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!

Yalıkavak

ETA 7/24: Pictures added!

We left our hotel in Selçuk this morning after the usual breakfast-and-shower routine. We paid the bill (less than we were expecting!), left, then at the gas station realized we hadn't paid for our laundry. Even though Marcos' clothes had a funky smell, he still felt like we should go back and pay for that, so we turned around. The man (the grandfather of the family, from what we inferred; he spoke very little English) only charged us for 1 load and gave us a bunch of grapes plucked straight from their vines. It was very sweet!

I am so excited about free grapes.

We decided to visit Mary's house after all, because Marcos imagined his grandparents would not be very pleased to find out we were so close and didn't go. 30 TL later (ugh), we made our way down the path to her supposed house.

The exterior from the front

We evidently got there between tour groups, because there weren't too many people, and I was able to go into her house without waiting.

Unlike these poor suckers.

Pictures aren't allowed inside, but it was a very simple display with a statue, some art (I have a terrible visual memory, sorry), and a candle. Even as a non-religious person, I thought it was a very nice display.

You could take two candles, but as I was not sure what I was
supposed to do with said candles, I did not do so. Apparently you
light them and put them in these boxes?

I'm bothered by the emphasis put on her virginity, of course, as though her "purity" is the only impressive thing about her; I would much rather we celebrate her for her clearly stellar parenting skills (say what you will about Christianity [let's face it, the Crusades weren't the best], but Jesus was a class act). Still, I'm glad we went. There's a wishing wall of sorts, where you tie something to the strips of cloth and pre-existing knots and make a wish; Marcos and I both did so with a half of a receipt each.

I retroactively changed my wish to something more relevant to the site, but I hope Mary would be okay with that!

Then we headed down the road, stopping at a roadside "diner" of sorts to eat, as my tummy was rumbling. We got gözleme again (3rd time in 3 days, score!), this time potato and cheese (me; turned out the potato was in the dough itself, not as a filling, which was delicious) and spinach and cheese (Marcos, though I ended up eating about a third of his, too) with a side of tomatoes, olives, and peppers.

Potato-cheese (upper left), spinach-cheese (upper right), and assorted veggies (bottom)

Altogether? 8 TL. Plus 4 TL for iced tea and a 2 TL tip––a very filling lunch for $3.50 each! Not too shabby.

I did work in the car, and the inability to figure out how to format a spreadsheet made me grouchy, but the return of seaside helped!

Oh hai there

Such a gorgeous color.

Pretty!

Prettyyyyyyy.

Yalıkavak is a town on the Bodrum peninsula, so named for Bodrum, the "St. Tropez of Turkey".

Some buildings (presumably part of the same development complex)
on the way to Yalıkavak

We decided to stay here instead of in Bodrum proper because it's somewhat quieter––Bodrum is known for being a rather wild scene at night. It's very pretty, with palm trees and lapping waves, and feels very resorty.

Living the high life.

While I rested, Marcos went into Bodrum and got reservations for our boat trip tomorrow, and when he got back we went down to the waterfront (a 3 minute walk) and wandered some. We ate at a Bosnian place not on the water (as good Lord were the ones on the sea expensive), but Marcos said it was not the most authentic Bosnian he'd had.

The sea is the same color as the ring I bought myself!

I forgot to take pictures, but it's cool, it wasn't Turkish food (that's the logic I'm using, anyways). We got meatballs––mine were in little sausages, Marcos' was one big patty––and pseudo-pita, which was a bit greasy for me and the portions were disappointingly small, but it was food and relatively filling. I wanted baklava, but we weren't able to find any place that had it for less than 10 TL for 3 or 4 pieces, and I was not about to pay that much!

Jetty! (iskele)

Now we're watching some Turkish TV and winding down for the night. We have to wake up relatively early for the boat tomorrow, around 8:30, so an early bedtime is imperative!