Bodrum, Epehsus, Kos

After ten days of cool, autumn weather in Croatia, Slovenia, and Istanbul...the warm, sunny weather of Bodrum was greatly appreciated. Stepping out the back of the airplane was a bit odd for Lesley: the only time she had exited out the back of a plane, she was jumping out of a Skyvan over Pennsylvania.

As our taxi took us to Seckin Konaklar, our hotel in Bodrum, we passed tourists browsing through the plethora of shops, a smorgasbord of restaurants, and a big bay full of sailboats and yachts. Ah, the Turkish Riviera. The people at Seckin Konaklar were extremely nice and accommodating. With four geeks and three laptops, our main concern where we stayed was strength of the wifi signal. After walking through several different rooms with a laptop in hand checking the wifi signal the hotel owner appeared and told us we could move one of their wifi points right into the apartment. Now that is service.

After geeking out for a while, we walked along the busy bayside street in search of dinner. We were mobbed by every restaurant/bar frontman... They jump in front of you, arms wide, yelling "My friend! You are hungry! Come in! Where are you from?" (We're not sure whether "You are hungry" is a translation issue or a psychological ploy.) We finally got hooked by one place offering a sweet deal on fresh sea bass and a table right on the water. The view was stunning....the contrast of the dark bay at night against the colorful lights all around the bay.

Bodrum is known for its non-stop nightlife. Since we arrived just after the end of the high season for the town, the crowds were gone. This made for great access to the region's ferries, beaches, etc. - but to the dismay of the two single men among us, most of the cute summer patrons were gone.

Scuba!


As we mentioned in the Istanbul Part Bir blog, we took the recommendation of our friend Kutoy at the Istanbul nightclub and connected with his old scuba company in Bodrum. This was the first time for three of us, so we did "discovery dives" down to only around 10 meters. Scott Northrop is certified so he did two solo dives. Lesley got to play with an octopus on her dive and got inked!

Ephesus

We rented car one day and Scott Northrop dashed us up to Ephesus like Mario Andretti (indeed, he deserved an honorary Turkish driver's license--he fit right in). The zippy ride didn't stop Russ from being able to sleep sitting up in the back seat, though. He can sleep anywhere, anytime. Scott L. loaded up the book of Ephesians on his iPod so we could review it on the way there. It was pretty awe-inspiring to be setting our feet down on these old, well-trodden roads... the same roads walked on by St. Paul and so many prominent figures in history. But we can't be serious all the time: on the grand stage of an ampitheater, the Scotts reenacted the sword fight from Princess Bride. We also visited Mary's purported last home as well that day. All of the visitors were quiet, reverent--you could feel their focus in the air. Outside people tied tissues or fabric along with their prayers and intentions onto a wall-mounted rack to move them with the wind through the air.

Unfortunately Scottoni had to fly to Istanbul Thursday night and begin his long trek back to Seattle. Scottino and Scottoni continued to hit it off like old friends; Russ and Scottoni got to know each other better; and Russ and Scottino, best friends for a long time, got to spend some much-needed time together again. Of course Lesley had a blast hanging out with three fun, dashing men--she and various Turks referred to them as her harem.

A Restful Friday...

Lesley blogged, enjoying a quiet day though struggled with the less than consistent wifi connection. Scott L. and Russ got a little one-on-one time while they explored the city, figuring out how to get to Kos (Greek island) the next day and which buses to take to depart Bodrum. We originally had grand plans to go out that night but our plans changed as we got wrapped up in deep discussions over drinks at the apartment. We had all been reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and The Way to Love by Anthony DeMello on this trip, so we considered our own "personal legends" (a la Coelho), events and choices in our lives and where we are headed. We went out for a late dinner and the discussion continued, so rather than shift gears to participate in a noisy, superficial club scene, we just took long walk along water and through the town.

A touch of Greece...

That morning we barely woke up in time to catch the 9am ferry to Kos. Our mission on the island was to find a nice beach so we rented some bikes and pedalled our way down the island. It wasn't long before we all agreed on a good beach... we rented chairs and palm thatch umbrellas and spent a lazy day reading books. Late that afternoon the wind picked up and the air got downright chilly so it wasn't a problem prying ourselves back to Bodrum.

