April 5th: Patara: a Day at the Beach.

A bit of a slower day today to recover from some major ones.  A trip to the the beach and the ruins of  the ancient beach town of Patara, a visit to the Thursday Market in Kalkan, and the purchase of the worst souvenirs you can imagine. in fact, we will leave them here in Turkey, but oh how we love them right now!

According to Saint Rick of Steves (happy may his travels be!), "Get used to the fact that you might have diarrhea for a day. (Practice that thought in front of the mirror tonight.) If you get the runs, take it in stride."  In my experience, it is sometimes nicer to take it in a a hotel room with a minimum of striding, but I agree that it isn't too big a deal.  This is probably because I'm okay today, but some of our party are under the weather.

A lack of sleep, (caused by a cruel combination of hard bed, too much light, rough sheets, a muezzin who takes the wake-up call to prayer seriously), plus a bit of a tummy bug, has left Ian pretty miserable today.  He is groaning every time he moves, which is saying something for Ian, who, as you know, waited three days before checking out his bursting appendix. Really, he's being a trooper, and keeps saying I should soldier on without him, but what fun is there in sodiering when your best friend and traveling companion is not well?  It's minor, as he says, and I don't mind a less hectic day.

We started the day with breakfast, and I decided that since it is a light news day, I would show you a picture of our breakfast.

Out of shot is the basket of toast.  Those wedges are a local pan bread, a bit like a bunch of crepes all folded together and stuffed into a frying pan.  Pretty good, actually!

The view from our breakfast table.  As you can see, it is overcast today.  Those are speakers on the minaret, through which the muezzin broadcasts the main calls to prayer.  There is another mosque in town as well, and they sometimes end up with duelling muezzins.  In fact, that is going on right at this moment.  Ours is winning.

Ian tried to nap again after breakfast, (on the sofa) so I went for a walk around Kalkan.  A lot of other tourists were doing the same thing, browsing the shops and visiting the bank machine.  I was pleased to take out money using only the Turkish instructions this morning, for me, a major accomplishment!  I found a ceramic store that sells the bowls I really like at only 10TL each, and I was really tempted.  I am sure I could mail them to Canada safely, perhaps wrapped in my gloves and long underwear!

When I came back Ian was tired of trying to get comfortable.  The forecast, which had called for 24C today and sunny weather, had been revised to 13C and showers, but we decided we really needed a beach day anyway, and I know it was much warmer outside than 13.  

We headed off to Pataran, which is only about 15 kilometres away.  Like many historic sites, a village and farms recently covered the site, and families are allowed to stay until their land is needed.  We drove up to the little gate, and it felt a lot like get into the National Parks when I was a kid.  We drove down the road to the site of some very intact Lycian tombs, and the entrance gates to the city, and greeted the two ladies tending the cattle around them with 'Marhaba.' 

This is a textbook example of a Lycian sarcophagus tomb.  It has a stepped base, a lower grave section with a flat place for the coffin, and a rounded, pitched lid which is supposed to make it look like a house.  As with most places in the ancient world, the necropolis (literally 'city of the dead') is on the roads leading into and out of town, but not in town.  This keeps the ghosts safely out of the city.  When one finds a sarcophagus inside a city, it is a mark of incredible honour, showing that a man has led such a good and noble life that nothing is to be feared even from his ghost.

Can you see the two ladies just beyond the excavation?

A lot of the flowers that are perennial, or even annual, in my garden at home are native here, including malva and marguerite daisies.  I could just imagine my mom, who refuses to pay $3.79 per plant for marguerites (one of her favourites), let loose in the fields and hedgerows and ruins themselves, thick with frantically blooming yellow daisies.  I know she would create an amazing bouquet out of the profusion of wildflowers here.  We parked our car under exactly the same kind of tree that we parked our car under with Sharon and Don at Agrigento, in Sicily.  They were alive with bees, and smelled heavenly!

I have no idea what these plants are called, but vote for pompomus beesweetus.  (Wow, you should see what THAT did to my spell checker!)

There was a very long boardwalk out to the beach, which is again a turtle breeding ground.  In fact, in egg season, which is May 1 to Oct 1, you are not allowed on the beach from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m.; you must stay within 20 metres of the water; and you can't have a fire at any time.  I thought the boardwalk was to protect the turtles, but it sure helped the walking as well.  The sand here is finer that berry sugar, and you sink up to your ankles with every step.  Since there is almost no tide on the Mediterranean, there is no convenient section of freshly packed sand.

We managed to find a spot near some marble, upthrust through the sand, spread out our jackets, and Ian promptly fell asleep.  I waded in deeply enough to get my suit wet in waves, but it was pretty cold!

I think it was much nicer than it would have been in strong sun; even the little sprinkling seemed a blessing.  The water really is bright turquoise, even when you are standing in it.  And the breezes smell amazing:

"Take a blind man to Lycia, and he’ll immediately know from the smell of the air exactly where he is. The acrid perfume of lavender, the pungent fragrance of wild mint and thyme, will tell him."

Cevat Şakir "Fisherman of Halicarnassus", a famous Turkish author

Right now the lavender, mint, and thyme are all blooming.  There is rosemary and sage all around, fields of chamomile, wild mustard (I think), oregano. . .  It is all around us everywhere we walk, and then shows up again at dinner!

The sun came out briefly, and suddenly it was a bit too hot to sit on the beach, so off we went to explore the city.  Ian was still pretty listless, but perked up at bit when he saw a lizard at the theatre.  While I climbed to the top, he patiently waited for his lizard to reappear.

Ian waiting, and waiting, and waiting. . .

And success!

Patara is more heavily reconstructed than other sites we've visited.  In fact, the odeon, which houses the museum (closed when we were there) looks brand new, which I am thinking it is, although it incorporates pieces of ancient stone.

The east wall of the Odeon.

The main street, with its columns, terminates rather sadly into a puddle these days, although it was full of frogs and tadpoles.  The lighthouse is now half a kilometre from the beach.

The city, looking toward the granary.  There is also an imperial palace, a lighthouse, and city walls, but you get the idea.

We had a pretty good look at the city before I notice that Ian was more quiet than usual, which means silent.  I asked him what he would like to do next, and he suggested we go buy a quilt, or an air mattress, or something to make the bed bearable, and then go to sleep in it.

We set off for Kalkan, and went to the Thursday Market.  Imagine our pleasure when we found a man selling foam mattress pads!  We got two for 75TL ($40) and brought them home.  Yes, I know that we'll have to abandon them in two weeks when we give up the rental car, but what a blessing at present.  We bought some Sprite (no ginger ale in Turkey), which Ian may sip when he wakes up, and I am about to venture out on my own for fast food.

I think he thought I was crazy, but he said I could take his picture as he tied up our beautiful mattresses!

 I am laughing because a cat meowed outside and Ian meowed back in his sleep.