Tour Second Day: Yesemek Open Air Museum; Islahiye; Zeugma Museum

Carvings are found sitting all up the hillside at Yesemek Open Air Museum.
These are ancient and have withstood the ravages of the elements well.

After a leisurely breakfast and a fairly late start on the day our group departed the hotel in Gaziantep at 09:00 for Day 2 of our tour.  This day we had a new driver and a really nice Mercedes small bus.  It had less luggage room than the bus yesterday but had much more leg room and very comfortable seats.  Our driver did not speak any English but he always had a smile for everyone and had a great personality.  He invited us to visit his village and share a drink of ayran provided by his wife.  We all thought that would be a nice thing to do, so he drove first to his village.  
As always, click on any image for larger view.

Bus driver and his youngest son

We westerners were quite the novelty in that little village!  Women were looking down at us from their second-story windows and soon were holding their babies and toddlers out the windows for us to photograph.  We could smell the goats of the village but I don't remember seeing any of them walking about.

Bus driver's wife serving us ayran.

The driver's wife served glasses of ayran to everyone.  It is considered very rude in Turkey to refuse something offered to you.  But both Bill and I did refuse anyway, as neither of us can stand ayran.  I think it is positively vile!!!  I would gag involuntarily if I attempted to be polite and drink that salty tangy liquid.  That would be even more rude than simply saying "no, thank you."  I think everyone else in our group liked ayran, or they at least drank that one glass of the stuff. Most of them really did like the stuff and drank it several times during this trip.  Ayran is like the national drink of Turkey. 

Village women showing us their babies.  Hold on
tight!  That is an upstairs window.

Here is a recipe; you be the judge as to whether this is something you might like to drink:        How to make ayran

The driver very much wanted us to visit the new Gaziantep zoo.  He was quite proud of it.  Our group declined; we have all seen very nice zoos in many cities; this trip was to experience ancient sites.  

The first scheduled tour stop was a drive of several hours -- almost on the border with Syria! There have been no 'incidents' at the Syrian/Turkish border in recent weeks and we were not near any of the re-settlement camps so we honestly were not concerned with any safety issues. 

Syria as seen from my bus window

The drive took us along a good distance within 2.5 miles of the border.  What do you know! That part of Syria did not look a bit different than that part of Turkey.  Hard to tell exactly where that official border is.  We had discussed this with our guide yesterday.  This part of Turkey has a long history with its neighbors.  The population of this region of Turkey is roughly 1/3 Turkish; 1/3 Arabic descent (which includes Syrians); and 1/3 Kurdish; with a nominal number of Syriac Orthodox Christians.  

Syria viewed from my bus window

All of them get along just fine.  They have lived together for more than 2,000 years and there are family relations across all the borders of Turkey/Syria and Turkey/Iraq and Turkey/Iran.  The countries might have borders but the family relations do not.  The Turks will not abandon their Syrian relatives and friends during this time of crisis in Syria.  There are now officially more than 600,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey; locals estimate the actual number to be about one million.  Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan wants to give these Syrian refugees the right to vote in Turkey.  Hmmmmm.........wonder who they might vote for in the next election.  And their Turkish relatives and friends would probably vote for the same person -- the one who allowed the Syrians to enter Turkey and is assisting with housing and granting voting rights even through they are not citizens of this country.  What a way to guarantee an election!

Picking cotton in fields near Yesemek.  There were
many, many cotton fields.  Had no idea so much
cotton was grown in this part of the world.

Anyway......politics aside......we were on holiday so we forgot about the Syrian troubles and focused on our day.  Our destination was the Yesemek Open Air Museum -- the oldest discovered sculpture workshop in the world, dating back to the second millennia B.C.  Turkey has opened several Open Air Museums around the country.  This is the first one we have visited. 

Lady selling brochures for the museum.  She is wearing
the colorful typical Turkish clothing.  

