Fethiye and Oludeniz ... PIONEER TRAVEL WITH AAARRTTIIIEEEE.

On an overnight bus from Istanbul to Fethiye, a small coastal town on the Med coast. Arrived at “Ideal Pansion”, again another home stay style B and B. From here I did a 12 Island day trip on a sailing boat through some small Med Islands, was such a beautiful day, really warm and the ocean lived up to its name ‘the turquoise sea’, was clear and blue and warm. I saw a big sea Turtle (loggerhead turtle) swimming near the boats which was really beautiful. The boat had only about 25 people on it, so was really relaxing. I moved after 2 nights at Ideal Pension to another town just around the bay called Oludeniz, where I stayed for 3 nights. I did a day trip from here to a place called Dalyan, a little inland, which is famous for Turtle beach, where the Loggerhead turtles lay their eggs and where there are a huge amount of waterways leading to the ocean, like laneways of reeds. This day trip turned out to be a trip not quite as Id expected. I thought it might be a smaller group like I was on for the 12 Island day trip, and it was definitely sold as a less ‘touristy’ day trip to do. I got on the bus at 8.30am, was met by a guy called Artie, the tour guide. Now, Ive never seen a more stereotypical tour guide in my life .. imagine a slightly eccentric middle aged man with a bold spot on top his head, but the remaining hair he had was shoulder length, he at times graced me with wearing a cap. He sported loose cotton brown pants, Velcro strapped sandals, a tan coloured long sleeve shirt that had definitly seen better days, sleeves rolled up, he had a pen in his top pocket, a megaphone hanging over his shoulder and a clipboard in his hand. Artie spoke like no one I’ve ever met, in terms of the sheer amount. He spoke .. and he spoke .. and he fucking spoke. Mostly into a microphone, but sometimes into a fucking megaphone.. As this bus slowly filled with euro-touro’s, I realized I was not in for the day I’d expected. Things went from comical to hysterical a few minutes later when Artie announced to the bus that at each stop we would make that day, when we were ready to pile back onto the bus we would hear via the megaphone “PIONEER TRAVEEELL WITH AAAARRTTTTIIIIEEEEE” … umm there was no way could respond to that call and follow the rest of the tourist sheep back onto our tourist bus .. shame job. The stops for the day were supposed to be a mineral bud bath, a stop at Turtle beach, a boat trip through the waterways and a visit to the cliff tombs. Instead, the first stop was a fucking jewellery shop. As the bus load piled out of the bus and into a ‘whole sale jewellery warehouse’ I felt ever so much like I was in India being tricked into someone’s carpet shop or silk factory! Thought Id go inside, just to see where we’d be led. I walked in and was met by a ‘jewellery shop host’, a smarmy looking Turkish bloke in a suit with slicked back greased hair. Perfect. He addressed the group and explained how he sold everything from rubies and emeralds to diamonds from South Africa. The temptation to ask about blood diamonds was too great, so I asked in front of the group “do you make an effort to buy the diamonds ethically from south Africa?” .. the ‘host’ glared at me for what felt like minutes, glared and glared. I prompted him “it’s a legitimate question mate” .. he hissed “blood diamonds you mean?” .. I reply “yes, lets go there, blood diamonds”. He sneered quietly “remember this, where there is money, there is always guns, never forget it”. I reply, “that makes it ok?, I’m out of here” and I walk out through the group of about 40 people who I hope heard me ask and I hope re-thought any decision to buy diamonds that day. I got back on the bus fuming and debriefing with anyone and everyone that would listen. Transferred to boat, and headed toward the most fabricated mud baths I’d ever seen, (Artie was still talking) had a mud bath in minerals that apparently make u look and feel amazing .. not much happened for me on that front unfortunately! Had a nice swim then heard the call “PIONEER TRAVEL WITH ARRRRTTIIIIEEEE”, yep, time to get back on the boat and head for lunch. Had a lovely lunch stop, then “PIONEER TRAVEL WITH AAARRTTIIIIEEEE”, back on the boat to head towards Turtle bay via some amazing cliff hangning tombs (see pic). After weaving through reads and water ways towards the beach, which was beautiful, we arrived at the beach (Artie was still talking). Instead of pulling up at the jetty and getting off, we instead pulled up near a small fishing boat, where they tried to flog some crabs for a ridiculous price. We headed off after Artie ripped a few blokes off, and parked the boat (Artie was still talking). I saw 3 turtles swimming around here, which to date was the far and above highlight of the day. I have to add, that they were ‘lured’ to the surface by a dead crab on a string! Now fucking Turtle Beach .. jesus Christ. .. If a turtle could walk on this beach, least of all lay an egg, amongst the british kids, women in string bikinis and blokes in budgie smugglers, it would be a bloody miracle. I dare say that if they were still venturing on this tourist haven, it wouldn’t be for long (see attached pictures of the ‘turtle sanctuary’ haven). After arguing with a bloke about the swindling price of his magnums (double the RRP), headed back to a café called the “Stork Café”, apparently famous for the storks nests all around .. seemed suss to me, going to another destination not on the itinerary. Sure enough, Stork Café was a shop .. with one tressle table serving VERY overpriced cake, coffee and chai… not impressed so I went rogue and got back on the bus, even though I didn’t hear the magic words “PIONEER TRAVEL WITH AAARRTTTIIIEEEE”. Travelled back to Oludeniz … a little irritated, tired, but stoked that Id seen a few turtles, and had atleast had a laugh or two .. mostly on Artie.. who was still talking.

