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| Our tour bus waits in waterlogged, Akyaka, Turkey |
We sailed into Marmaris engulfed in
rain and very low-lying clouds. We had
originally booked an excursion that involved a river cruise and an ancient
Roman ruin. But as with so many other excursions,
plans changed when I was unable to do more difficult cruises. In this case it really worked out to our
advantage. We had switched to Panoramic Marmaris, which involved doing
a lot of sightseeing from the bus.
In this case, sightseeing was
pretty much a misnomer. With the cold
and drenching rain, most people didn’t have much desire to hop off the bus for
photo stops. However, we did pretty much
manage to stay dry.
The Pinnacle Grill manager commented that with the way the port was set up, it was quite obvious that they did experience a lot of regular rain. Immediately upon getting off the ship, we were able to duck under a covered walkway that took us into the terminal, and the buses were located just beyond the terminal. Our guide Ebru (who said her parents had quite a sense of humor as her last name meant “black eyes” and her given name meant “eyebrow) told us that Marmaris gets quite a bit of rain, but most of it falls in their winter months. May, though, is not considered a winter month!
Marmaris is a seaside resort with what
looked like hundreds and hundreds of yachts anchored in the harbor. The
population of about 30,000 during the winter months swells greatly during the
tourist season, which runs from April to October, with many Europeans visiting,
particularly the British, German, and Dutch.
Tourism is the main industry for the people of Marmaris; this means
there is little for them to do during the winter months. As a result, young people are moving out
because of lack of things to do for about half the year.
There are two theories of how
Marmaris got its name. One theory is
that it is named for marble. The more
interesting theory dates back to the 16th Century when Sultan
Suleman came to Marmaris in order to invade Rhodes (which is very nearby) and
wanted to have the castle enlarged. He hired an architect who apparently didn’t
work fast enough to suit the sultan who decided to have the architect hanged. Marmaris may also come from words that mean “hang
the architect”.
Turkey pretty much has a
rectangular shape and spreads between two continents. More than 75 million people live in the
country, which is approximately 814 km2. The original capital was Istanbul, but in
1923 Ataturk had the capital switched to Ankara. Ataturk is credited for modernizing Turkey
and founding the Turkish Republic.
Everyplace we have visited in Turkey we have seen statues of this leader
who is revered by the Turkish people, much as we revere George Washington.
Turkey is a mountainous country,
averaging an altitude of about 1200 m (about ¾ mile) above sea level. The highest mountain is the famed Mt. Ararat.
Turkey is divided into seven regions with 81 provinces.
As we headed out of the port we
drove steadily uphill toward our first destination of the Sakar Mountain
Pass. We had expected to experience
lovely panoramic views of Marmaris, but with the rain pelting the windows and
the clouds touching the mountain peaks, we could see very little. The guide did point out the amber trees that
lined the roads and made up quite a bit of the forests. That was about all we
could view. Can’t do much about the
weather!
Our first stop was at a local
teahouse for a snack of traditional Turkish pastries and Turkish tea. (I had
Coke – mistakenly requested soda and ended up with soda water. I had to explain that soda is a generic term
for soft drink. They explained that in
Turkey soda means soda water.) The trek
up to the tea house in the pouring rain was a challenge for many of us. Tours like this are designed for people with
mobility issues, so the canes and walkers were challenged with slab rocks
sloped fairly substantially up to several slab rock stairs and into the
teahouse with now wet marble floors! Once
inside, we were fine, but getting there and back to the bus was an
adventure! There were panoramic windows
where people could get a lovely view of the surrounding area, but of course we saw
rain and fog. Again, can’t do much about
the weather!
We headed back down the mountain to
a small fishing village of Akyaka, where we were to get off the bus and have
some free time to wander the streets and browse stores as well as snapping
pictures of the lovely boating harbor. It
looked like a charming little town, but almost no shops were open. So with the
rain, most people didn’t even venture off the bus.
So it was a very short stop, and
soon we were on our way to our next stop, another restaurant where we would
have more Turkish tea and more pastries.
It appeared that they would have served us out on a covered terrace, but
of course we were packed into the interior (at least we were near a nice warm
fireplace) because of the rain. The food
was very good, and we commented that we wouldn’t need lunch when we got back to
the ship! We got a kick out of a couple
of ducks wandering around – lovely weather for them!
Our final stop was a wealthy resort
area of Marmaris called Içmeler. By now
the rain had let up, but not enough for most of us to venture off the bus for
pictures.
We had chosen the right excursion
for the day if we wanted to pretty much stay dry. The guide apologized over and
over for not being able to see the spectacular beauty of the area. Most of the
people on the tour took it in good humor, though a few appeared to be quite
annoyed that they hadn’t seen much. One
would think that at the ages of the people on this ship that they would realize
that there’s not a thing one can do about the weather!
A few weeks ago, Kristine, the
Neptune Lounge concierge, asked Chuck if’ he’d give some feedback on how things
were going on the ship. He gave a little, and then suggested that I might have
things to add. So I made some comments
also. Kristine told me that we could always feel free to make further
suggestions, so the other night I suggested (after a second night of finding
nothing but very fancy, rich food on the menu) that a category might be added
that would include nice simple items like pot roast (which they do occasionally
serve) or fish and chips (which they also serve once in awhile), or meat
loaf. Imagine my surprise (and
embarrassment) at dinner that night when Kiki, the dining room manager, came
over and told me that if there was anything they could fix for me for
dinner, I should let him know and he would pass it on to the chef and he would
prepare it! A few minutes later, Naso’i,
our table’s host, came over with the same message. My goodness, I did not expect to have my own
personal menu on the cruise! Chuck sat
there laughing at me, and I was quite sheepish about the whole thing! While the food is extremely rich, and I get
very, very tired of such rich foods every day, I don’t need them to cater to me
in particular! After dinner I went to
the Neptune Lounge and talked to Kristine, and she said that she’d passed my
suggestion along, and that they were very willing to do what they could to make
this a good dining experience! She said
I wasn’t the only one who had this concern. And Chuck reminded me of a comment
that Kiki had made that I had totally missed in my embarrassment. Kiki had said that it was not like we were
casual cruisers who only cruise once in awhile. We are repeat cruisers who are
on board ships very frequently and they want to be sure that we are
pleased.
Be careful what you wish for! While I’m quite flattered, it was not my
intention to create extra work for the staff!
BT
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