Back to the topic at hand--our visit to Yesemek Open Air Museum.  According to the brochure purchased at the museum, the Yesemek quarry and sculpture workshop was first discovered in 1890 by Felix von Luschan, director of the Zincirli, ancient Sam'al excavations.  The sculpture workshop provided study of Hittite and Neo-Hittite art and sculpture.  It shows methods of quarrying and shaping basalt blocks.  It provides examples in every stage of production of rough-outs of sphinxes, lions, relieves, statues in the round, etc.  It provides stone rough-outs of motifs of many things, including those lions, sphinxes, mountain gods and man-bears.  This work shows the cross-cultural exchange of symbols that are present in sculptural art.

A sphynx weighing several tons.  How did they move
these heavy stones all up this hillside?

The first craftsman were probably of Aramaean origin in the Neo-Hittite period of 10th to 8th centuries B.C. when the region was within the Kingdom of Sam'al.  Later the Hittites worked here.  None of the tools used in making the sculptures have been found.  Analysis of samples from various stages of the sculptures indicate that tools used likely included stone hammers and chisels, polishing stones and levers. 

Note the detail of this face and headdress
and think of how old it is.  These are well
preserved to have been exposed  so long.

No evidence of the saw or drill has been recovered in Yesemek; nevertheless basalt orthostates with drilled holes found 6 miles north of the workshop in excavation levels dating to 18th and 17th centuries B.C. suggest that the drill was known to the stone masons at Yesemek.  Architectural sculptures commissioned from Yesemek were sent to their final destination unfinished and did not have holes drilled into them.

A tiny piece of old art.

The Yesemek quarry and sculpture workshop was abandoned in the last quarter of the 8th century B.C.  The partially-carved and some fully-carved stones are placed all the way up the hill. 

Two people.

Some of the workmanship is astonishing considering the tools that must have been available at the time.

Detail still visible.  Man with upraised arms.

Next we drove to the nearby town of Islahiye for lunch.  Prior to the current Syrian rebel uprising, this town was the railway connection for the train direct to Damascus, Syria.  That train route has been discontinued due to the civil war in Syria.  

One of the many cups of tea daily.
This is how Turkish tea is served.

Small town of Islahiye where we westerners were a surprise.

You should have seen the stares we got from the local people!!  They do not get tourists here; we were very much oddities!  A local girl overheard Tas speaking with us so she could tell he was our guide.  She asked him in Turkish, "Why are they here?"  Tas got a laugh out of that.  There are no historical sites in Islahiye, so why were we there.  Just to eat a local lunch.  Which turned out to be the least expensive meal of our entire trip and just as good as any of the more expensive city places where we later dined.



I noted later on our map of Turkey that when at Islahiye we were only about 70 miles from the first Christian church in the world.  The very first Christian church.  Supposedly founded in 32 A.D. by the Syriac Orthodox Christians.  It is located at Hatay, Turkey, a/k/a Antakya; and in ancient times was known as Antioch.  But it is not possible to see everything and this group tour did not go down to Antioch/Hatay/Antakya.  Very sorry we missed this. Especially regrettable since later in the tour we would be visiting several Syriac Orthodox sites.  More basic information can be found here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antioch

Portion of a 2nd century floor mosaic

Rather than continuing south to Antioch, we continued north to the highway connecting eastward back towards Gaziantep, about a 2 hour drive.  Next destination was the fabulous Zeugma Museum.  I cannot praise this museum too highly; it is great.  The full name is something like the Gaziantep Archeological Museum but it is known as the Zeugma Museum.  Here are housed some of the artifacts and spectacular mosaics which were rescued from the very important ancient Roman city of Zeugma.  The site of Zeugma was flooded after the building of the Birecik Dam on the Euphrates River in year 2000.

2nd century floor mosaic covering an entire room

Most of the mosaics dated to 2nd century A.D.  These are just unbelievable.  Such precision craftsmanship!  As well as artistry.  Most of the mosaics were enormous sections of floor designs.  Some were from pools but most were from regular floors.  Those ancient rich Romans did enjoy elegant homes of that period.  Photography is allowed inside the museum but only without flash lighting.  So my resulting non-flash photos most definitely do not do justice to these beautiful mosaics.

Small section of a floor mosaic.  Taken
with zoom lens but no flash

A large wall mosaic.