Also did a day trip on a boat to Butterfly Island and a few other hot spots around the Med. This day was particularlly overcast and I thank god for Kwels cause the ocean was pretty big and many people got sea sick. The beach here has a very VERY quick and deep drop off, so that the boats can come right up to the shore for people to get on and off, this day because of the swell it was pretty hard to do this as the ladder from the back of the boat was rising and falling about 3 metres with the waves.. so you had to time getting on and off with precision. The boat stopped at this amazing place where a fresh water spring was spitting out its water from underneath the ocean, the water was sooo cold and as a result when you were in the water, it felt freezing from ur chest down from the spring, but warm from your chest up from the temperature of the ocean itself, was very cool. It started to totally piss down with rain whilst we were swimming, which was really amazing and a bit spooky feeling! Nailed a couple jumps off the top of the boat, made friends with a 14 year old boy called Murphy from England, whose mum was laid up ill with sea sickness, and swam in water 5 times deeper than my height but you could still see rocks at the bottom - a new definition of clarity, thats for sure. I mentioned my sister Fern to strangers several times on this trip, mostly in regards to the sea worthiness of the boat and wishing she was here to inspect the vessel and perhaps lend a hand to the struggling 'captain'.. would have felt in much safer hands. Unfortunately because of the weather, we couldnt stop at Butterfly Valley itself, the highlight of this part of the Med coast because of its enclosed cliffs. So I decided to stay put one more day and get on the local ferry service the next day to Butterfly Valley, couldnt come this far and not go! So the next day, the sun was shining but the swell was still a little large, so getting on and off the service boat was much the same as the day before. Met a couple of really nice women from Australia who were a couple and were living and working in Cambodia, Lee and Cat, got overseas working envy! We pulled up at Butterfly Valley and only spent an hour or so here before having to head back to Oludeniz and get the bus to the famous Olympos where Id planned to stay in a tree house for a couple nights, still on the Mediterranean Coast.

So ....

Pictures - From the top.

1. As our boat departed on the Butterfly Valley Boat trip, the pirates who worked on the service ferry were loading supplies to take across to Butterfly Valley, including a kitchen sink (in the background, it actually came on board!) and as they were loading a huge case of tomatoes onto the boat, a wave crashed in to this pirates very sturdy sea legs and he lost his load!

2. A shot looking back onto Oludeniz beach.

3. Approaching Butterfly Valley - really picturesque beach set between two massive cliffs.

4. a shot standing on the beach at butterfly valley, looking back at the cliffs, you might be able to see but there is a massive waterfall in the cliffs at the back.

5. The Blue Cave, a huge cave set inside the cliffs, the bay around from Butterfly Valley, was too rough to swim there that day unfortunately.

6. Just a little girl on the Butterfly Valley cruise, that didnt go to butterfly valley!

7. Me swimming!

8. A shot of the water on the butterfly valley cruise, near some ruins of an Anthean Church, 6b.c.

9. Nadia, me and Stacey in the rain swimming.... one of these things are not quite like the others, get a fucking tan girls, jesus.

10. A turtle on the Dalyan day trip (one not lured by the dead crab!)

11. On Turtle beach - where turtles go to the toilet

12. on turtle beach - where turtles sun bake.

13. a shower for turtles to wash off the sea water

14. Turtle Beach again - i think these are turtles digging holes to lay eggs.

15 and 16 - The Lycian cliff Tombs (400 bc) on the way into Turtle Beach

17. Artie - still speaking.

18. Hilarious Arti being ummm i dont know what he was doing actually, but it wasnt that funny.

19. The "natural" mud bath - in a swimming pool.

20 and 21. Me muddy ... still with lipstick on, of course.

