Ephesus, Pamukkale and Cleopatra's Pool

Goofing off at museum

For the blog posts for Thursday and Friday, and for today. 

These folks were short!!

On Thursday we woke up really early in the morning and took a van to Marmaris then took a bigger  nicer bus to a ancient city called Ephesus.  Papa and I went to the museum while Tutu and BeBe went to the house of the Virgin Mary.  


Then we ate an ok lunch with the tour group and went to the ruins of Ephesus.  We looked at some old rocks that all looked the same and saw some big gates that looked magnificent and also saw the largest theater out of all other ancient theaters.   The acoustics were amazing.

Baths at Ephesus.  Required for entry to city.

The first thing when you arrived at the city were the baths.  In ancient times everyone who arrived was required to bathe before entering the city.  This allowed men like doctors to look at the stranger's body and see if they had any disease.  It also made them wash off any germs they might be carrying although they did not know about germs back then.  And the most important thing was that it would show if they had any hidden weapons.


While we were looking at some big rocks and columns that all looked the same we looked at the infirmary (ancient hospital) and also learned about some of the gods that supposedly roamed around Ephesus.  If someone got healed in the infirmary then they left a part of themselves as an offering of gratitude to whatever god was responsible for healing them.  Most people who survived the hospital cut off an ear to leave at the infirmary. 

Ephesus -- it was hot!

The umbrella helped

Crosses & Bones game circle on right.
The 6 letters to test if Christian on left.

Taking a break

A popular game was called crosses and bones.  People played this game on stones all over the city.  There were also 6 letters that would be written next to the circle that they played in.  When a stranger arrived he could play the game and people would ask him what each of those letters meant.  If he answered all 6 letters correctly, then he was accepted as a Christian.  They did this because Christians had to keep their new faith a secret.

Backgammon stone

Another stone game board

They also played backgammon on a big stone area.  And some other game we didn't know about.

Gate of Hercules on main pedestrian street

The main road was for pedestrians only.  It was steep and sloped down over 60 feet from the baths down to the library.  About halfway down was the Gate of Hercules.  This was 2 columns placed on either side of the road that made the road get narrow.  This prevented chariots from using the road.

Library of Celsus.  One of only 2 libraries in the ancient world

Then after we looked at the Brothel which is also the first place in the world to actually advertise anything and they were advertising women.  Stones were put in the roadway down near the port.  Arriving sailors could look at the stones and decide which woman they wanted to meet.  The stone would have several carvings like a woman's face and name, a heart that was shattered, a circle that meant money and a footprint shape.  This signified that if a person had a broken heart and some money, he could follow the footprints and have the woman's company.  A sailor would decide which face he liked best and follow that shape footprint to that woman's house or brothel.   World's first known advertising.

Main street going down to Library.  The valley
in the background used to be the harbor.  Dirt has
filled in about 8 miles in the past 2,000 years.

Then later we saw how small were all of the rooms the regular people lived in.  

Our guide in latrines

And we saw the bathrooms that they had, and learned that normally they would have their slave do all of the wiping when a man used the restroom.  Only the men and their slaves could enter the bathroom, and only the men could use the bathroom.   


Then when we learned about all of the gates and about the statues and how long it took to make them. Then after all of that when we went through the magnificent halls to enter the theatre we checked out the accoustics for the largest known theater of Rome Greece and Turkey. After we did that we drove in the bus for another 3 hours and they showed us the hotel we would be sleeping in.  We had a ok dinner and tried to go to sleep.

Swimming in Cleopatra's Pool

A hot spring source that fills Cleopatra's Pool

Then on the morning after a unrestful night of sleep we had breakfast and went to the bus to go to a cool place called Cleopatra's pool which actually has a naturally set temp of 35degrees celcious. 

Top of mountain at Pamukkale

Which after swimming in the pool we left and went to a place that is a mountain that is white which I thought was interesting.  




The Turks call this the Cotton Castle.  There is a lot of mineral deposit from the flowing waters.  I think it is called calcium carbonate.  It is white and looks like snow but it is hard.  There are shallow pools formed from this calcium carbonate that terrace down the mountain.

