Marmaris. Turkey. October, 2004.
Well what can I say apart from the fact that it was hotter than I expected it to be at this time of the
year. Temperatures are usually around the 80 mark and that is plenty hot enough for me when they climb over
that mark to reach 98 then that is when I crawl in to the shade. It was hotter while we were there than it was
in August.!!!
Not too bad sat on the beach on a sun bed with your toes in the water quite pleasant in fact.
The bay of Marmaris is very similar to the Greek Islands, and is only a short trip from the island of Rhodes.
Looking at the view while having breakfast was really brilliant. We could see right across the bay to the harbour, and a number of cruise ships came in for 1 or two days while we there, including the QE2.
We were at the Southern end of the town, away from the hassle and hustle and while the hotel was a bit like Fawlty Towers, it was situated right on the beach, and that was worth a lot to me. It took me 3 days to get the shower fixed so that it didn't spray water all over floor, and the last 3 days we were in the hotel there was no hot water!
The last 3 days of our holiday there was only 4 of staying as the hotel was closing for the winter. Everything was being taken away while we were there which was a laugh. Sun beds disappeared Umbrellas were taken down. some of the restaurants also closed, ours had to stay open to feed us!
That in itself was a laugh as by the middle of the second week it was not so much a question of the waiter asking us what would we like&, but us asking the waiter “What is there left” The food was good though, and also reasonable.
We had a boat trip to Dalyon, which is fairly close to the airport. We changed from the big boat into 4 smaller shallow bottomed boats for a trip through the reed beds, miles of them, which are harvested and the reeds are used as thatching for some of the buildings. From the waterways you can see tombs that have been cut in the side of the mountain, and are beautifully carved, also the remains of caves where people used to live.
Some of the reeds are over 20ft high..!!!
Marmaris Castle
According to the historian Heredotus, there has been a castle in Marmaris since 3000 BC. During the Hellenistic Age Caria was invaded by Alexander the Great and the castle was besieged. The 600 inhabitants of the town realised that they had no chance against the invading army and burned their valuables in the castle before escaping to the hills with their women and children. The invaders knowing the strategic value of the castle, repaired the destroyed sections to house a few hundred soldiers before the main army returned home.
The 17th century writer Evliya Celebi mentions the castle, which was rebuilt by Kanuni Sultan Süleyman in 1522 when he invaded Rhodes.
Since 1979, renovation work has been continuing at the castle, in order to restore it back to original condition. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, the castle has been converted into a museum. There are seven galleries, of which the largest is being used as an exhibition hall and the courtyard is decorated with seasonal flowers.
Mud Baths.
I refrained from participating in this activity!!! ? I wasn't sure what else was in there. But it was good for a laugh. When you have been in there you stand around so that the mud dries on you then cold shower and the go into the hot springs. After that you should look and feel 20 years younger !!!! I must admit it wasn't very noticeable.
After the mud baths the boats took us back through the Reed beds to Turtle Island which is a small sand bank where the turtles come to lay their eggs every year. We didn't see any turtles as I think it was little late in the year for them.
There was a pool at the hotel but when we arrived it had not been used for 2 or 3 weeks as a pump had broken and it was just a morass of green algae. It was fixed and cleaned while we there but they didn't put any more water in it.
In the garden a variety of fruit was there for the taking.. Orange, Lemon, Pomegranate, and Grapefruit Nice.
Market day.
Well you could use almost any kind of currency and they were quite willing to accept almost anything other than the Turkish lira. Clothing was very cheap and I understood why some people had brought exceptionally large suitcases with them Tea-shirts were 7 for £10 tobacco was also very cheap but a lot of it was Turkish in English packaging. Dior(!!) handbags 6 for £10. Underpants 20 for £10 - all with exclusive named elastic at the top all replicas. The buses going to the market were all jammed packed with people, but there were plenty of them so you didn't have to wait long for the next one. At the end of the day they used to crawl along looking for customers, trying to keep a reasonable distance away from the bus in front Quite funny really.
Just over the wall from the pool was a Night club, where the reps charged extortionist prices for a poor meal, lots of poor wine.. And some Turkish entertainment, and convinced you really were having a very good time. The music was so loud that it gave you a headache three streets away luckily it wasn't open every night, and it did close at midnight.
We enjoyed the break, We weren't very happy though when we landed back at Manchester airport at 7-0am to find it was cold and wet. But we were glad we missed all the rain that fallen while we were away.!!!
© , 2004 ~ further reading at All About Turkey.com