Here is link to a bit of information on this museum:

Zeugma Museum

And here is a link to a YouTube video of some of the mosaics in this museum:

YouTube Video of Zeugma Museum

Latrine on left. Floor pools flow toward the latrine; then
waste was removed by the water down the pipes and out
of the building.  What a convenience to have indoor toilets.

The photo on left was taken from 2 stories above, looking down on floors of several adjoining rooms which were removed from the ancient town of Zeugma and reconstructed here in this museum.  This reconstructed exhibit was approximately 80-feet long by 20-feet wide.


Probably the most famous mosaic housed here is the one of the Gypsy Girl.  The Gypsy Girl is mounted on a wall inside a darkened room accessed via a series of turns from the well-lighted interior of the museum, resulting in almost no ambient light in the room at all.  The eyes do appear to follow you as you move about the room.  How the artist achieved this using small squares of stone is amazing.  And with only those tools available back in those ancient times makes it even more amazing.  Bill and I were reminded of our friend Randal on M/V Dora Mac.  Randal got very interested in mosaics in Cyprus, Turkey and Tunisia.  He would have especially appreciated this Gypsy Girl.

The Gypsy Girl was found beneath layers of soil in the House of Menad.  Historical artifact traffickers had raided this building of all other mosaics, but they did not find the Gypsy Girl during their illegal diggings because she was covered with soil.  She was later found during the proper archaeological excavations performed before the dam flooded Zeugma.  As a joke, the excavation workers dubbed this mosaic The Gypsy Girl because of her uncombed hair, round face and earrings.  That name stuck.  There is no illuminating data regarding her identity but some scholars claim she is one of the maenads present in Dionysus festivals because of the tendrils near her head.  (In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus, and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones")  Others speculate that she might be a portrait of Alexander the Great.  Frankly, I don't buy that idea.  The appearance of both sadness and joy in the facial expression illustrate the stage artists had reached in portraits composed by tiny mosaic colored tiles.

The Gypsy Girl.
Remember, no flash was allowed or there would be a better photo.

The museum building on the right-hand side houses mosaics from the 5th century A.D.  These are very different from those mosaics crafted 300 years earlier.  And the differences were dramatic.  Very dramatic even to our unlearned eyes.  

The mosaics from 2nd century were precision cut and mounted; colors were vibrant even after all these years; designs were extremely intricate.  

The mosaics from the 5th century were not precision cut and mounted; the tiles were not nearly as tiny as those produced earlier and the edges appeared roughly cut.  The designs were not intricate and exhibiting artistry.  The designs of the 5th century appeared crude in comparison. Plus, the 5th century mosaics were just plain beige background spaces with crudely designed animals, birds and leaves in basic brown and black tiles.  No colors; no artistry; poor craftsmanship.  

The best wall mosaic in the building housing 5th century work

What happened during that 300 year period to destroy man's ability to produce this artwork?

This is pure speculation but it might have something to do with the Christian belief at that time that it was sacrilegious to depict a human being in a painting or sculpture or mosaic.  That period could feasibly have resulted in a loss of artists' ability to create beautiful works as they had been able to accomplish 300 years earlier.   That is the only logical explanation that occurs to me.  Religion told them not to do it and over time they lost the knowledge and ability to do it.

Whatever the reason, the decline in quality of craftsmanship and artistry is remarkable.

Tour First Day: Gaziantepe -- the Citadel, Zincirli Bedesten, Sirvani Mosque

  As always, click on any image for larger view.

Bins of nuts sold on many sidewalks.  We watch a bird standing on top of
one bin, eating his fill.  We will not be buying from these outdoor bins.

