Bodrum

Yesterday, after our normal breakfast, we drove to Bodrum to take a Blue Cruise, a daily cruise offered by a variety of boat companies that goes around the Bodrum area. 

Blue Cruise, indeed.

Though our hotel was less than 10 km away from Bodrum, it took us more than 30 minutes to get there, as the traffic and lights were not conducive to speed. We found parking relatively nearby, at 15 TL for the day, and walked towards the docks. I decided I wanted a hat, so we got one from a shop on the way for 20 TL (down from 30). 

Seen here, where I am pretending to be a pensive heiress.

It's more than I really wanted to pay, but it's a very nice hat (albeit not quite wide enough for my incognito-movie-star taste), and given how touristy and overpriced Bodrum is, I'm not going to be too bothered by it. 

Parasailer!

Marcos picked up a pair of knockoff Ray-Bans, finally––he's been going without sunglasses this whole time!––but exchanged them for a different brand (Police, ha) after we got back because if he's going to have fake namebrand glasses, he wants them to be a brand you can't get in the US.

We also stopped and got a big thing of water, and should have gotten food, too; the cruise comes with lunch, but 6 months out on the sea is long enough for me to want to eat at least 3 times. Note to self: whenever going on an organized tour, always bring extra food.

View from the top deck, which had squishy pillows.

It was a  pretty big boat, with two floors and a little platform higher up. Unfortunately, only the first floor had any shade, so we stayed down there most of the time (except when doing stock footage or drying off post-swimming). 

View on our way out

Most of the other passengers were Turkish, but we heard some English (not American) being spoken, too. There were 5 stops altogether, and we ate on the 3rd one. I swam at the first bay, which pretty much exhausted me for the day, ha! 

Salt water!

The trip was very, very beautiful, and the water the most gorgeous shades of blue and green, but I was ready for it to be done about 3 hours before it was. 

Seen here: A collage of pictures of the water that I took at various points.
Mama, I thought of you!

I always forget how exhausting being around groups of people is for me, even though it's been, um, nearly 24 years that I've been me. It reminded me that I have to be careful about what I try to do at the conference in Berlin––I don't want to completely overexert myself the first day and be unable to do anything the later days. 

Fellow boat

I'll just have to prioritize! And be okay with missing some things, which is really a fact of conferences in general: when 10 talks are being held at the same time, you're missing out on at least 90% of the information! Oh well.

Attempting to snooze on the boat; a brief light doze
was achieved.

Oh yeah, I also dropped my iPad while reading an article (about MEGs of harmony violations in Turkish! interesting stuff) and the display was wonky for a while, but it seems to be back to normal now, knock on wood. 

Being studious, pre-drop.

I definitely need to get a case that goes straight on the body rather than the current one I have that slips over it (and adds a lot of weight and size, hence why it was not on at the time). And also, just don't use expensive toys on boats: it's bad news bears.

Another excessive shot of the beautiful water

And another!

One of the stops was at the Black Island, which has thermal springs and (at least used to) yellow healing mud. Cleopatra supposedly hung out there back in the day. It was very dark and humid in the caves, and there was no clay to be found, but it was still pretty cool. Though the water was not noticeably warmer?

Just like Cleopatra did

And a uniquely me take on the experience.

After we got off the boat at around 6:30, we headed to get dinner at a little stand recommended by Lonely Planet. 

I got the bread döner and Marcos got the dürüm döner. It was closer to what I remember döner kebaps being in Berlin, and I imagine the pitta döner would have been even closer. At 5 TL each, they were quite affordable, and very delicious. 

Bodrum Castle from the water on our way back in

We had hoped to wake up early the next morning (aka, this morning, on the date of posting) and go to the Underwater Archaeological Museum in the Bodrum Castle, but were both too tired to drag ourselves out of bed at 7:15. I ended up sleeping through breakfast (a first here!), and the 11 hours of sleep definitely helped recharge me.

I'm on a boat!