The fill trench with constantly flowing water to the pools

  

On top of Pamukkale

Then I went climbing down the mountain barefoot because they made you take your shoes off and went into the warm pools in the mountain.  The guide said the waters will be all gone in 150 years and Pamukkale will no longer exist.

Descending the pools at Pamukkale

After that we went back to the bus and went to a onyx making place and looked at how they made the onyx. After that we started the long ride back to Marmaris.

Lots of calcium carbonate deposits over a very long time

What a shame this will all be gone in 150 years

.

Arrived in Turkey for the summer

Well this will be my first blog post for this summer and it will give detailed summery on what has happened to me so far. So when we first arrived in Fethiye we had to wait for our cab to show up then when we got home we fell asleep because it was really late.  Turkey is 8 time zones ahead of my hometown in Texas.


Then the next day we went to a ice cream guy (Turkish ice cream) and he did a show and got ice cream on my face ):. WASTER!!!!!! Turkish ice cream man (we didn't have a camera with us so this is someone else)

Lounging in hammock on foredeck

The bays are very deep right up to the shore.  So we must tie
a stern line to shore to hold the boat with the anchor all night.

Had fun snorkeling behind our boat

 Then we went to the store. When we got back we got some fresh cherries that were Delicious. Then the next day we went to a new place with nothing really all of that special about it. We anchored there 2 nights. 

Rock tombs I wanted to climb up to

More rock tombs up there

Then when we went to the next place there were some Lycian rock tombs there and I would have loved to go climb up to them, but Tutu and Papa were really lazy and never went up there with me (wouldn't let me got on my own because I recently broke my arm and was still wearing a brace).  They said it was too hot to climb up there.
















Then after that we went to a really quiet place and I went kayaking for so long and so far away that I sunburned my right arm where my cast was. That spot was whiter than the rest of my arms and legs.  

Kayaked for a long time and a long way from the boat.  I had fun exploring by myself
and getting away from the family for awhile.

Then later early in the morning we left to go 45 miles across a small gulf. But that plan was a plan gone wrong. The wind was too strong and the waves were against us and were very close together.  It was rough and slowing us down too much.  So we went off course and went somewhere else. 

Love these big red Turkish peppers.  Tutu grills them.

Then the next day that we were there we went swimming and I saw the impossible.... a giant tuna that was the same size as me 5 FEET LONG!!!!!!! I just thought that was inconceivable. 


The next day we took a tour to see some rock tombs (ancient Caunos) which is what we thought.  Turns out that they just drop you off and let you do the exploring with no guide. And the rock tombs were much farther up the river than where they dropped us off.  So we never got to actually see the rock tombs. 


Then after we got back from the tour we tried to leave where we were, but then again the wind and the waves were wrong. Dinner later that day was a disaster because it turns out that if you have meat and you're eating outside a swarm of bees comes and tries to eat the meat. 

Helping Papa polish the stainless steel -- almost every day!

Then the next day we left and got to the marina we wanted to go to, right in the town of Marmaris. We stayed there for 2 days and really enjoyed it.    On the 3rd day we left and went to a neighboring marina.  When we got to the spot they assigned us it really sucked because we were on the other side -- the farthest spot from the marina office and grocery store and restaurant and swimming pool and anything else. 


Well, that's all folks :).      

Crete and good-bye

Anchorage at Dhia island near Crete

We sailed from Santorini to a tiny island called Dhia about 6 miles north of Crete.  This was the longest sail we did in Greece; about 60 or 65 miles.  It also was the best sailing of the whole summer.  Dhia island is nothing but rocks.  Not even any goats.


The next day we sailed to Ayios Nikolaos on the north side of Crete.  The wind got really strong once and the boat went way over.  I don't like going over that far.  The marina said we could not come there until the next day.  We looked at several places to anchor but it was too rough.  Finally we anchored about a mile from the marina.  

Caught a fish!

Our fine catch!

While we were anchoring I found a tiny flying fish on the deck.  We have been fishing all the time we have been sailing all summer but never caught anything except 2 plastic trash bags.  Finally!  We caught a fish!


It was less than 2 inches long, but it was the only fish we caught this summer.  


 Papa and I are flying from Crete to Athens today.  In Athens I will get on a plane going to Houston.  Papa will fly back to Crete.  So I am signing off for this summer.