A most Delightful and Delicious Dinner at La Jolla

For dinner, we decided to go to La Jolla, an elegant tapas and wine bar. We were greeted by the friendly owner Serdar, a Turk who lived in California for many years and loves wine. He and his wife Ece, a pharmacist, were both educated in the U.S. Serdar strategically built La Jolla on the edge of the bay by the yacht club to pull in wealthy vacationers. He told us Bill Gates was at his restaurant the day before. Lesley told Serdar that if Gates returned, tell him to hire her :) Serdar is a smart businessman--he recently bought up the restaurant space next door to La Jolla to open a sushi bar for the next summer season. He has a niche market: nowhere else in the area can you get quality California and other wines, much less sushi and sake. He gave us some awesome wine and tapas recommendations and sat down chatting with us for most of our lingering meal. He invited us to join him the next afternoon to see a quieter, less touristy area on the other side of the Bodrum peninsula, a town called Gumusluk.

The small fishing town was very pretty--no tourists. In the center of the bay there was a small island about thirty meters from shore. We walked out to it in thigh-high water on a rocky underwater surface. Under the water we could see an old Roman road that was built to reach the island (see photo) (the water level must have been consistently lower then). The smooth stones of the road were very slippery. Ece tried taking the old Roman road but slipped and fell in! The good news: she got to splurge on a new (dry) dress for her troubles. The rest of us avoided the slippery road and tiptoed on the sharp stones, grimacing... Russ finally put his Tevas on to save his feet, and then came back in to carry Lesley over the stones. Scottino got no such princess treatment. We had a pleasant afternoon chatting with Serdar and Ece. They gave us tips on Istanbul and we showed them pictures from our silly night at Halikarnas.

Halikarnas

We headed to Bodrum's largest nightclub Halikarnas--a massive (holds several thousand people) open air club located right on the water. Everything is white, and video screens are supported between Corinthian columns. There is a plushed out chill room inside--plushed out in a Turkish way, with traditional carpets and pillows. The music was pretty fun but drinks were Ibiza priced. The off-season crowd was small given the size of the club. We could imagine though how killer it probably was during the high season (albeit tacky-touristy). But if you didn't mind that, and you wanted to throw down and dance in a big crowd on the Aegean Sea, it wasn't a bad option :) The memorable part of the evening was the foam party--a very strange thing that has sprung up in dance clubs all over the world including Seattle and San Francisco. It was the first time for all of us to be present for such a thing. What a strange, strange phenomenon. At first just a little was sent flying onto the dance floor. Some people thought it was fun and got into it, and others retreated to the drier side of the dance floor. But then the stuff just kept coming. I mean, it was really ridiculous. We got completely soaked, dancing and laughing, as it came literally up to our waistlines. It was goofy fun but it sure drove most of the patrons away. Then again, it was past 4 am, so perhaps that was the intention. We met some friendly Israelis on the dance floor who were also bathing in the foam.
It's funny; when we make friends with other travelers, topics such as politics often come up in conversation, and all travelers generally feel the same way about events going on and people running the political show. Must be that certain kinds of people who tend to have certain points of view are the ones who are more likely to get out and travel.

We finally turned in around 5 am, but we had to be up and at 'em to meet Serdar and Ece at 1:30 at La Jolla for our visit to Gumusluk. Serdar thought it was hilarious that we actually went to Halikarnas the night before--he said the last time he went there was 15 years ago because it was so touristy-tacky. We scrambled in the morning to get Scottino's music onto a CD (hacked our way through an iPod to do it). Serdar knows people who run the famous catamaran parties in Bodrum... the catamaran leaves the dock at 1 am and returns around 5 am or so, and apparently it is just a crazy party with huge name DJs and a rambunctious crowd. We're all pulling for Scottino to get a spot on the catamaran next summer! We burned a CD just in time. The cool thing was, later on, (after we took Scottino to the bus station) Russ and Lesley stopped by to say hi to Serdar on the way home and he was playing Scottino's CD at his restaurant! Yay!

WB = 85