Don woke up extra early this morning to reserve some beachfront lounge chairs, as there is apparently a birthday party for some rich family that eliminated most of the seating for the day. As a side effect, we saw this sunrise today!
After claiming the chairs, we were able to catnap until a bit later then had breakfast provided by the resort. After eating we headed down to the beach to relax in the sun and play in the water for a couple hours. One of the staff serving the beach area asked whether we wanted water. Water sounded great, and so did a couple cocktails. We wondered if it was a hint when the server asked “Would you like to wait for an hour before I bring your drinks”? We didn’t see the problem and said “No, now is fine”...it was 11:00a :-).
So here are the birthday party people on their super-yacht named Kaiser that was moored in the bay since we got there. We found out from one of the staff that is why they had removed all the chairs and put up a sound stage on the floating dock.
This morning there were balloons all over the yacht and we heard the birthday was for their son. We thought “Wow, how extravagant - probably a 16th or 21st birthday”. Then we noticed the balloon on the back of the boat (you can zoom in on the pic)...it’s a 6. I’m sure the child will be well adjusted we they become an adult ;-).
We packed up and headed out with the car to checkout downtown Bodrum. This is a very tourist-centric town with a ton of people and super narrow streets. We drove through town looking for the Bodrum Castle, and in the process apparently turned right on a red light (in a roundabout?) and got our picture taken and a scorned finger-wagging from a traffic officer...we’ll see if a ticket follows.
We eventually parked and walked to find the ruins near the water.
After finding the castle (we didn’t go in since we were a little short on time), we stopped for a quick börek snack then found the car again and drove by the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. Sadly there is only the foundation remaining after being destroyed by a couple earthquakes. Interestingly, much of the stonework in the Bodrum Castle were repurposed from here.
We headed out of Bodrum to our next stop - Selçuk (formerly known of Ephesus).
The drive was mostly highway and went quickly, but we were feeling “a bit peckish” and stopped at a roadside stand (super common along the highways) for a süt misir (literally “milk corn”, but better known as corn on the cob). These stands always have a wood stove cooking the corn, a kettle of hot tea and often fruit or honey to sell. We each had corn and tea for 10TL ($1.50) - the people were very nice and didn’t speak a word of English, but it didn‘t stop us from getting a pic!
The corn is served like this
We found our new hotel for the next two nights without much trouble, named Celsus Boutique Hotel after the ancient Library of Celsus (more on that tomorrow). It has a cute little courtyard
After checking in, we explored just a few streets around us to get food. This guy was an unexpected surprise as we rounded a street corner
On the walk back from dinner we came across all these ruins (of course they were all just alongside the backroads)
Aquaduct remnants
As we walked back in the dark, much of the surrounding neighborhood was out on their porch or in the streets enjoying the night air. When we neared the hotel we walked past a family we’d seen on the way out, the dad swinging his young daughter playfully in the air. As we got closer, the dad picked the girl up and put her in Don’s arms - the daughter was mortified but all of the adults laughed together. Just more confirmation about how trusting the Turkish people are...
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