22. the sail from the 12 island med trip

23. the boat on the 12 island trip

24. me on that same boat

and the last two are of Celis beach, where I spent a beautiful day on my own in silence reading, listening to music and watching the ocean.

Back to Istanbul..

Back to Istanbul after an overnight bus from Pamukkale... for the soul reason of hopefully meeting my passport back there. But alas, I arrive back to the Sultan Hostel in Istanbul to find no passport. I send my 3rd abusive email to Australia Post .. and of course my passport arrives 3 hours later.

So ... I hang out for a couple days and see the last of the sights. Above, the first 19 photos are taken from the Topkapi Palace, most of them taken from inside the Harem of the Palace. The Harem, which was actually a grand version of a prison for women, was truly beautiful asthetically, but also disturbing (and revolting) to think that between 300-500 women at any one time were enslaved inside the Palace as sex slaves for the Sultan. The ones who produced sons were elevated to a room with a view of the city, while those that did not were relegated to a room facing the courtyard and the other rooms (the picture 13 from the top of the courtyard with the pink coloured buildings is where the women slept, facing each other on the bottom story, or looking out over the city on the top story if they gave children). The concubines were taught music, arts and etiquette and those who were deemed 'most promising' were elevated in the ranks, given more freedoms and in the social spotlight more frequently.

I realised as I was walking around the Harem part of the Palace, taking shots of this amazing place where gold flakes covered ceilings and walls, with grand mirrors, paintings, woven carpets, grand ceiling paintings and the like, that all the ruins, the palaces, the monuments and the statues seem to be all just grand testiments to men who need people to know they were rich, powerful and MAN. Our allure to them is in their age, their design and their preservation - but the history of most of these places differs little to modern day monuments, buildings and statues. So much so that as each Sultan took over from the last, they HAD to build a new quarter to show they had superior taste, power, money and capacity - heaven forbid sleeping or staying in a room that the previous 'big man' built - they would also 'get rid' of the concubines of each Sultan as a new one took over, it was beleived this was often through drowning of these women because they were 'used'. Fucking revolting.

So ... the ruins of the west coast were old testimonts to powerful men .. and the palaces of the middle and top coast are testiments to powerful men who also like to murder women they were done having sex with .. did I just pay to get into these places??!!

So as I said, the first 19 shots are of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The remaining shots, all except the last one of the cats on some random carpet shop front, are taken from the Aya Sofya, the most famous monument in Istanbul. This building, oroginally a Orthodox patriarchal basilica was built in 360bc, was made into a christian cathedral in 532 b.c and for a thousand years was the biggest building in the world ... the biggest building in the WORLD for a THOUUUSANND years, how cool is THAT. In 1453 it was made into a Mosque when the Ottoman Empire took it over .. the amazing thing about this building, as you can see in some of the pictures, is that the Muslims didnt take away any of the Christian images, paintings and frescoes. Instead, they simply added their Islamic works around it ... see world, 2 religions can exist side by side and no one need by killed, ya fucking idiots.

The building is amazingly beautiful - hard to capture on camera actually. I hope the shots give some idea of its height, grandure and wonder.

The 2nd last shot of the hand/arm is taken from within the Aya Sofya also, it is a 'sweating pillar', a large marble pillar dating back to 560b.c which has a thin later of bronze wrapped around it, it is beleived that if u stick your thumb into the hole which is in the side of the pillar and get one of the few droplets of 'sacred water' which trickles down occassionally, that it is immense good luck and has a huge amount of healing powers. The pillar is amazing now because of how many people have put their thumb inside the hole over the years hoping for a drop of the sacred water, it has worn down so much of the copper and marble and feels and looks amazing.

Youll have noticed that I have been putting heaps more pictures up, Ive worked out how to easily resize my pictures so they arent so massive if you open them to look closer ... the quality isnt as good, but means I can upload heaps more and much quicker. Thanks everyone for ya comments about this blog too, its a fucking commitment to keep it going I tell ya! Bit of a mission, but worth it I reckon! x

ps i put a couple cat shots in for my cat loving friends, mostly Billi, Finn, Mel and Kel - how fucking cute are those kittens in the cusion covers, they were spooning in there just nappin in the sun arm in arm! and the one of the cat near the 'keep out' sign is from inside the Aya Sofya in the most sacred area!!! Pretty cheeky. I thought of u gals when I saw it cause I knew how much you'd love em !! love yous.