Turkey - Week 30

Monday 7th January 2019

We had a couple of days spare to have a look around the area while we were waiting to catch the ferry to Rhodes. We decided to continue along the D400 to Datça, a town that sits near the end of a peninsula overlooking the Aegean Sea. 

Again the drive was stunning. Andy had decided today was the day he was putting his shorts back on,  which I’m sure jinxed the weather lol. We drove the 50 miles along a very scenic route and in that time, we had rain, brilliant sunshine, sleet, rainbows and hailstones!! 

After finding a parking place down a side road we walked along the seafront and into the town. My internet had run out so we found a Turkcell shop and with the help of the lovely lady assistant and google translate, we topped it up. 

It was such a quiet out of the way spot where we’d parked, we ended up spending the night there. There were more thunder storms over night but in the morning we were back to blue skies and sunshine and Andy had his trousers back on!!

We drove back along the D400 to Icmeler. The drive was even more stunning in the sunshine. The colourful rocks at the sides of the road were covered in greenery and the views of the sea, surrounding the islands were amazing. 

We stopped at one of the water taps at the side of the road to fill up with water and then carried on to Icmeler. 

From the mountain road we could see the town and the bay in the bottom, but as we got closer we realised most of it was closed for the winter. We love it when it’s like that, it meant we would have no problem finding a parking place. We walked around the beautiful bay taking in the scenery. Some men were working on their boats in readiness, we presumed, for the holiday season. Some guys were fishing and there was even a couple eating lunch sat on the chairs at the end of the jetty. We could see why people would want to stay there for a week in the sun! 

We drove further round the bay to a dead end so we could take some photos. 

On our return to Marmaris, we settled down in our previous camping spot in readiness for the next day and our ferry boat ride to Rhodes. 

When we got up it was dark. It’s the first time we’d showered with the bathroom light on which seemed strange. Usually we don’t climb out of bed until it’s daylight. The joys of having a year off!!

The ferry boat was in walking distance of the car park where we’d stayed. It was cold and frosty but the skies were clear and there was no wind thank goodness. 

When we walked into the harbour we showed our passports at the security gate and walked down to the ticket office. By that time the sun had made an appearance. We bought 2 day returns to Rhodes which usually cost 40€ each but luckily for us, they had a half price promotion. Result!! 

We waited in line to go through security, passport control, and the duty free. It didn’t take long probably due to the time of year. Before we boarded we wandered around looking at the scenery and could see the sea actually steaming!! Something we’d never seen before. 

The crossing took an hour and luckily the sea was calm. We docked in the old town, Andy put his watch back an hour, we went through passport control and customs again and then we were free to wander around on our own. 

We’d been warned that because it was out of season most touristy things would be closed. It was brilliant, no crowds to contend with, no tat shops open, just an uninterrupted view of the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage town. We walked up the street of the Knights, after calling in to the tourist information for a map.

Rhodes.gr says ... Along the street seven imposing inns were constructed in the early 16th century, representing the seven countries, or tongues, that the Knights of the Order of St John were originated from. Each facade is decorated with emblems and details that reflect the respective country. With no doubt, the finest of them is the Auberge de France that was built between 1492 and 1503. Most of the Grand Masters were French so their influence on the architecture was considerable. Stonemasons and craftsmen were for the most part Greek but workers from France and Spain were also brought here ... 

We walked around the French and Italian “Inns” and up to the Palace of the Grand Master. It was 3€ each to enter and have a look around. It wasn’t difficult to imagine what it must have been like all those centuries ago. 

Afterwards we walked through the maze of cobbled streets and had lunch in a cafe. A proper bread roll with ham, cheese and tomatoes. Didn’t realise how much I’d missed “proper” bread rolls lol.

Then a walk around the stunning harbour in the sunshine admiring the crystal clear water, trying not to trip over any cats. Then back through the Medieval moat and back onto the Ferry. What an amazing place!! 

It’s a shame we couldn’t take Harriet, but maybe a Greek Island hopping adventure could be on the cards in the future! I’m so glad we made the effort to visit.

It had poured with rain over night and was still raining when we got up. How lucky were we with the weather in Rhodes!! 

It was time to leave beautiful Marmaris and the surrounding area and truck on to Kuşadası. We’d had word from the film crew that they wanted to meet us soon to make the next installment of our epic adventure. We decided on Athens at the beginning of February. The shortest route to the capital was 875 miles, so not too far to travel. 

