populated. And even this beach which is known as “the crappiest beach” by Gokay, is well populated and it was very very enjoyable. The water was perfectly salty so floating is super easy, it’s not wavy/windy, its shallow-ish, and the perfect temperature. We stayed there for about 2.5 hours and then headed back to the house where we showered and got ready for 7:30p dinner. (That’s Gokay’s dad sitting at the waters edge in the picture).

Once Gokay and I were ready, his mom offered us a snack on the patio before dinner (since dinner was going to be a 3 hour affair). So she served artichoke hearts in oil with peas, carrots, and onions on top. As well as zucchini blossom dolma and Champaign (from their recent trip to Spain). It was lovely to sit on the porch, with the view and have this snack while waiting for everyone to be ready.

Once ready we had to have the discussion of who’s going in the car vs walking because we are now 6 going to dinner, so we wouldn’t all fit in the car. We decided Gokay and I would walk and then his mom would drive everyone else down. Gokay and I hit the bottom of the hill from his parents place and got a call from his mom saying the car wouldn’t start. So Gokay went back to help, I walked by myself along the waterfront to the restaurant which was lovely. Turns out Adam and Carley ended up walking too just with all the car struggles. We all made it to the restaurant around the same time. The reason this restaurant is because the owner has known Gokay’s father since before he started the restaurant. The owners dad owned a the water front property and had a store, then passed it along to his son (the owner) who decided to do a restaurant. He utilized Gokay’s fathers council both from a business perspective and also a building perspective, as he built the restaurant into a very successful business.

P.S. if I didn’t mention, Gokay’s father came to this town in ‘79 when absolutely nothing was here, just a dirt hill. He has built this whole hotel (which is more different sized units they rent out) from the ground up, including the road from the main road, because the city government deemed it too steep. So, he’s been here a long time and seen the whole town grow into what it is today, and many people know him. Including the restaurant owner, which made getting a reservation at this now acclaimed place, visited by famous people, very easy.

We were seated on a pier that went into the water, my seat was literally an inch from falling into the water, no railing! It was a little disconcerting but also a lovely view. Again we spent about 3 hours eating. We did the appetizers, which I got to help Gokay pick, then fried calamari… which all of us agreed is the best calamari we’ve had EVER! I didn’t even need lemon. We had a whole grilled fish as an entre… which was good but I was waayyy too full at this point to finish. And then we got 3 slices of cheesecake with chocolate sauce, one for each couple. It’s not the cheesecake or chocolate sauce you’d expect in the US it was lighter.

Then we headed home. Gokay took his parents in the car and I walked back with Carley and Adam. It’s a cute little town, very chill. It’s bed time now since I didn’t get much sleep last night and it was a full sunny/water activity day which always is tiring (in a good way). And tomorrow we are spending a full day on a boat!