One of the major enjoyments of cruising foreign countries is exploring new areas via land travel. Interesting historical sites are very plentiful in Turkey;  this is a country very rich in history.  Last week we were fortunate to have the opportunity of participating in a small group tour to the Southeastern Anatolia Region.  The tour was organized by Gwen through Koral Travel Agency; Gwen is a longtime resident of Marmaris and a fellow sailor.  Fifteen sailors participated, 7 of whom we already knew either from the tour last year to Cappadocia or had met out sailing somewhere.  This was a 7-day tour originating out of Marmaris, which meant 9 days for us since we started and ended in Fethiye.  We took the bus from Fethiye to Marmaris and stayed overnight with Gwen aboard her boat S/V Kornweld (known to everyone as K.W.) in Netsel Marina.  Enjoyed a lovely dinner at Pineapple; our treat for Gwen as a token gesture for her hospitality.  At the pre-dawn hour of 06:15 we boarded the small Koral Travel bus en route to Izmir where we boarded Pegasus flight to Gaziantep.  At the Gaziantep airport we were met by another driver and small bus.  We were delighted to see that our guide was  again Tas (The 's' should have a squiggly beneath it so is pronounced Tash as in Johnny Cash.  I do not have a Turkish keyboard so cannot use the correct letters.).  Tas was our guide for the Cappadocia trip last year.  He is excellent; intelligent, knowledgeable, funny, speaks several languages and his English is perfect.

An unusual headscarf.

In Turkish the preface 'gazi' to a town name means 'war heros'.  This city was known forever as Antep.  Thousands of Turkish men in Antep were killed fighting the French in 1921 to 1923 during the Turks' struggle under General Ataturk to form a new country from the Ottoman Empire.  To honor these war heroes the name of the city was changed from Antep to Gaziantep.  It is an ancient city; and, like most of the other places we would visit during this trip, was an important part of the old Silk Road.  Merchants have traveled and traded through Gaziantep for millennia.  Gaziantep is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Top of a minaret; no idea which mosque in Gaziantep

After settling into a basic hotel we again boarded the small bus and headed off for a fabulous lunch at a restaurant right next to the Sirvani Mosque, also called Sirvani Mehmet Mosque.  The restaurant was named 'something' çağdaş   That is a coincidence because a good friend in Gocek also has the surname çağdaş.  The squiggly beneath the c and the s means those letters should be pronounced as 'ch' and 'sh' and the symbol over the g means it is silent, so the name is pronounced Chadash.   In 1923 at the formation of the country Turkey from the old Ottoman Empire each person had to choose a surname.  In Turkish the word çağdaş means modern.  A fitting new last name for a man in a 'new' country.

Sirvani Mosque under rennovation

Unfortunately, the Sirvani Mosque currently is undergoing complete restoration.  Scaffolding surrounded the entire building and minaret and entry was forbidden. Frankly, that was okay with us.  We have seen enough mosques to last a lifetime. The date of construction of this mosque is unknown although it is assumed that the mosque was built in 14th or 15th centuries during Dulkadirli or Mameluk periods.  

Sirvani Mosque minaret

The epigraph on the portal shows that the mosque was repaired in 1681 by Seyyid Mehmet Sirvani. During this renovation a water-tank with a fountain was added to the courtyard and the toilets placed beneath the ground floor. The mosque is located in the area to the west of Gaziantep Castle, one of the oldest districts in the city. The location shows that this mosque is one of the oldest buildings in Gaziantep. It is thought to have first been built as a Mevlevi "semahane" (a building where the dervishes perform their whirling spiritual dance).  Since we could not enter the mosque this provided us more time to wander the Zincirli Bedesten, which is located directly across a ultra-narrow street.

Entrance to newer separate section of the bazaar

Zincirli Bedesten means 'the chained bazaar' or Coppersmiths Market;  it is also called the Black Stairs Market.  The bazaar was built in 1781 and now is fully restored after being destroyed by fire in 1957.  It is a rambling labyrinthine bazaar.   Five doors enter the bazaar from surrounding streets, almost like spokes of a wheel except the alleys twist and turn once inside the bazaar.  The literature said there were 80 shops inside the Zincirli Bedesten, but I think there were at least double that number of those tiny shops.  The entire bazaar is filled with tap-tap-tap of the metal workers and the makers of handmade shoes and all sorts of items.  It is extremely easy to get lost.  

Inside the old labyrinthe bazaar.

Inside bazaar.

Center, where 5 alleys meet

Making copper pans by hand.

Looking into a shop inside the bazaar that had an old
boombox with a TV in the center of it.  The shop owner
would not let me take a photo of it.

Very old doors to close up shops
at night.  These were on regular
streets in the old city district,
not inside the bazaar.

Dried veggies. The white ones are
dried small squash.

