Cheap is cheerful

We’re sitting by the pool watching the sun set and if the scrub-covered hills catching the dying rays were the only sights on our horizon it would be perfect but, as it is, we’re looking out onto a pool where the waterslide is dry, the muddy pool deck is being used as a parking lot and the garden in front of our small terrace is full of glass and weeds s, sadly, the reality of the image just falls short. 



Enjoying an Efes beer at the rootfop by Efes (Ephesus)



Such is life in middle-range hotels that charge international prices but can’t quite get their heads around international standards. So we have aircon but you have to pay extra to use it; the website offers free shuttle service but when we asked for a lift to the ferry we were told ‘you walk’; an ensuite is provided but no shower curtain so it floods with every shower; there are mini toiletries and the toilet paper is folded but there is no hot water; the beds are nicely made but only with a sheet – no blanket is provided. And the ‘village breakfast’ proved fairly meager compared to every other breakfast we’ve had – and all this at the most expensive place we’ve stayed at so far.

Until now we’ve stayed at local ‘pension’ and family-run guest houses and they’ve been great. All very individual but clean, basic, good value and reliable, often with guests sharing a family table or rooftop area for breakfast so plenty of opportunity to meet other travelers and the owners, and a ‘help yourself’ mentality when it comes to making tea and coffee or swapping books etc.

Tonight – and for the next eight days – we’ll be at slightly different accommodation that will cost a bit more but, to be frank, threatens to not be as good.

The reason is long and complex but started with some ‘suspicious’ activity on our credit cards. Our bank recommended stopping the card and, to cut a long story short, we ended up facing a long weekend in Turkey without access to cash.

So we picked an easy way to keep moving on – use my backup credit card to pay for the ferry trips and accommodation between Turkey and Athens. Simple. Only travel agents choose different sorts of accommodation to what we’d pick for ourselves, which Is why we’re looking out at a car park centred around a pool.

Antiques at Selcuk market.

This is Bodrum, a three-hour bus ride south of Selcuk, which is a lovely, colourful town with heaps to see. The Saturday market was full of cheap clothes, touristy stuff, some wonderful antique bric a brac and piles of fresh vegetables, all brought in by farmers on their tractors. Most of Selcuk’s streets are lined with orange trees, so the air is full of the most amazing perfume, too.

Fruit stalls at Selcuk market.

Bodrum, by contrast, is a total tourist-ville.



Bodrum from the mediaeval castle.



It’s very pretty, all set around a gorgeous bay with white houses right down to the waterfront and featuring a massive castle that was built by the Knights of St John (and used as a base for their piracy) before they were run out of town by the Ottomans. There’s a Roman amphitheatre and Don Quixote-style windmills on the hills, too, but the quaint, narrow lanes of the old town are packed with tourist shops now – trendy clothing shops, pricey restaurants, souvenir rubbish and bars. Lots of bars. Our hotel alone had three. And lots of boisterous young Brits, French and Scandinavians, all pink from rushed sun-worship and baring way too much flesh for most of the locals’ comfort. Or mine, for that matter.



Mediaeval glassware recovered from shipwrecks at Bodrum



Apparently a lot of foreigners – especially English – buy homes in Bodrum and the seafront is packed with expensive boats, but most of them look Turkish, so the local cruise trade must be fairly healthy. It was actually relatively quiet when we were there (apparently – seemed hectic to us) and certainly all the venues seemed to be gearing up for a huge increase in numbers, so it must be heaving in summer.



Amphorae at Bodrum castle museum



Anyway, we enjoyed the sights, explored some back streets, toured the castle (which is now a museum holding underwater artefacts, most discovered by sponge divers), had dinner at a waterfront restaurant, and were happy to leave on the 9.30am ferry to Kos.



Fisherman mending his nets, Kos



Bodrum proved to be a good introduction to Kos, which relies heavily on the tourist industry as well, but with a slightly more laid-back approach. (Bodrum also has heaps of blue and white buildings and both have been enjoyed alternating Greek and Turkish/Ottoman rule over the eras). The restaurant touts are slightly less aggressive in Kos and more locals are out enjoying the sun and getting on with their fishing or other businesses, not all tourist-related. Despite hearing such dire reports about the Greek economy, Kos at least seems fairly immune. Business appeared good in Turkey, but there are more signs of wealth in Greece: most taxis in Kos are Mercedes (not sure we saw a single Merc in Turkey), there are some very expensive motorbikes being driven around town, the locals seem more part of the holiday lifestyle than observers, and we didn’t see any beggars. The cats, however are ever-present and just as grubby.



Tourist 'road train' around Kos town.



Dropping off our bags at the ferry terminal, we decided to join the hedonists for the day and, after a quick tour of the town on a tiny ‘train’ that drives a circuit of the main ruins and sights, we ate, drank, sat on the beach and relaxed. Even went for a swim in the chilly but enticingly blue Aegean – the first time the water’s looked clean enough to go in.

Kos is very picturesque with the blue and white buildings, cute fishing boats along the harbor and flowering trees and pot plants everywhere. The air is full of the scent of honeysuckle and a type of frangipani, and the sound of a dozen different languages.

Despite the hour’s ferry ride from Turkey, from Kos you can still see the individual houses on the Turkish mainland, which is probably less than 1km away.

Leaving on the 8.30pm ferry to Santorini tonight, we finally bade farewell to our last views of Turkey and it seems appropriate that a crescent moon and single evening star were hanging in the sky,

Town lights as we leave Kos on the ferry.

Things we will remember from Turkey

Merhaba (hello – about the only word we truly mastered).

Bus journeys are much better when you have a ‘host’ serving free drinks and snacks.

Poppies make any collection of wildflowers look magical.

Honking can be a form of communication, not a sign of road rage.

High petrol prices deliver great public transport.

Cats will eat Muesli bars if they are hungry enough.

No Euro means cheaper prices.

When someone appears to pour washing up liquid on your hands, they’re being polite; it’s handwash.

Turkish people wash their hands an awful lot.

Turkish coffee is not nearly as popular as Turkish tea.



Buying simit rolls at Selcuk market.



Turks don’t eat (what we call) Turkish Bread. But simit sesame rolls are yum.

The pink gunk that (UK confectioner) Fry covers in chocolate does not deserve to be called Turkish Delight.

More people should adopt cucumbers as a snack food.

The sewerage system might not have advanced much since the Roman times but you get used to anything.

 



Roman latrines. Modern ones have walls but lack views.



Hi-rise housing for storks on Selcuk aquaduct

Dinner by the water, Bodrum

Mediaeval graffiti at Bodrum castle, in the English tower.

Greek cats eat pepperoni. Turkish ones eat Muesli bars.