July 29

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Sunrise in the marina at Cesme

Sunrise in the marina at Cesme

Today we were going to try for a dolmosh(small bus service) into the real port of Cesme as opposed to the resort side where we are. This side is very much the resort side for the wealthy Turkish people. We walked up to the dolmosh stand and got a ride just as we got to the corner and for 5 Turkish Lire a couple (about $1.25 CDN each) we got delivered to the marina in Cesme. The castle museum is just across from the marina, which was our destination for the day. What we didn’t realize was this was a serious yacht shopping place and I was in search of a chain grabber like Ricks only for my sized chain. There were two sizes that we have seen. One sized for Rick’s sized chain 10-12 mm chain (3/8 chain) and 6-8 mm chain. Rick remembered a third which was for 8-10 mm chain. I really wanted a 8-10 but settled for a 6-8 at 40 TL which I think was an ok price for a nice chunk of stainless.

pomegranates

pomegranates

One of the things that I always enjoy seeing are the fruit trees for “exotic” fruits that we buy in the grocery stores. It’s nice to see stuff growing freely in a place where you visit. Not only is it a connection to home, “We see that in the stores at home”, it will also be a permanent connection to our trip to the med “We saw one of these growing in Turkey when we were there!” Today’s find was a pomegranate.

The Cesme Marina is huge marina and the boats are packed in. We saw a sailboat arrive and there were two large inflatables with their noses covered with bumpers acting as tugs to maneuver the sailboat into place. The way they were working him he could have let go of the wheel and just used the throttle and the gearshift. There was a 62 foot sailing Catamaran it must have been close to 40 feet wide, the biggest cat I’d ever seen.

A quick look inside the castle in Cesme

A quick look inside the castle in Cesme

On this side of the marina it is set up much more for foreign tourists, ferries, lots of small hotels, bus stations, lots of marine stores, did I say lots of marine stores! Groceries, bars, restaurants, etc. I think Rick was sorry he went to Setur Marina on the other side. He could have come here considering the clearance was done by an agent anyway. Beside the Marina was the castle that we were looking to explore. And it was closed on Monday. We stuck our heads in just to see we could walk around the exterior but were herded away by the security guy.

Walking around the streets in Cesme

Walking around the streets in Cesme

We walked around the castle to the back and then around the streets of the town looking at the houses and streets of the places were normal people live. Cesme is not a prosperous place, but the people are friendly and keep their places pretty and neat. There are water fountains scattered here and there that we saw people stop at and fill their water jugs. Most of these are very old some dating back 600-800 years (with new plumbing!)

The back wall of the castle in cesme

The back wall of the castle in cesme

We got a dolmosh back home and Rick and I played some backgammon and watched the people. We had some Rick’s Cajan food. It’s really good and somewhere near the end of our trip we get get a feed of it. We always enjoy it.

P.S. This is likely to be my last post until After I get home. I did an update to the gallery of 25 or more pics

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