Many shops both inside and outside the bazaar had the typical mini-mountains of multi-colored spices and graceful garlands of various dried chiles and other dried vegetables.  We saw these strings of dried vegetables everywhere we visited on this trip.  

The long light green ones are okra; black are eggplant; the
red ones are tomatoes and sweet & hot peppers.

Many, if not most, of the homes have no refrigeration.  Millenia ago the people of this region learned how to dry most vegetables and see no reason to switch to processed vegetables in cans or jars.  These dried vegetables are rehydrated when desired and then cooked as usual.  We have been told that these are very good and closely resemble fresh veggies.  There also were many shops selling baklava as this region of Turkey is the pistachio growing area.   Iran is the world's largest producer of pistachios, followed by the USA, and Turkey is third.  Pistachio trees covered the countryside of this region. 

These metal serving dishes were so pretty I wanted to buy
some.  Then realized these would never get used, so didn't.

Right in the heart of the bazaar is a quaint kahvehane (coffeehouse) set in a restored caravanserai.  A caravanserai was a large inn enclosing a courtyard providing accommodation for caravans during the old years of camel caravan merchants.  After our huge lunch we were not tempted by coffee and baklava, although many others in our group enjoyed the delicacies.  We got a kick out of one particular member of our group.  He loved baklava but had the oddest way of pronouncing this word.  Our neighbor in Houston for many years was a Greek who had immigrated to the USA.  His mother made the best baklava, but using walnuts rather than pistachios. 

Walking sticks, heavily inlaid; beautiful work.  Thought
about buying one for Bill's brother as a Christmas present
but did not.  (Sorry, John; you won't be getting a new
fancy walking stick for Christmas this year.)

Lamps and trinkets made from
silver and other metals

I do not eat pistachios, so this Turkish baklava was of no interest to me whatsoever.  But a British man in our group loved the Turkish baklava made from pistachios.  He pronounced it bah-CLAV-ah instead of BAHK-lah-vah.  Everytime he said bah-CLAV-ah I thought he was talking about a headscarf worn by a Russian woman.  
Heard this many times daily for a week and never did get accustomed to this strange pronunciation.  If he reads this blog posting, I submit this link for him (and some of the other Brits)  to hear how the name of this pastry should be correctly pronounced:

Correct pronunciation of baklava

Chess set; Crusaders vs. Muslims

Adjacent to the Zincirli Bedesten but not part of the labyrinthe was another section of the bazaar that was more brightly lit and with wider aisles for shopping.  This section has more items of interest to tourists.  One of our group members purchased a chess set with teams of players of the Crusaders vs. the Muslims.  Also available were teams of players such as the Egyptians vs. the Romans.  The Turks have long memories.  

Typical coat, all year long.

Another year-round coat.

I have mentioned in previous blogs that a common form of dress in Turkey is for women to wear a long coat over their clothing.  It usually looks like a raincoat and often is tight-fitting.  These are worn both winter and summer.  This area gets up to 48C in summer; that is 118F and these women still wear these coats in that heat.  

More year-round coats.  Everywhere.

The coats are worn OVER long pants or skirts AND long-sleeved tops, along with the usual tradition headscarves.  I do not see how they can tolerate that in such heat.  Don't tell me that they are used to it and don't feel the heat like we do. I have seen women stand up and their entire backs and legs are drenched with sweat, with the coat saturated.  

The inaccessible Citadel

Next we walked a few blocks to the Gaziantep Citadel.  Our guide had heard from local people that the bridge had collapsed and the citadel was closed, but we all wanted to see for ourselves that it really was closed to visitors.  It was.  The 250-year-old wooden pedestrian bridge at the entrance had collapsed just a few days prior to our visit.  There was no way to enter the castle.  I was glad that it had collapsed BEFORE we arrived rather than collapsing while we were on it.

