Cleopatra island

Yesterday Turquoise Diaries was on her first daily tour of the season on the Turquoise Coast of Turkey. As it is customary here, we have joined a daily tour boat and went to Sedir island or also known as Cleopatra İsland. The first picture is from here.

What is famous with this island is its very small and unique beach. Story goes that Cleopatra had brought this sand from Red Sea for her sun baths but in reality it is a very rare and organic sand made from sea shells where each grain of sand is a perfect sphere. Nowadays its forbidden to enter the beach as well as to remove any sand from the island.

Island is also an open museum. Dorians are its first inhabitants. Later the island saw permanent settlements in the Greek, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine areas. After a cooling swim just like Cleopatra, I spent happy hours walking around the ruins.

And here is a picture of me at the boat taken with the camera of my 7 year old niece. She thinks she is a great photographer but as you can see she definitely needs some training :)) Well, her excuse was very simple and concrete ' but the boat was shaking...'

Summer Routine

We have quickly settled to our summer routine. Starting the day with this view from the balcony of our bedroom... Then some walk at the beach and swim before the breakfast. Then some more beach time before noon and then the indoor hours starts with reading, internetting and working on unfinished projects and of course sleeping.

Yesterday we went to Datca town. Our house located 10 km out of it. We had some drink in its small harbour to welcome the quite and cool evening hours. As it is typical in June, night time is quite cool .Well some of you asked me where Datca is: It is an 80 km long peninsula in the south west corner of the country located between the Mediterranean an Aegean seas. Touristically it is a rather untouched area compare to nearby famous destinations of Bodrum and Marmaris. Our house located on the Mediterranean side. The island seen from our beach ( pls look at my previous post) is Simi of Greece. Itis very close and there are daily ferry boats between Datca and Simi..

At the beach

We have finally settled down and our lazy days under the sun has started.... Datca and the beach infront of our house is surprisingly empty for this time of the year. Maybe due to on going financial troubles in the country and in the world, people decided to cut their travel expenses this year. So when we were at the beach today, there were only us. It was like our private beach.. So far life is good....

shopping on the road

Still on the road, driving between Denizli and Mugla. We should see the first glimpses of sea in an hour time. When we stopped to buy gas, I bought this beautiful hand made doll, made by local women. LOve the colors on her skirt. Its 13:45 here..

On the Road

We are finally on our way to the beach house and this post is from my mobile office in the van. We left İstanbul yesterday and spent a night in Eskisehir on my mother's house. Now we are driving thru in Sandıklı, a town famous with its thermal waters. Weather is already hot. It's 10:30 now and we are planning to reach Datca around 17:00. Cant wait to jump to the sea...

İran on my mind...

Yesterday I spent a beautiful Saturday night glued in front of TV... I tried to catch glimpses of streets, I was peacefully walking just 2 months ago.. When I decided to travel to İran, everybody advised me to go before the elections and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the time..How right they were....

People were hopeful about the coming election, hopeful about the days to come. Their hopes, became my hopes, but how could I forget the fact that democracy and religion are tricky businesses in this part of the world. I should have known it better because I also live in this part of the world.

I travel a lot. The negative part about travelling a lot is the fact that I keep forgeting about the places and names after a while, but I always remember the people that I met. Now I worry about the safety of the people that I met in İran. The friends I made, the people I met on the streets who usually offered me tea, the young ones who tried to practice their Turkish that they learned from Tv, the shopkeepers that I bargained and joked, our guides who worked very hard for an unforgettable trip.... What was common in all of them is; they love their country, they know that they deserve better.. I feel sorry for their shattered dreams and mines...and I hope that the worst is over...

Photo: wall paintings and posters from İran

A night in İstanbul

I met with great people during my travels and some of them became my best friends in time. Last night I was with my Cuba days buddies Nilgün and Semiha. We talked, drank and ate all night long. There was a comforting breeze coming from the Bosphorus and occasional fireworks from the nearby hotels entertaining their guests. Well, the topic of the night was not our boyfriends and husband (mine!!) as expected but UFOs. Nilgün attended a recent UFO congress and told us that they are going to collect the enlightened ones on 2012. They even saw an UFO during their meetings. Something to think about.....

İmage: from the lovely balcony of Semiha...