Signing off for the summer

Santorini (a/k/a Thera or Thira)

Uncle Aaron and Aunt Lynn went to Santorini for their wedding anniversary.  BeBe and Damien stayed with us on the boat in Ios for those days.  When Papa, Tutu and I sailed to Santorini we did not go ashore.  We just anchored inside the caldera next to the little island in the center where the new volcanic dome is formed.

We spent the night anchored inside an active volcano!

Here are a few of the photos taken at Santorini:

The towns are on the top of the cliffs

Road -walkway from Oia town down to small dock

The new volcano dome on Kammeni in the caldera

Oia town at top; tiny village at water level

Ios

From the first spreaders

Papa gave me and BeBe the test for midshipman while we were at Ios.  Elisabeth barely passed.  She is a good sailor but is too girlie for some of the stuff we did.  I passed and am now rated Midshipman 1st Class aboard S/V BeBe.  Papa gave me a certificate saying this.


We had to tie bowline knots.  I can do it with my eyes closed, but BeBe needs to watch what she is doing.  We had to tie deck cleats (of course).  We had to know how to throw the heavy dock lines and how to secure the lines to docks on bollards and cleats.  We had to know how to tie a midshipman's knot.  Tutu said this knot is also called a double clove hitch.  We had to know how to steer the boat manually and also how to use the auto-pilot.  

At the first spreaders

Of course we had to know the difference between port and starboard and which color goes to which side.  And we had to know which boat is the give-way boat and which one is the stand-on vessel when 2 boats are approaching.  Papa didn't ask us about every possible encounter position of boats moving, but I knew the ones he asked about.  I also know to tell Papa or Tutu anytime I see another boat approaching when we are sailing.


It was not on the test, but I also know how to follow a course on the electronic charts.  And how to identify AIS targets and find out if we are on a collision course or not.  

Here feet are barely off the deck!!!

Tutu said part of passing any midshipman test should be going up the mast at least to the first spreaders.  So I did that too.  It is really high up there!  I got a little scared after awhile up there, but now I want to go all the way up to the top next time.  Or maybe at least to the second spreaders.  I took a photo looking down at the deck.


BeBe was scared of going up the mast.  Tutu said she had to get in the bosun seat and go at least 3 feet up.  She barely made that.  She did not get rated 1st Class, but she did get a basic Midshipman certificate.  I don't know why she was so scared sitting in the bosun seat.  Her feet were barely off the deck.  

BeBe's 10th birthday

BeBe's 10th birthday in Ios, Greece

BeBe had her tenth birthday the day before she and her parents left.  

Church in background

Restaurant church in Ios

That night Papa and Tutu and I went out to eat dinner for our last night in Ios.  Tutu let me pick the place to eat.  I found a restaurant built next to a tiny church that was half underground.  The dinner was pretty good, but what was best was the desert!  I had Oreo crepes and they were delicious!  Papa said the crepes were big enough to feed 4 people.   He ate 4 bites and I ate all the rest.  Tutu doesn't eat Oreos so she didn't want any.  Good.  More for me!

Half underground church at restaurant

Naxos

Another Temple of Apollo; this one at Naxos

On Saturday July 30 we sailed to Naxos.  Yippee!!! Mexican food!  Tutu and Papa said their friends from Texas had eaten Mexican food at a restaurant in Naxos and said it was good.  We all wanted some Mexican food.


After many days of sitting around. Bebe and Bebe's parents went with me to the beach. Also while we were at the beach I found a starfish , some small crabs that hid in the sand. Finally we also went to the Temple of Apollo. 

Boat races at the beach

Several days later we took a decent sail to Vathi Bay. While at Vathi Bebe and I went to the beach a lot and we also went to the main town once and bought Tutu 1 vase. 

Competing boats

Also, while we were at Vathi Bay we built some sailboats out of styrofoam and other junk.  Then we went to the beach and raced them.  Mine won one of the races.

Sailing to Ios

Sleeping while sailing

When we left Vathi there were mammoth sized waves so I chose to go to sleep. 




While at Ios we had some of the best gryos since we got to Greece, and while we were here Bebe and Bebe's parents left to go back home. Ever since they left things have been a lot more calm. 


We have a very bad Internet connection.  I will upload photos and more stuff later.