Having acquired the additional documentation for the immigration office, we collected our hired car and set off on our first road trip; although Roy was driving on the right hand side of the road, in a left-handed car with a manual transmission, he did really well. It helped that we sort of knew where we were going; back to Kemer, a seaside resort on the Turkish Riviera.
After a scenic drive along the coastline, we snaked our way high up into the mountains and pine forests of the Olympos Beydağları National Park, arriving in Kemer, back at sea level, around 1015. We were delighted to be processed straight away at the immigration office and even more delighted that we left with our “Ikamat”; our temporary residency permits.
To celebrate, we took a short walk to the Imperial Turkiz Resort Hotel and enjoyed a morning coffee on their patio, overlooking the waterfront. It wasn’t until we decided to explore a little further that we discovered the walkways meandering through beautiful gardens, the lovely beachfront, although it was a pebble beach, and a marina with a boardwalk lined with restaurants, bars and cafés, for which it is well known apparently.
Lunch was another Turkish feast at one of the many restaurants lining the streets in the centre of town, Café Cheffy, where we enjoyed a delicious lamb casserole, although at tourist prices.
Satisfied that we’d had a productive and enjoyable outing, we returned to Finike, pleased to be back in a quieter, more rural setting, where we’re afforded the opportunity to get a glimpse into daily local life, rather than living in a substantially more expensive tourist trap!
Fortunately we both had a much better night’s sleep and woke to a calm, sunny day; the wind had eventually stopped howling sometime during the night. That meant slightly warmer temperatures, although we still needed the heating on this morning for a few minutes to take the chill out of the air.
Roy decided to get adventurous with breakfast this morning, cooking the Turkish sausage, “sucuk”, accompanied by fried eggs and portobello mushrooms, which, to our surprise, was very tasty; although spicy, it wasn’t hot.
We’d no sooner finished breakfast, though, when it was time to “meet” the crew off S/Y Panache, who were getting ready to set sail from New Zealand, after being stuck there for more than two years with the pandemic, and who had been “introduced“ to us by John, off Windancer IV, in the hopes that we could provide some useful information to Benny and Price regarding our Indian Ocean and Red Sea Passage. It was a very pleasant two hours spent chatting to them and we wish them fair winds and following seas, as they continue their circumnavigation.
After a late morning coffee, Elaine faded, though, and needed to go back to bed, as a wave of fatigue suddenly washed over her. Fortunately, by the time she resurfaced around lunchtime, she was feeling much better, so we set off on an afternoon walk, taking a slightly different route, only to be surprised, once more, at how lovely the walkway was; definitely spoilt for choice! We also stumbled upon, what seems to be a regular afternoon activity which takes place in the various tea gardens scattered around the waterfront, of men gathering to play some sort of board game. We later learnt that apparently Turks love board games and the number one national favourite is “Tavla” (aka Backgammon). So, we decided to enjoy an ice-cream and watch them play. It’s been years since we’ve played the game, but we’ve always had a backgammon set in our homes and happen to have one onboard. Guess it’s time to refresh our skills!
The other pleasant surprise, as if it literally happened overnight, was seeing all the roses in bloom. Yesterday we’d seen a few, but nothing compared to today. We’d waited patiently for this event and we weren’t disappointed; all the creepers and rose bushes were blooming a bright red, with the odd yellow, white, pink or orange bloom amongst them. Really beautiful!
What a lovely way to spend our afternoon!
After our visit to the immigration office yesterday, which required additional paperwork, most of today was spent running around trying to satisfy that requirement. Fortunately our agent has been extremely helpful in getting various members of his family or friends to ferry us around and act as our interpreters; today was a very lovely lady, his sister, who took us to the local tax office to pay the “one-off visa payment”, which we subsequently learnt was required specifically because of our citizenship. Once that was completed, with receipts in hand, our agent tackled the next hurdle; getting local medical insurance coverage for us. The kink in this requirement was that the immigration officer had clearly indicated that the coverage had to be backdated to coincide with our application date, but no insurance company permits backdated coverage. We’ve asked for a letter to explain this to the immigration officer, but who knows if that will suffice. You’d swear we were the first people ever to go through this process! Sooooo frustrating, not to mention the additional expense, all of which has cost us the equivalent of $512.75USD to date. Roy was shelling out 100TL bills today as if we’d found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow! By then we needed a nice walk and stopped in at Café de Valencia for a late morning coffee.
However, by the time we’d returned to the marina, the wind was absolutely howling again and the temperature had dropped sharply. That was our cue to remain onboard for the rest of the afternoon. So much for Spring; we’ve clearly forgotten what the weather is like in this neck of the woods, but we’d somehow expected the Mediterranean to be a lot warmer by now, compared to our experience of the UK at this time of the year.
