Selcuk to Izmir, then on to Kayseri

The following day we climbed to the top of the hill in Selcuk to visit the Basilica of St John and the restored Byzantine Castle. I also made a raid on the local pharmacy for throat lozenges and cough syrup as the sore throat I had developed towards the end of the boat trip now had a nasty cough to keep it company.

Ruins of the Basilica	Restored Byzantine castle

After lunch we drove to Izmir to return the hire car and have an early night as we were on a 7am flight the following morning.

Pammukale to Selcuk and Ephesus

We were off again - with Carol trying to leave The Melrose without paying as she thought we had paid when we booked . Today we were heading towards Selcuk and Ephesus (known as Efes in Turkish – same as the beer).

Ephesus is known as one of the world’s finest surviving examples of a classic Greco-Roman city. We hadn’t booked accommodation in Selcuk as we thought there would be plenty, but the place we had chosen was booked out. The kind (Australian) owner of the “Boomerang” managed to squeeze us in though. He also warned us that there were 4 or 5 cruise ships due to dock the following morning and suggested we spend the three hours leading up to sunset at Ephesus today instead of tomorrow to avoid the crowds. It was a terrific suggestion and we managed to get some reasonable photos because of it. Apparently any photo of Ephesus without people in it is pretty rare.

Outside the Boomerang in Selcuk	Ghosts of Ephesus – unintentional trick photo?
Ephesus without the ghosts	The scale of this place is amazing – note the steel frame above these terrace houses

The extensive shelter over the terrace houses was paid for by the Australian Archaeological Society. I think a lots of their archaeologists spend a lot of time till excavating the ruins. The shelter must have cost quite a lot of money. Other organisation sponsor works there too and I even saw one sign saying some work was being sponsored Road Scholar (not-for-profit educational travel company).

Marmaris to Pammukale

We got a taxi from the boat the collect our hire car. After the taxi driver had driven past the car hire place, asked someone at another taxi rank and then done a u-turn he kindly deducted a few lira from the fare on the meter. When we got to the office no-one was in - turns out we had arrived earlier than we said. Anyway we were soon sorted out and on our way back to Naviga I (or as close as we could get) to collect Carol and Stephen and all our bags.

The crew kindly carried the bulk of the luggage and, as a nice man had moved a “Tourist Information No Parking sign” so that we could park long enough to load up, hugs and good wishes were exchanged all around and off we set for Pammukale.

Stephen was in the front navigating and I tried to limit the long left short right reminders from the back as much as possible.

Despite having confirmed that we would not have a room with a round bed, and we would have views of the garden, when we arrived at The Melrose in Pammukale we had a round bed and the room had a view of a vacant block that was mostly a dust bowl.

However, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Pammukale and its travertine terraces did not disappoint, it was amazing. How anyone could have ever thought that building five hotels on top of it is unbelievable, and I am so glad they are not there now.
The sunset didn’t quite deliver the colour we had hoped but it was still a pretty impressive sight, despite the hordes of fellow tourists 

That bed!	Frank getting wet!
Carol and Stephen (not getting wet)	Sylvia getting wet!
Traffic on the Travertines	Sunset on the terraces

Last day of sailing

Another wonderful (if rather large) breakfast and then some swimming before moving to Paradise Island for lunch (reminiscent of the Hawkesbury). I have never eaten so much as I have on this trip. I dread to think what the scales would say. Then off to Marmaris which has a reputation of being the third of Turkey’s hugely overdeveloped Agean resorts.

Time for knitting	While others go paddling
Street lights of Marmaris	Last dinner in a restaurant alongside Naviga I's berth

Heading to Marmaris

The weather forecast wasn’t very good again and so it was a long day sailing / motoring to reach a sheltered mooring near Marmaris. When we arrived there were quite a few day trip boats around but most left to return to Marmaris. I woke around 2am to go to the bathroom but when I went back up on deck found it hard to get back to sleep due to the unaccustomed noise drifting across the water from Marmaris, which has a reputation as being a bit of a party town. After the relative quiet of being moored off uninhabited coastline the noise seemed strange.

Frank and Mehmet join the party boat action	Then time for diving practice
One of the larger vessels leaving Marmaris	BBQ night – Oktay’s turn to cook and give Servet the chef a break.

Samet and Mehmet in back row, then left to right:Oktay (Captain), Sylvia, Carol, Elise, Han, Stephen, Servet (Chef) and Frank