A special and touching trip to Kayakoy, an abandoned…

starting 2nd April 2021

We had a fine, sunny day in Fethiye, the marina nearby and lots of washing in the basket, so I declared it wash day. We all piled in the dinghy incl. all the dirty washing and headed off to the Marina. In Fethiye the water is too dirty to make water, it would clog up our filters in a flash. In the marina they have washing machines that can be used with coins you buy in the marina office. While we waited for the washing to be done we all had showers, which were unfortunately only lukewarm, but still better than a sink wash.

There was a new café that had opened in the marina, so we thought we give them some business while waiting for our washing and have a drink and enjoying their free internet. I also stocked up some groceries from the Carrefour there and once the washing was ready we headed back to the boat and hung everything out to dry. Our V-Birth mattresses came out for a dry as well in the sun. Its so weird that our mattresses get a bit damp underneath, but none of the others do. Luca’s mattress has a water tank underneath too and has never got any dampness.

The weekends are now again lockdown days for locals and restaurants. Tim made some hot cross buns.

I had a lovely yoga session on the foredeck and finished my Dune Blanket from Attic 24 (free pattern!) which I had worked on for the last few months. I am so pleased with it. I don’t like man made fibers but found this bamboo and cotton mix yarn in a little yarn shop. They didn’t have much colour choice and I pretty much had to take what they had in the shop to get the quantity I needed for a big blanket. First I wasn’t so thrilled with the colours, but they grew on me and combined they actually remind me of the sea and coastline here. Its almost like a weight blanket, quite heavy, but so beautiful. I made it quite a generous size of 1.35 x 2 m and there was very little yarn left.

We also went for a walk to the old castle ruin in Fethiye. The town was so quiet and abandoned with lock down – it still feels spooky to me to see whole towns and countries locked down after over a year now – surely we can’t go on like this… The ruin was a bit disappointing after all the stunning sights we had seen. There was broken glass and rubbish everywhere a couple of abandoned café/restaurants in a prime spot with the view over the whole harbour.

We saw a turtoise on our wanderings, which unfortunately didn’t look too well. No wonder with all the glass and rubbish everywhere. We had a short break up the top to enjoy the view and made our way back to the boat.

On Sunday Tim and I dismantled the oven, so I could give it an all round clean. In the last year we have cooked pretty much every meal in this tiny appliance and there was all sorts of food dribbled down the sides. It was so nice to get it all shiny and clean again.

I did my blog writing and picture sorting. Nina asked if we could crochet the same thing together, so we decided to make a summer shirt each in the same yarn.

I started to listen to another classic audiobook Jane Eyre. I just love the old classics. Firstly I missed most of them in my east German upbringing. I can’t recall having access to them. Secondly I find them a perfect escape from our troubled world. Although it makes me think at times how much the world has changed in such a short time (relatively in history…) If I compare their world back then and what we have right now it seems like polar opposites – it would be nice if we could create something in between. We made dumplings for dinner and just when we finished eating Pisces 11 arrived in Fethiye and delivered a few to them for dinner as well.

On Monday Tim went to town to organise some things from the Chandlery for the boat and find a gas supplier that would deliver. The gas in the marina is quite expensive and he was successful in calling someone who delivered to the road just out from where we were anchored. The kids did schooling and I published and put some of my blogs online. I made some of my cheese puffs for afternoon tea and we had pot stickers with the left over dumplings for lunch.

Tuesday is market day in Fethiye, so we all headed out. On Tuesday there is a clothing and odds and ends market and also the food market. On Friday there is only food market. Tim needed some new jeans and shirts and needed a couple of short sleeved shirts. Everything is so reasonable here, we thought we might as well get it here. Once we leave Turkey everything will most likely be more expensive. We also got some yummy cheese, fruit and nuts and had our obligatory Gozleme at the market, as everyone was tired and hungry from all the exploring and bargaining.

Nina and I decided that we didn’t like the pattern for the summer shirt we started and I started a pattern that Nina found too hard, called a Granny Go Round jumper. I bought the pattern off Ravelry for her birthday, as she really liked it. And it sounded like I could manage it. Will be interesting to see if I can make something like that.

In the evening Martin and Yvette invited us over for dinner. Martin had found some Morrel mushrooms at the market and was making a creamy pasta dish for us all. I made an apple crumble to take for dessert. Boat life has many downsides in comfort and practicalities, but we sure eat well here in Turkey. Martin and Yvette are even more excited than us about eating, and its fun to share the passion for the food.

Tim had also organised the renewal of our boat insurance and I had renewed our health insurance. 2 big expenses that really cut deep into the budget. But neither I want to be without, so paid them both and really hope we will never need either of them.