Elaine passed her afternoon catching up with the family in Ireland; first a nice long chat with her sister, then with her folks.
Roy, on the other hand, re-engineered our “passerelle”, indicating that it was of process of “continuous improvements”. Well, let’s hope the contraption works a little better and doesn’t keep us up at night, now that it’s moved to the starboard side of the transom and on a pulley system.
We both had a terrible night’s sleep, primarily due to the number of interruptions we had. First was the “passerelle” that kept knocking the back of the transom step and vibrating through Paw Paw as a swell, associated with a southerly wind, crept into the anchorage. We’d barely sorted that out when the mosque started the early morning call to pray. Then after eventually dosing off to sleep again, Elaine’s alarm woke us up; it was her Methotrexate day and she’d totally forgotten. Unfortunately she had inadvertently disturbed Roy too, as she scrambled around the saloon for her medications.
It wasn’t long after that that Roy gave up on sleep altogether and went for his morning exercise walk, while Elaine tried to get back to sleep. When she surfaced again around 0900, it was a beautiful warm, sunny day.
After breakfast, while Roy took a walk to the shop for fresh bread and a few goodies, as well as to pop into the local chandlery for some pipe fittings to complete the repairs of the leak in the starboard hot water tank, Elaine completed our latest video.
By then it was time to get ready to meet our agent for our drive to the immigration office in Kemer, about 50 Km away. The hour journey took us high into the mountains, where we enjoyed the gorgeous scenery, reminding us of the Drakensberg in South Africa and the White Mountains in Arizona, the former due to the height of the mountains and the pass snaking through them, the latter due to the forests of pine trees as far as the eye could see. It was also interesting to see that every flat surface was covered in citrus groves or hot houses, nestled between the mountains.
Soon after entering the town of Kemer, we were escorted to the immigration office, which was extremely busy, to our surprise. Although we were early for our appointments, it was clear we would be waiting long past our appointment time before we were processed. There seemed to be a lot of confusion with a group whose visas had expired and were trying to get an extension. Arguing with the officials was probably not the best way to go about getting help. Running out of patience, the officer informed them they had no choice but to pay the fine and leave the country. Guess that’s the price one pays for overstaying a visa stipulation.
As for us, it was never going to be straightforward. Apparently our medical insurance provider was unacceptable, so we have to arrange specific cover here, obviously at additional expense and there was another fee to pay, in addition to what we had already paid. This, of course, all meant that we were going to have to make a second trip to Kemer in the next day or so to complete the process before we fly out. What a pain!
Thirsty, hungry and dying to go to the loo, we eventually returned to Finike empty handed after a five hour round trip. We should have expected this. No matter how prepared we were, there was always going to be something we didn’t have.
Given our long, drawn out afternoon, we opted to eat out for dinner, returning to Atilla Bey restaurant on the canal, where we enjoyed another Turkish feast, but by 2000 we were back onboard, tucked up in bed, given the chilly wind that had picked up, and watched a movie.
Being a beautiful Spring day and a Saturday, we decided that a nice slow stroll to the Saturday Market was the perfect way to spend our morning yesterday and it was also lovely to see the flowers starting to bloom, including the vines that hang over the canal bridges. Hearing a lawnmower, followed by the smell of cut grass was something our senses had completely forgotten about, however, having not encountered this since leaving Australia; grass / lawns are “mowed” using a weed trimmer in SE Asia, which we always thought was rather odd.
On this visit to the market, we browsed the clothing area first in search of some warmer, comfy clothes for Roy to wear onboard, then, besides some fruit and vegetables, we broaden our selection to include some dried fruit, roasted nuts; roasted while you wait creating the most divine aroma, and some Turkish sausage called “sucuk”; a semi-dried beef-based sausage made by a dry-curing process. We’re not altogether sure we’ll like it, but nothing ventured, nothing gained!
After completing our purchases at the market, which always seems to be more than we planned on, we stopped at Café de Valencia for a coffee. However, en route we stumbled upon what looked like a wrestling competition. Research later revealed that it was the traditional Turkish sport of “Oil Wrestling”, also called “Grease Wrestling”, where the oiling makes it harder for the participants to grab each other and the sport, therefore, requires great strength and mastery. While this sport still takes place today, it is believed to have been performed by ancient communities 4,500 years ago.
Although we were supposed to meet Kay and Lane, off Mai Tai, at the market, we missed each other, but bumped into them on our walk back to the marina. With plans to see them later in the afternoon, we returned to Paw Paw.
