Day 4
Because of the plan flip, we weren’t sure when we’d start. Like typical first-benchers, we were ready to go by 9. By about 10.15, I had gotten tired of watching Bieber and will.i.am (liked Tom Hanks in “I really like you” though) and using up the free wifi and gave the tour operator a piece of my mind via mail. Turned out to be a good idea because he had forgotten that he had flipped our plans! A few calls later, we were told we would be picked up at 12.
Charlie arrived right on time and immediately brought the vacation on track. He was born in Australia, and when we told him of our travails, immediately apologised and insisted on buying us lunch. He even called the bus guy from the previous day. We didn’t manage to get the real scene behind the 10.30 screeching though! We drove towards town and saw a kite festival happening near the windmills. One particularly imaginative person had made a kite that consisted of a lady’s legs and shorts and flippers. The kite in the air looked like someone swimming.
Charlie took us to Konyali and introduced us to the gigantic pida. A bit like pizza in terms of taste, with brilliant flavours. We also ordered Ayran, the Turkish version of buttermilk, and ended the meal with Turkish coffee. Charlie had interesting stories, including the one about our hotel’s name. Salmakis (Salmacis) was basically a rapist nymph, I kid you not! Meanwhile, Charlie said that he travels every Xmas, when the rest of the world stays at home. He also told us about his two Rottweilers and a son who loved diving. He had been to many SE Asian countries and wanted to visit India as well. We paid for the meal given that our spirits were anyway restored.
He took us to the Greek amphitheatre and showed us the fantastic view opposite it. There was a huge cycling group making a trip around Turkey, and we barely escaped the throng.
We were then introduced to Alphi, our guide for the rest of the day. He told us about Bodrum, a place that had about 2.2 lakh people, and a temperature that swung wildly across seasons. There was apparently a law that ensured citizens only built two storeyed houses and painted them white! We did see a few violations though. Bodrum was formerly Halicarnassus and was famous for Alexander’s siege. We first visited the Myndos gate and we exchanged stories of Alexander and Greek mythology. Right outside its gate was a carob tree, whose consistently-weighing seed gave rise to the carat as a unit of mass. We then visited a Gold Place, where D refused to be persuaded into buying anything! Gold is tax free in Turkey, we were told.
On our way to St.Peter’s Castle, Alphi told us about Ataturk and the formation of modern Turkey. He asked us what the capital of Turkey was, my geography lesson paid off and I got Ankara right. Apparently, army enlistment is compulsory in Turkey, and a person has to serve 6-12 months depending on skills and education levels. But there are ways around it, Alphi for instance is still studying! The Marina area also hosts villas and yachts owned by celebs like Madonna, Enrique. Zlatan Ibrahimović, Alphi said, has a yacht that housed a helicopter!
Near the Marina was St. Peter’s Castle, which has witnessed Seljuks and Crusades and contains remnants of ships, courtesy archaeological expeditions in the seas nearby. It is quite a treasure trove, especially if you are interested in history. Utensils, coins and barter rates, a chapel that became a mosque, chain mail and a hall straight out of the Middle Ages were some of the things we saw. They have maintained the place really well. We actually saw a peacock here and even Alphi wondered where it had come from since he hadn’t seen it there before. The view from the top of the castle was predictably splendid.
After the castle tour, we passed the Mausoleum which is an original member of the Seven Wonders and had made the term a generic one. Charlie took us to the bus station for our trip to Pamukkale. A universal small town bus stand. I had my first taste of Turkish tea while D sipped fresh orange juice. The bus started exactly on time. (5 PM) The evening view of Bodrum was spectacular and we passed fields and hills, football fields in highway towns, Burger Kings and Vans showrooms. Neat roads which had a variety of petroleum brands. The sun went down slowly as D watched kids movies and played games on the Ben Tourizm in-bus entertainment system.
We had imagined the journey as a 3.5 hr one, but it was actually took 5 hours to reach Denizili. The bus stand was really fancy and aspired to cater to a much higher kind of vehicle. The young guy who came to pick us up seemed to have an alter ego – that of a DJ – which he put to heavy use until Pamukkale and Hotel Tripolis, which seemed to be located in the middle of nowhere! For some reason, it took three people to make the room card work! The restaurant was closed and we barely managed to get some food thanks to room service.
