Monday, 11th January 2021

Because there was stormy weather on the way we moved on further to Kekova Road / Ucagiz Muhtarligi. It was a 12 nm journey and we left 9.45 and arrived 1 pm. Again we had an uneventful, nice sail with Imagine and Adventurous.

Once we anchored up in front of the little township we went for a walk to town to check it out. From our friends Dot and Jonathans blog I knew that they raved about a restaurant in this place called “Hassan’s” and saw it from the binoculars from the boat, so was keen to have a look, although I knew it would be closed due to lockdown.

We had a look around “Hassan’s” and discussing that we need to come back when they are open when a young lady popped her head out and asked us where we where from. I knew from Dots blog that the daughters where friendly and that one gifted her a bracelet she made. So I assumed that it must be one of the daughters. We told her that we had heard about their restaurant from Dot and Jonathan and she remembered them. We started a conversation and she invited us to sit with her for tea on the outside as gift as they where closed. We got some chairs and a little table out and she told us about the history of the restaurant and her families’ life.

Her grandparents where originally from Rhodos, which is now Greece. How they had traded their goods and vegetables with people of Rhodos and sold one property and bought another. How her grandparents had started a pension and that the tourists wanted food as well and that his how they started the restaurant. Because they had a lot of German tourists and not many others, her dad learnt German and got very popular because of this and his food. He is featured in many magazines and it appears that several other local restaurants try to copy his style, e.g. having German writing to advertise their services and calling their Restaurant a similar name etc.

Before we knew it Burcu served up the typical Turkish pastries her mum had just made filled with cheese. They where so yum. Her mum was sitting by the waters edge preparing an Octopus for the kitchen that was caught in the morning. Burcu studied in Germany before Covid came along and she had to return home, as she was concern about costs and health insurance cover should she contract Covid there. So she has been home the last few months helping out in the restaurant while it was still open. At the moment she has taken the opportunity in her downtime to make her captains license so she can officially drive their boat without the coast guard getting upset about her having none.

Before we knew it Jayne and David and then Paul and Lori joined our little group and where also served tea and a bowl of the most delicious Dolmatis (the wine leaves with rice in it) where served up. They where still warm and the filling crunchy and spicy. They were so delicious and it was such a special treat to be invited by a local to hear their stories and taste their food. Once we decided to move on to see the tombs by the side of the town Burcu let us have a quick look at the pictures and decorations in the restaurant. It is so sad to see these places locked up, with chairs stacked and the people out of business. Sure they wouldn’t have much business in winter anyhow, but now there isn’t even a chance to have the odd guest pop in with countries travel restrictions and borders closed, there is bugger all tourism now. I feel so sorry for the people and often wonder how they can afford to keep going and how they will cope if this Covid scenario goes on for much longer.

Experiences like this are definitely one of my favorites. Turkey never appealed to me as a country to travel to, but there is not one day where I am not grateful to be here and see all the beautiful sights and meet the friendly and welcoming people here. Its the best surprise.

We walked up to the tombs and I found some yummy wild oregano and snitched some Nasturtium leaves and flowers that where growing on a stone wall in the village. We had a look and clamber around the tombs by the sea. We have lost count now how many of them we have seen. They seem to everywhere. Some of these ones had seats carved presumably so loved ones could visit the tomb and enjoy the sea view. Lots of them had the roofs fallen off or in an odd angle. Burcu told us that there was a big earthquake that destroyed a lot of things and created the sunken city nearby, so we assumed that they might have been shaken off or open in a quake as they all seemed to have come off or open at the same angle.

Throughout the whole walk I was in pain as 2 of my toes had become sore and infected. For the last couple of walks I had worn my Allbirds wool shoes, as they are so comfy, but they don’t give the foot a good hold when clambering around ruins. I took a remedy and put some cream on and crossed my fingers that they would get better soon, as they were sore to the slightest touch and red and swollen.

With the strong wind forecast we had to move to a safer bay the next day. We took our rubbish ashore and got a few more supplies from the little market. When we came back the coast card made its round on our boat checking all crew and the papers. Right on time when they where approaching our boat Nina and Luca started up one of their silly, noisy arguments just to make the best impression, sigh. They were really nice though and warned us about the wind and weather coming telling us to move to be safe.

Once we tied up at the new bay with 2 stern lines each and tying all the sails up safely, tucking everything away that could flap or blow away we settled in for the next few days. The internet was very patchy out here, so we had to put our phone in a waterproof bag and pull it up the mast – a trick we learned from David.

I made an apple crumble for afternoon tea and we settled in for the evening.