We’d barely unpacked and sanitised our purchases, though, when Angela and Reto, off She San, came over to say hello; they’d eventually completed their Red Sea passage and got through the Suez Canal, arriving yesterday morning in Setur Finike Marina. We’d last seen them in Djibouti, where they had anchored next to us. It was lovely to catch up and hear of their Red Sea experience; one that was not dissimilar to our own and everyone else who has transited this year. Congratulations to them on completing their circumnavigation having crossed their wake in Turkey.
We also heard from Zehra and Hasan, off Kandiba, who had arrived safely back home in Antalya to a fabulous celebratory welcome, having also completed their circumnavigation. Our congratulations go to them too. Great achievement!
After catching up with She San, Mai Tai arrived for “Afternoon Tea” as arranged. It was the first time since we’d all arrived in Setur Finike Marina that we’d had a chance to actually sit down and chat without having to dash off somewhere. Over hot drinks and delicious baklava, the afternoon was over before we knew it.
Although it was Easter Sunday today, it was a dull, overcast, miserable day; such a stark contrast to yesterday and, although Elaine only surfaced closed to 0900, while Roy waited patiently for her to wake up, she still prepared poached eggs on salmon for breakfast, in lieu of Easter eggs, following which she “attended” a Easter Sunday Service broadcast out of the Parish of St Bernadette in Port Elizabeth, South Africa; that too in lieu of a nearby church.
Then, to while away our day, Elaine continued work on our latest video, while Roy prepared our contributions to the Easter Sunday barbecue, where we enjoyed a very pleasant late afternoon / early evening in the company of other cruisers in the marina.
When the temperature started to drop as the sun dipped behind the mountain, that was our cue to return to Paw Paw and the warmth of our bed to watch a movie.
PS - Roy is still doing as little as possible, aside from taking a daily walk to the bakery to buy fresh bread.
Given the cold, windy day yesterday, we enjoyed a lazy day onboard, although Roy did brave the early morning chill to enjoy a long exercise walk, while Elaine stayed snuggled in the warmth of her bed.
After breakfast, while Roy spent most of the remainder of his day just being deck fluff, Elaine sorted out the laundry to be dropped off at the laundry service and started work on one of two outstanding videos of our time in Thailand, our visit the Ao Phang Nga National Park and Krabi Province. Most of her day, though, was spent catching up with family; first a chat to her sister in Ireland, then a chat to her folks in Ireland and finally a chat to Keenan in the US, only to discover that he had been up all night with food poisoning on top of still trying to get over COVID-19; he really is in the wars at the moment. Our hearts go out to him and wish him a speedy recovery!
In between all that, we napped and managed an afternoon walk before the sun dipped behind the mountains.
Today was a slightly more energetic day, as well as being somewhat more productive than yesterday, given that it was a slightly warmer day.
Around mid-morning we strolled into town and stopped at Klass Pastanesi for a coffee and to sample a few more different varieties of baklava, eating far more than we intended, as usual!
When the Ottoman Empire came to power in the 14th century the history of baklava changed forever, when many cultures, who had developed their own versions, were swallowed up within the empire’s borders, which effectively meant that the making of baklava was consolidated and perfected, since all of the region’s finest chefs were now working together. From its thin, flaky pastry and decadent filling of nuts and spices to that perfect drizzle of honey on top, baklava is as close as your taste buds will get to heaven on earth. No wonder it was one of the most popular sweet pastries of Ottoman cuisine.
It is believed that the current form was developed in the imperial kitchens of the Topkapi Palace in Constantinople; modern day Istanbul, where the Sultan presented trays of baklava to the Janissaries; members of the elite infantry unit that formed the Sultan’s household troops, every 15th of the month of Ramadan, in a ceremonial procession called the “Baklava Alayı”.
When the Ottoman Empire fell in the early part of the 20th Century, baklava spread across Europe and beyond.
It is, however, more than just a delicious treat. It comes with a number of health benefits; the variety of nuts are high in unsaturated fat, which help control cholesterol and are a great source of vitamin E, copper, magnesium and folic acid. The pastry is low in calories and free from both trans-fat and saturated fats, while the honey helps control blood sugar levels.
After satisfying our taste buds, we wandered around a little to find the bakery we’d seen on a previous walk. Fortunately our memories served us well, so we tried yet another traditional bread, the Turkish sesame bread ring called “Simit”, which we enjoyed for lunch. Very tasty!
