Cruising around Turkey

My last few days in Selcuk I divided time between the resident kitten and the sea.  I finished filling my memory card for the third time this trip so far and found a computer geek in the back of a carpet shop to transfer all my pics onto my memory stick and eliminate the virus that found its way onto my card somehow - all free of charge and without a carpet sales pitch!  The Turkish are the most helpful people I've encountered (when they are not trying to sell you something).  So that gets me to just over 1500 pictures taken on this trip so far.  I also spent a day cruising the Aegean Sea which consisted of me napping between bouts of reading my book.  I finally tore myself away from Selcuk and the kitten which clung to me literally as I left and grabbed a day tour to Pammukale on my way to Fethiye.

Pammukale is famous for its natural spring waters that apparently Cleopatra even enjoyed at some time putting the place on the map.  The water contains calcium among other things causing the area around where it flows to become white ledges.  Hieropolis - another ancient city - is nearby on top of the plateau.  After a bus ride and lunch we had free time to explore both.  The bus was supposed to then take me onto Fethiye right to my hotel.  Plans changed though as no one else on the tour was going there so I had to make my way down along the ledges to the bottom to catch a series of buses to Fethiye.  Along the walk down some fellas motioned for me to take their picture.  I was carrying my shoes (they forbid you to walk with them on the ledges as it destroys the natural color) and so after trying to hold them and take the picture at the same time the guys grabbed my shoes and posed for the picture holding them up.

  So somewhere out there is a picture of three men - I could not tell from where - holding my hikers.   

So I grabbed the dolmus to Denizli and then another bus to Fethiye.  On arrival I expected someone from the hotel to be there at the station as I was assured door to door service but found no one.  I was not alarmed as I knew I could just approach someone for help.  I went into a nearby bus company who called my hotel.  This is where I started to anger the owner.  He told me I could just grab a taxi to the hotel for "only" 10 Lira (8 bucks) and I insisted I would not pay for a taxi as I already paid for door to door service.  He relented and sent me a taxi.  Then on arrival he told me the dorm was 20 a night and I was promised 15 by the guy in Selcuk so after some discussion he again relented.

  So as it is I have an entire dorm to myself with bathroom POOLSIDE and overlooking Fethiye bay.  Not bad for 12 bucks a night including breakfast.  Of course I am now out of the busy backpacker season so I am the only one here which can be a bit too quiet.  Anyway after all that I broke the chain on the flusher to the toilet this morning so he looked a little like he's had it up to here with me.  Oh well. 

This town is on the Mediterranean Sea and in a few days I will be taking a boat along the coast on the way to Olympos over four days and three nights.  Now I didn't plan it this way but I will be basically spending my days reading and swimming and sunning myself over the next week between this resort town and the boat cruise and then Olympos.

  This is a good thing because I found myself going "oh goody more ruins" at Efes and Hieropolis and that is not the way I want to feel going into Egypt early next month.  I've been wanting to go there my entire life and I want to be feeling refreshed and energetic when I arrive.   

Anyway if I don't write much over the next week it is because either A) nothing exciting has happened during this lazy bliss or B) I don't have access to a computer.