On Wednesday we decided to take a bus trip to Kayakoy, an old abandoned Greek village we heard about. Tim asked at the information center and they told him where the bus was going from. But we dropped back in at the information center on the way to inquire if we can pay the bus cash or if we need to get a bus card. They told us the bus wouldn’t take cash and we had to go to the market nearby to buy a bus card for each of us. You put some money on the bus card and are almost ready to go.

In Turkey we need HES numbers to be able to be “tracked” for Covid purposes. We already had our HES numbers from applying for our residency, but now we needed to link the HES number and our bus card. Tim had brought our internet phone (we only have one SIM card we all share), but since it was an old phone it was running out of battery in minutes. So Tim brought the battery bank. Turned out the battery bank has been used and emptied by one of the children, so we didn’t have internet to link the HES number with the bus card. I suggested we go to the bus anyway and try our luck.It turned out the bus to Kayakoy was the most popular one and it was soon filled up AND it turned out you could pay in cash. There were some other tourist before us who gave the bus driver cash – go figure – all the hassle with the bus card for nothing.

Once we arrived at Kayakoy me and Nina were hungry. I get really low blood sugar and if I don’t get the food in I get hangry and shaky. There was one little café that only had drinks and they pointed us to a restaurant called “The Lebessos” nearby for food. We where led upstairs and there were 3 other Turkish families having big feasts. The atmosphere seemed really authentic, cozy and inviting. We reckoned if all the Turkish people like it, it must be good. We decided to have a shared Turkish breakfast, which is usually several plates of cheese and jam and nibbles with bread. It turned out that this was the superstar, supercharged Turkish breakfast perfection. We were so glad we dropped in here to have this special experience. Our table was soon packed with delicacies and we didn’t really know where to start. There were over 20 plates of pickles, preserved fruit, syrups, cheeses, several types of olives, fried eggs and sausage, fried potatoes, spring rolls and chili a freshly baked village bread and a whole pot of Turkish tea. What a feast and special experience it was. And all for $25 NZD! It was a breakfast for 2 and fed all of us with leftovers. We all enjoyed it and the kids where just as excited as we were.

With full bellies and bright spirits we set off on our walk through the abandoned village, which is really more like a small town. It was a bit haunting and spooky to see so many ruins where once life must have been thriving and vibrant.

“With origins in the 14th century, Kayaköy was forcefully abandoned at the end of the Greco-Turkish War when a population exchange meant that Muslims and Christians were exchanged between Greece and Turkey so that each country could claim one major religion in the path toward ethnic and national homogeneity.“There is a book called “Birds without wings” that speaks of lots of history and tragedy of this time and region. I haven’t read it yet, but if you are interested in the history of Turkey its been recommended to us by so many people it must be a good read.

What amazed me is how well preserved the whole town was. In coastal turkey we don’t seem to see many inhabited old housing, like we did in Greece. Its either ancient ruins or more modern style buildings. Yet here is a whole town that is relatively well preserved. Walking on the cobble stone paths once again I wished I would have Harry Potters invisibility cloak and a time travelling clock. I could almost feel the presence of life that once has been here. Although there is no human life here now there was a sea of beautiful wild flowers. Growing and sprouting everywhere, almost as if to make the sad scene and history a bit more cheerful and bring forgiveness and lay a blanket of colour over all the hurt and sorrow that must have been felt by all those people, leaving their homes and home with no chance of returning.

There were several small chapels and one church that was fenced off, but the fence was broken and we could hear voices inside the church, so we walked through the hole too to investigate. There was a group of people in the church with a woman playing her flute and later on they all chanted in the beautiful acoustics of the church. There where still mosaic floors partly intact, beautiful mossed over ceilings – it felt simply enchanting with the people singing in the church.

A bit further on we met 2 tortoises climbing and wandering through the site. At least it will be a relatively protected and vast area for them to live in.

There was one main path, that had obviously been cleared for tourists and visitors, but the we strayed from the path once and it was a really hard to climb terrain. Once we had a good look around we went back to the bus stop. Nina went to explore the souvenir shop and bought herself a bracelet and a gift for a friend back home in NZ.

We were joined by 2 stray dogs, who are usually well fed here, but lacking in love. If you show them attention and love they just soak it up.

I had collected some beautiful wildflowers for a friend who lost someone special to put in the ocean later on. It was a perfect day to release them to the sea and honor my friends friend.

Our bus ride back to town was relatively quick and on our way back to the boat we saw a little mobile stall on the footpath who were frying little round doughnuts. We had seen them on the market this week, but there were so many people back then we didn’t wait around to get some. Again there was quite a crowd of Turkish people around the stall, so we thought they must be good and lined up. It turned out that they were free of charge. I am not sure if was something that the mosque organises or if its a restaurant advertising. We got a box and it had a sticker on it of a restaurant. They where sweet, warm and delicious and our box was soon empty.

What a lovely day its been. We all really enjoyed our daytrip to Kayakoy and came back to the boat fulfilled and happy.

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