Gale!

There is a gale!
We are recording winds up to 50 knots, about 30 m/s. We knew about this so we went to  Keci Bükü. It's well protected but the wind comes down the valley and over the moutains.
It started this morning and will end in the evening. There are a lot of boats here and some have reanchored but we have been lucky so far. Our anchor seems to hold well.
We installed a wind instrument mainly to show Ulla it's not blowing as much as she thinks. Today it does!

Alarm!!

Half way between Greece and Turkey the engine alarm came on. No charging, no oil pressure and too high engine temperature.
We had a nice wind and were motor sailing towards Knidos. I quickly stopped the engine and Ulla continued sailing. Soon I found out that we didn't have any drive belt any moore. A few days ago we had discussed if we had a spare one on board. Yes we found one and now was the time to use it. The boat was rolling and I was laying down beside the engine releasing the generator and putting on the new belt. As always when you work with a boat engine a bit uncomfortable. The belt came into position and I tighted it up and started the engine again. Everything was working.
In Datca we took the broken belt and went to the gulet captains usually sitting at a cafe in the harbour. No problem they said, just take a taxi they know where to go. So we did and we ended up at the sanayi just outside town. There we bought two so now we have spare ones.
Sanayis is an excellent turkish invention where a lot of workshops of all kind are situated. If they don't have what you need, they make it.

Stoned in Didim

We sailed down the turkish coast to Altinkum and anchored off the beach. The main attraction here is the tempel of Apollo apart from irish pubs, discos etc.
The temple was built with 124 huge columns. It was the place of the oracle in importance only next to the one in Dephi.
Here was also Medusa who by

just looking at you could transform you into stone.

There are two kind of Efes - both very nice

The second Efes is the beer. It's quite a good beer produced in Turkey.
The first is the Ephesos - the ancient town. It's 20 km north of Kusadasi. We reached it by dolmus and walked the final kilometer to the site.  About two thosands years ago, it was one of the biggest cities in the world with 250.000 people. From it's harbour goods were sent to the rest of the world.
Today it's one of the best preserved ancient cities in the Mediterranean. The theater housed about 25.000 spectators and when we were there a man improvised O sole mio from the stage. The aqoustics is, perfect the singing can be improved. Today there is renovated terasshouses covered under a plastic roof with beautiful mosaics and wallpainting. A very memorable visit to some old ruins and we have seen a lot.
Just go there - you won't regret it! Many come by cruise ships, 600 ships comes every year to Kusadasi.

Afrodite - where are you?

The statue of Afrodite by Praxiteles was made here in Knidos 400 BC. It was an attraction as it was the first nude statue. Knidos is also known for the scientist Eudoxos who was an astronomer and  built an observatorium. There were a lot of tourists comming here more than 2000 years ago. It's an interesting site but not a trace of Afrodite - very disappointing.

A walk to Lydae

We met friends, on s/y Pegasus, in Wall bay in Skopea Limani south of Göcek. They asked if we would like to join them for a walk. Yes, we would like that very much.

In the morning we started out from the boats, passed Ruin bay and followed a white and red sign painted on the rocks. The path took us up and up. We became sweaty and tired but after a while we got our rewards – a beautiful view of the gulf. There was a nice scent of pine and a lot of butterflies, very idyllic. After a while we were on a plateau and there was a small house and outside in the shadow a donkey. A lone man lived there, carving spoons for the tourists. We bought four of him and he offered us all a glass of mountain tea. We continued along a ravine with huge pine trees back to the boats.

Dalyan

The wind was too much on the nose so we had to change the course to Ekincik. Here we found a nice little harbour and a very talkative frenchman. He soon asked if we were intressted in a trip to the Dalyan river and Kaunos. It was a good opportunity so we said ok. After a quick lunch we entered one of the many tour boats which go there. After a half hour we entered the marshland of Dalyan and he navigated up to the ancient city of Kaunos. It was founded in the 9th century BC and was an important caurian city. There were remains of the theatre, baths, castle, agora and so on. A bit up the river there were magnificent rock tombs for the kings.

Kastellerizo, the greek island in Turkey

We arrived to Kastellerizo after a few days. Anchored outside the harbour in the Mandraki bay. It's illegal to go here but everybody do it.
It's just a very small place about 70 miles away from Rhodes. The advantage is that they sell decent wine and beer to resonable price. There is also bacon which is hard to find in Turkey.
Here we celebrated "valborgsmässoafton", the last day in april with Krista and Hubert who served nice herring and "gravad" trout - delicious!

Final countdown

It has been the final concert, quizz, pub and dart, bbq and so on. Most of the boats have already left after the winter. Many are going west, some to Rome, some to Sicily and some will return back to Finike.
We have left and are going west along the turkish coast.