Tower at entrance of Citadel

Gaziantep Citadel is a castle, located in the center of the city.  The history of castle is a mystery.  As a result of the relatively recent excavations conducted there, bronze age settlement layers have been found beneath the castle section existing on the surface of the soil. The original castle is next to and beneath the current old castle.  The current castle was built as an observation tower during the Roman Period and was enlarged over the course of time. It achieved its present appearance after undergoing restoration work during the period of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century AD.  It is approximately 325 feet in diameter and 3,900 feet in width.  The castle incorporates 12 towers and bastions today; but during its heyday this castle was much, much larger.  At one time it had 36 towers.  It looks quite large with just the 12 towers; I can only imagine how large it must have been when it had 36 towers.

Excavation project of the old original castle which is both
adjacent and BENEATH the Citadel sitting so high up.
The glass panels allow visitors to see the ancient site
but entry is forbidden.  

The ditch around the castle is about 33 feet deep.  Access to castle is possible only via that collapsed wooden pedestrian bridge.  According to the tourist information, inside the castle are remains of Roman baths, cisterns, masjid and various other constructions. On the basement level are halls, galleries and corridors constructed in order to provide support for the upper sections of the castle.  There is also a water source under the main block.  This citadel could have housed and protected a great many people for a very long time if a siege had occurred.

Here is a link for images and info on the Gaziantep Citadel which we were unable to enter:

Gaziantep Citadel info in first section of this link

Freshly harvested olives for sale.  People like to process
their own fresh olive oil as well as cooking the olives that
we are familiar with in jars.  Special spices to individual taste.

Next we walked through a different section of the old city area with yet even more small shops of every description.  Olives are now being harvested and there were bins and bags and barrels of olives for sale along the streets and sidewalks. 

Intricate metal work and inlays on old knives, swords & guns.

Bill liked this old gun

A sword and gun shop caught our attention. The metal work was gorgeous.

Handanbey Mosque

Our destination was yet another mosque.  I have forgotten the name of this one but it hold great meaning to the Turkish people because over 1,000 men were killed inside this mosque by the French during the fighting of 1921 to 1923.  The French would line up the men and shoot them inside the mosque.  I did not go inside but others of our group did and they spoke of the bullet holes still visible on the interior walls.

This was enough for our first day of this group tour.  It had been a long day of travel and sightseeing after a too-early rising this morning.  We were all more than ready to return to the hotel and relax.

On the bus this day one person was slightly ill and sneezed several times. A few of our group spoke a little Turkish said something each time she sneezed.  I cannot remember the Turkish words but the translations go like this:

Person sneezes and instead of "God Bless You" one says: "Long Life."

Instead of saying "Thank You" the person who sneezed says:  "May you live to see it."

Isn't that a nice exchange of expressions.

Here is a short video of men baking bread in a small shop in Gaziantep.  There were lots of these small bakeries.

Sailing season is over for this year. At least for us. We don't do cold.

We are enjoying doing nothing.  Weather is gorgeous.  Just absolutely gorgeous.  Very cool at night and warm during the day.  Occasionally some wind but mostly very calm.  It is to the point that we are running the generator mostly to run the water heater because the days of wanting cold showers are over for this year.

The Big Boys are in town!
In Gocek recently; 83 meters length.
That is 270 feet long!

After our last update we returned to Gocek and again docked at Skopea Marina.   Thought we would be there one or two nights but ended up staying there five days.  Bill wanted Emek Marine to check our our generator because he thought there was a coolant leak.  Nope, no coolant leak; it was just some spilled coolant that had collected beneath the generator and then rolled out onto the engine room floor when we sailed down to Kas.  Heeling over has a way of making fluids move about on a boat.  Once that coolant was thoroughly cleaned up there was no further drips to be found.  But the diesel mechanic did find that the heat exchanger on the generator either needed to be cleaned or replaced.  Bill opted to have them clean it first and then decide if it really needed replacement.  The cleaning worked, thank goodness!  We have paid for enough boat maintenance already this year.

One night while docked in Gocek a bit of wild weather passed through for a few hours.  Boats were dancing all over the place!  There were some drunk Russians on a large catamaran docked on our port side that caused us some worry, but they got sorted out and then proceeded to party for hours.  The drunk chunky young Russian blonde woman with over-done enhancements pole dancing on the rear patio of the catamaran was entertainment for our end of the dock.  Mostly, people were afraid she was going to fall overboard.  Drunks on boats in bad weather = a bad combination.  We tired of listening to their loud Russian rap music and were glad they departed early the following morning.

