Going Out The Door...: Turkey: Fethiye

"Your husband Steve makes conversation easily." Said Agnes, a Dutch woman we met at our hotel in Fethiye.

We looked over at him. Surrounded by retirees, he was fishing off the back of a boat, small string in hand, wound around a plastic disk with a small weight and hook bated with a ball of bread at the end. He was the centre of attention, as usual. It made me smile.

We arrived in Fethiye and wasted no time making plans. Our host Ahmed was organizing a boat trip for a price we couldn't refuse. When we boarded, we looked around and noticed we were the youngest aboard, with an exception.

As the boat left port Steve and I spread out our towels on the bottom deck and settled in for some sun. It lasted about five minutes; a cute blonde Dutch girl came bounding over and cuddled right up next to me. She spread out her pink towel, put on her shades, and tried to do what I did. Before long we were fast friends and spent the day playing games on my iPad, eating dropies, and swimming in the freezing sea-- which I was reluctant to do at first, but her face was not a thing I could easily say no to!

Her name is Janika, and she was there with her mother and Oma on a girls trip. Oma had been coming to our hotel for 10 years with her husband, and this was her first without him. He passed away a few months ago.

Janika was a bright star. I was just beginning to feel better and her energy was contagious. Her mom Agnes noticed she wad similar to Steve-- she was outgoing, made friends and conversation easily. Her mom said if she was feeling shy all she had to do was set Jammica loose and they would make friends in no time. Agnes and I are similar in that way too.

After the boat trip we had many new friends and settled easily into retired life back at the hotel. Fethiye is a popular snowbird destination for retired Europeans-- the weather is warm, accommodation and food are cheap, and the town is quiet. At night Steve played guitar with Ahmed's 15 year old son, and I played cards with Oma and Janika. It made me miss the easiness of hanging out with my own family at home, but it was nice to spend time with new friends.

On our third day our friends left, so Steve and I decided it was time to leave the retirement compound and explore the city. We went to a large outdoor farmers market, and saw heaps of amazing produce grown in the fertile mountain valleys above Fetiya, where the majority of food for Turkey is grown.

We also took a Dolomus (local bus) to Oludeniz, a beach that is supposedly on the top five list for beautiful beaches. It's name means "dead sea" which is given to it because the water remains very calm in the bay all year, no matter how stormy it gets. The beach was not a disappointment-- it was amazing.

On the way home from the beach we stopped in Kayakoy which means "ghost town". It was originally the ancient greek of Carmylessus. Later, it became a Greek settlement. Throughout the years there was growing strife from the greco-turkish wars until 1923 when the countires decalred a truce. To create peace within their own countries the governments of Greece and Turkey decided on a population exchange. In Turkey there were greek christians who didn't want to assimilate as turkish muslims and in greece, turkish muslims who didn't want to assimilate as christians. Millions of people were exchanged between the two countries over a period of 4 years. The city of Kayaoku was abandoned and the government tried to settle a population of Turkish farmers there, but they refused to inhabit the houses because they needed to be in the flats to farm. Plus, there were rumors the Greeks poisoned the wells. Roots were never laid in the mountain city, so the houses and churches crumbled over time. It was a fascinating place. My imagination ran wild thinking of the lives of the people who came and left. Great songwriting material!

We finished our visit with more relaxation at the hotel, which had an amazing pool-- especially for the cheap price. We left relaxed and excited to see Selcuc, the modern situated beside the biblical city of Ephasis. More to come!

Farmers market