Returning to Paw Paw, our last stop was supposed to be at a nearby Spa to make an appointment for Elaine, but, instead, we stumbled upon a store that was packed full of all sorts of household items we needed, including another bucket and two suitcases for our upcoming trip.
Then, in lieu of having a nap, Elaine got caught up on a number of miscellaneous tasks, including finalising the documentation needed for our upcoming meeting with immigration, printing our latest yacht and medical insurance policies and preparing our latest medical insurance claims, the latter after our visit to the hospital earlier this week.
By then it was time to enjoy a sundowner on the patio of a local establishment, while our sensors were treated to the beautiful sights and smells of all the orange blossoms in bloom under a warm Spring day and where Roy made another furry friend.
Happy Easter everyone. Sadly we won’t be having any Easter Eggs this year; there’s not one in sight!
Given the cold, windy day yesterday, we enjoyed a lazy day onboard, although Roy did brave the early morning chill to enjoy a long exercise walk, while Elaine stayed snuggled in the warmth of her bed.
After breakfast, while Roy spent most of the remainder of his day just being deck fluff, Elaine sorted out the laundry to be dropped off at the laundry service and started work on one of two outstanding videos of our time in Thailand, our visit the Ao Phang Nga National Park and Krabi Province. Most of her day, though, was spent catching up with family; first a chat to her sister in Ireland, then a chat to her folks in Ireland and finally a chat to Keenan in the US, only to discover that he had been up all night with food poisoning on top of still trying to get over COVID-19; he really is in the wars at the moment. Our hearts go out to him and wish him a speedy recovery!
In between all that, we napped and managed an afternoon walk before the sun dipped behind the mountains.
Today was a slightly more energetic day, as well as being somewhat more productive than yesterday, given that it was a slightly warmer day.
Around mid-morning we strolled into town and stopped at Klass Pastanesi for a coffee and to sample a few more different varieties of baklava, eating far more than we intended, as usual!
When the Ottoman Empire came to power in the 14th century the history of baklava changed forever, when many cultures, who had developed their own versions, were swallowed up within the empire’s borders, which effectively meant that the making of baklava was consolidated and perfected, since all of the region’s finest chefs were now working together. From its thin, flaky pastry and decadent filling of nuts and spices to that perfect drizzle of honey on top, baklava is as close as your taste buds will get to heaven on earth. No wonder it was one of the most popular sweet pastries of Ottoman cuisine.
It is believed that the current form was developed in the imperial kitchens of the Topkapi Palace in Constantinople; modern day Istanbul, where the Sultan presented trays of baklava to the Janissaries; members of the elite infantry unit that formed the Sultan’s household troops, every 15th of the month of Ramadan, in a ceremonial procession called the “Baklava Alayı”.
When the Ottoman Empire fell in the early part of the 20th Century, baklava spread across Europe and beyond.
It is, however, more than just a delicious treat. It comes with a number of health benefits; the variety of nuts are high in unsaturated fat, which help control cholesterol and are a great source of vitamin E, copper, magnesium and folic acid. The pastry is low in calories and free from both trans-fat and saturated fats, while the honey helps control blood sugar levels.
After satisfying our taste buds, we wandered around a little to find the bakery we’d seen on a previous walk. Fortunately our memories served us well, so we tried yet another traditional bread, the Turkish sesame bread ring called “Simit”, which we enjoyed for lunch. Very tasty!
Returning to Paw Paw, our last stop was supposed to be at a nearby Spa to make an appointment for Elaine, but, instead, we stumbled upon a store that was packed full of all sorts of household items we needed, including another bucket and two suitcases for our upcoming trip.
Then, in lieu of having a nap, Elaine got caught up on a number of miscellaneous tasks, including finalising the documentation needed for our upcoming meeting with immigration, printing our latest yacht and medical insurance policies and preparing our latest medical insurance claims, the latter after our visit to the hospital earlier this week.
By then it was time to enjoy a sundowner on the patio of a local establishment, while our sensors were treated to the beautiful sights and smells of all the orange blossoms in bloom under a warm Spring day and where Roy made another furry friend.
Happy Easter everyone. Sadly we won’t be having any Easter Eggs this year; there’s not one in sight!
With chilly temperatures and strong winds continuing to blow on and off throughout the day yesterday, as another cold front passed over, Roy spent some time adjusting docklines again to prevent the dinghy from getting squashed, although more adjustments were going to be required once the winds calmed.
Roy then got busy on his next yacht repair job; the leak in the starboard hot water tank. That, of course, meant unpacking everything from the starboard aft bunk to access the tank. At first he thought it was a task that was going to expand to multiple days, but, not being able to find a leak anywhere, today he disconnected and reconnected everything and the leak appears to have disappeared. Time will tell, though!