Charter catamaran not properly attended to by charter "captain" during
rough weather.  Chewed up the stern against concrete dock.

According to a captain on one of the mega-yachts the wind was 45-50 knots that evening.  Worst part was not the wind but the surging seas against the concrete dock.  A chartered catamaran just down the dock from us ground into the concrete dock and was badly damaged.  The charter "captain" was inside the boat and never bothered to attend to fenders and bow lines or anything.  He never even started the engines to keep away from the dock.  In fact, he was not even aware that his boat stern was being chewed to pieces until another guy jumped onto the cat and banged on the door to get the "captain" to come outside and tend to the boat. Just another person who had no business being turned loose with a yacht when he obviously did not know how to take care of it.  The stern of the port hull was chewed up by the concrete dock and the surging sea filled the gaping hole.  A representative for the charter company arrived the next morning and Bill overheard his phone call stating that the steering was also damaged.  Guess something to do with steering was located down in that port hull and got damaged by the sea water ingress.  We know from our experience with a Sunsail charter boat last year that the insurance does not pay in this situation.  It is considered negligence and therefore not covered by insurance.  That "captain" is personally liable for repair costs to that catamaran.  And it is not going to be an inexpensive repair.

We hung around another night at the dock because high winds were forecast.  I do not want to be anchored somewhere with a stern line tied ashore and chance getting cross-beam high winds.  I just hate that!  So we stayed docked until wind forecast improved.  Glad we did.

On the fifth day, with generator heat exchanger nicely cleaned and reinstalled and no coolant leak, we departed Gocek and motored over to Fethiye to meet up with Tom and Fran on S/V Hamamas.  They had just returned from sailing the Greek isles over the summer and stopped in Fethiye en route to their winter berth in Finicke.  We enjoyed drinks with them a couple of times and lunched one day in town.  It was nice to catch up with them again.  They also will be on the group land tour with us in a few weeks.  Turns out we know 5 of the 15 people in that group tour.

We also caught up with Peter and Sue aboard S/V Rockhopper of Lune here in the anchorage in Fethiye.  Very nice people and we enjoy their company.  They had hoped to dock for the winter at Yacht Classic but could not get in.  Eventually they got a contract at Yat Marin in Marmaris for a very shortened winter period.  Glad they found a spot for this winter.  For some reason the docks here in Turkey are very full this season and several boats have been turned away from multiple marinas.

We call this boat Kon Tiki.

Yesterday we saw a boat we call Kon Tiki.  I have no idea of the real name of this boat because I cannot find a name painted on it anywhere.  We saw this boat back in the South Pacific in 2008 and have seen it several times here in Turkey this summer.  It flies a German flag and there are two older men aboard.  I admire these guys.  They are enjoying life.  This is the most bare-boat imaginable.  It is a hodge-podge of parts and most things on the boat look like they are barely holding together.  With a threadbare shredded tarp used as a shade awning.  And pieces of chain holding rigging together.  And two old men who are enjoying sailing around in this crappy thing that I hesitate to call a yacht.  Good for them!

Bubble-butt boat for sale in Gocek.  Very nice!

Another boat I have noticed several times is a British flagged bubble-butt boat.  It has a sign stating that it is for sale.  This is a beautiful boat.  Don't know anything about it but I do like it.

Four more days until we are supposed to dock for the winter.  We are still at anchor in Fethiye, but at a different location in the bay than usual for us.  Rather than anchoring between Yacht Classic Hotel and the coast guard dock, we are anchored way across the bay near a small beach.  And six people were actually swimming at that beach yesterday.  Must be from very northern climes.  There is nothing that could entice me into that cold water!

We thought about sailing to Wall Bay and then over to Gemelier to see the ruins on that tiny island.  But instead we are both perfectly content to sit right here at anchor.  The thought of moving just to go see more ruins simply does not appeal at the moment.  Rather, enjoying lunch ashore sounds more fun.  IMO, sailing is done for this season.

The ugliest boat ever built.  The scale on this monstrosity in totally wrong in every way.  Docked nearby.