On the way, we stopped to fill up with water from one of the many public water taps. 

A rumble of thunder reverberated around the hills with a flash of lightening mixed in, which made me aware that Andy was stood outside with his umbrella up!! Luckily nothing happened to him. 

Reaching Kuşadası we braved the nutty traffic to find the laundry we’d found on Google Maps. It had great reviews, (opposed to the few others we’d found). The guy spoke really good English and told us to return the next day at 5pm to collect our washing, perfect. 

We parked down on the Marina in a 24 hour car park (25tl). Thank goodness it was sheltered as it was still pouring down with rain and blowing a hooley!! We could hear the masts of the boats rattling and clanging, and as the wind blew harder we could hear something which sounded like someone blowing over the top of a glass bottle. We were listening to our very own “out of tune” orchestra lol. 

Andy put the stabilizers on the back of Harriet and I put my ear plugs in and apart from hearing a few massive rumbles of thunder we had a good nights sleep. 

It was still raining next morning but by lunchtime it had dried up, although there were still some ominous black clouds lurking about. Not ones to let the weather stop us we went out. The seafront of Kuşadası is quite nice but the rainbow buildings on the hillside were my favourite. 

We wandered along the revetment, had coffee in Starbucks so we could use the free WiFi to download some episodes of the Blacklist to watch later. Then up to the laundry to collect the washing. We managed to back to the van in the dry too. 

Andy’s internet had run out, so we did a quick stroll next morning to the local Turkcell shop to get a top up, then we were back on the road to Ephesus. 

Lots of people had recommended a visit to the Ephesus Archaeological site. After parking in the car park, one of the parking attendants asked us to move to a different area. He was a nice chap, very friendly, told us the site was 3km to the top and 3km back again. Most people are dropped off by coach at the top and are collected at the bottom but ... if we visited the local carpet factory, we could get a free shuttle bus. It was chucking it down with rain, so what had we got to lose? 

The factory was only small but we were welcomed inside by a nice guy. A lady was sat weaving a rug at a loom while he explained to us what she was doing. It was very impressive and I’m always in awe of how skillful people are. They made rugs out of wool, dyed with natural colours, as well as silks and cotton. Some of the more intricate ones took 2 women months to finish. 

We were also shown how they spun silk, from the silk worm cocoons after soaking them in water. It was fascinating. In the next room they unraveled carpets for us to look at. They were gorgeous and if we had a house that needed rugs, I probably would have bought one, but we didn’t. They weren’t offended at us not making a purchase and instead, asked us where we’d been and where we were going. They suggested we visit Ayvalık on the way up to Troy & Gallipoli by taking the coastal route rather than the highway. 

After saying our goodbyes, the driver took us up to the other end of Ephesus so we could walk back down through the ruins. 

The rain poured down and thunder rumbled around the hills. The water ran in torrents over the slabs of stone so much so, that both our feet were wet. It was still an impressive place to visit, and I’m so glad we didn’t miss out on it because of the weather. 

Luckily the bathroom in Harriet doubles up as a brilliant drying room when the heating’s on, so we hung all our wet clothes up in there to dry. 

The weather worsened and it literally threw it down with rain and hail stones. Louder crashes of thunder echoed around the hills and the lightning lit up the sky. We could imagine people centuries ago being scared to death that they’d offended the Gods!! Us, we just love a good electric storm lol. 

We left the archaeological site at Ephesus hoping to get to Ayvalık. As we drove past the farmers fields, we could see that most were underwater. We just hoped the crops they’d planted weren’t ruined. At one point there was so much water that it felt like we were on a road in the middle of the sea. 

We were 5km south of Aliaga when a Turkish guy overtook us and flagged us down. We pulled into a petrol station and he told us we had brake fluid all over our back wheel. He wanted to try and help but we said thank you but no thank you. 

This time we were going to call Fiat Assist. We tried the phone numbers we had and all combinations of international dialing codes but nothing would work. Andy wondered if the problem was the Turkcell SIM cards. We swapped one back to EE and tried again. It worked and we were able to ask for assistance. 

While we waited for the recovery vehicle to turn up, we decided to get the cards out. 

An hour later Harriet was sat on the back of the recovery truck. At one point my heart was in my mouth because as Harriet was being winched up the ramp, the back end was a cats whisker away from scraping the floor. The recovery guy was very professional and lifted her up without a scratch. 

We were taken to a Fiat garage back in Izmir where we stayed overnight. Another free city centre camping spot. Every cloud and all that!!+