Elaine, on the other hand, took advantage of the cooler weather yesterday to complete her cleaning tasks on the port side, commenting later that it was a pleasure to clean without sweating profusely. A nice chat to her sister in Ireland interrupted play, but it was perfect timing to take a break.
Other tasks for the day included finalising hotels and car hire for our upcoming visits to see loved ones and finalising arrangements at the private hospital for our blood tests and checkups with the appropriate specialists.
That meant we were up early this morning to get to the hospital, which is located in Kumlaca, the next town along the coast from Finike. Of course, as with all new experiences, events didn’t quite pan out as we had expected.
The first hurdle was ensuring the laboratory was doing all the blood tests Elaine required. Although the list had been previously provided to the hospital, communications didn’t make it to the people who needed to know. Fortunately this was caught before a needle was stuck in Elaine’s arm. However, the hospital representative was keen to explain that the additional tests could have been performed after Elaine had seen the doctor, but seemed surprised when she informed him that one needle in 4 months was more than enough for her, never mind two in one day! Then, they not only forgot about Roy’s blood test initially, but completely overlooked him, thinking the phlebotomist had already seen him.
Once that mixup was resolved, we were escorted to a waiting room. This was the next clue that something was amiss; why were we seeing the same specialist? Well, turns out it wasn’t a specialist at all, but rather a general practitioner, who not only said he didn’t need to see Roy by telling Elaine that Roy’s blood test was normal, but in seeing Elaine, didn’t do any kind of physical examination; didn’t listen to her heart or lungs, didn’t take her temperature, didn’t take her blood pressure, didn’t weigh her, didn’t discuss her blood test results like her blood count, liver function, kidney function, cholesterol levels, glucose levels, etc, all important topics usually discussed with a patient who has Elaine’s conditions, but instead, told her she had an infection. When Elaine questioned this, he asked her a host of questions like: “Do you have a fever, do you have a cough, do you feel unwell, are you constipated, do you have a headache?”, and on he went, when each reply was a “no”. In the end he said he couldn’t tell her what type of infection it might be, but that she needed to see an “infection doctor”. Suspecting something was way off base and working through the interpreter, getting her blood test results was like pulling teeth, constantly having to prompt for information that is usually conveyed by a rheumatologist as a matter of course, by which time it became abundantly clear that this doctor had no clue as to why Elaine was there and what conditions she had, given that he had assumed her inflammatory indicators were indicative of an infection and not her inflammation; confirmed when Elaine enquired as to whether or not she was in the presence of a rheumatologist, only to receive the response: “Why do you need a rheumatologist?” What a complete waste of time! The only good news was that we eventually got the printouts of our blood tests and that’s all we needed at this stage.
The next saga, however, was trying to get an invoice printed after we’d paid. Three attempts eventually resulted in getting both invoices we needed; at first they only gave us the invoice for Roy’s care. Then they only gave us the invoice for Elaine’s care, while keeping the one for Roy’s care. Third time was the charm; we eventually got both invoices!
It’s fair to say, that, not only did this convoluted malarkey take nearly four hours, the level of care, even at this private hospital, was definitely not what we’re used to and, either we just had a bad experience or we’re definitely going to have to lower our expectations and standards moving forward!
For instance, neither Roy nor Elaine could recall the phlebotomist changing his gloves between patients and he definitely didn’t sanitise the area on our arms before he jabbed us, not to mention the fact that he really hurt Elaine. The other disconcerting fact was that, although the hospital staff were handing out masks to those who arrived without one, there were still people walking around the hospital with their masks under their chin and almost all of them were coughing and spluttering. If Elaine didn’t have an infection, she was surely at risk of getting one now!
Needless to say, we definitely won’t be visiting that hospital again! Oh how we miss Singapore and Malaysia for healthcare already!
The drive over to Kumluca, though, was very interesting. Besides being very picturesque, with the sparkling Mediterranean Sea on one side and the beautiful snowcapped mountains on the other, there were miles and miles of greenhouses and citrus groves, as far as the eye could see, nestled between the coastline and the mountain range.
Back in Finike, the taxi driver dropped us off at Cafe de Valencia, where we regrouped over a coffee and a baked delight, following which we stopped to get a late takeaway lunch; a “tavuk dürüm”. Delicious!
Back onboard, the winds calmed this evening, which allowed Roy to make final adjustments to our docklines with help from Gari, off Talisker, our floating neighbour, who was kind enough to offer his assistance, following which Roy’s special homemade soup warmed the cockles of our heart on another chilly night.
