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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Fish Could Skip

When you are traveling on the raod from Datça to Marmaris that is full of steep curves, after a while you will reach to a very special point, a narrow istmus, where Mediterranean and Aegean seas are so close to each other as if they are trying to touch. This narrow istmus where the Datça peninsula starts is called Balıkaşıran (where the fish could skip) At this point, you will see Mediterranean stands on your right and Aegean on your left. I don’t know if the Mediterranean fishes jump to Aegean, and Aegean fishes jump to Mediterranean in the dark hours when we humans don’t see them, but they surely give a nice name to this spot.


According to Herodotus,during the Persian invasion in 540 BC, the Knidians wanted to dig a canal at this spot in order to separate their land from the main land, and transform their teritory to an island for defensive measures. But an oracle was consulted who reportedly said "If the gods had so willed, they would have made your land an island. Do not pierce the isthmus." Where upon they surrendered to the Persians.
This place is about 30 km away from my house and I am trying to take a decent photo of it for as long as I have been in Datca. Unfortunately I have never able catch a clear day. This is the most recent one, on our way to İstanbul last week.

18 comments:

  1. Thanks for the photo! Nice colour!This istmus looks interesting!
    Have a wonderful Sunday!
    hugs

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  2. Looks like heaven to me. How lucky you are!

    BTW, I adore Lhasa too. She is a sweet, unassuming, multi-talented woman.

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  3. This is beautiful and I'm picturing in my mind the fish jumping from one to the other. Great story!

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  4. Wow.. Such an interesting landscape. Guess we could keep a high definition cam overnight to watch the fishes jump.. :)
    Here in India, at the southernmost tip 3 seas join together. Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea... Watching the sunset there is considered as a moment of lifetime...

    Mallikarjunar Koil at My Travelogue
    My LBD at Fashion Panache

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  5. Beautiful! You have such talented fish in your part of the world!

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  6. fascinating and beautiful - what a combination ! thank you

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  7. It seems the sun isn't helping... ;)

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  8. I just wait for your posts and revel in your photos. Thank you.

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  9. And that's a lovely single photo. It's perfect!

    Nevine

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  10. This was a very informative post. You live in a beautiful location.

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  11. i love that story! i think the picture is perfect !
    ~laura

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  12. Hi There
    Lovely photo even if you think it is not perfect I love it and it still portrays the beauty of this area. Your posts always have me wishing to return to Turkey and see and travel more this time.

    Have a great week. xx Julie

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  13. I like the photo, even in its cloudiness. I have a theory about places that don't photograph well. I think there's a bit of magic going on there. They don't want to be photographed.

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  14. i can see that it is most beautiful...

    i would love to see this myself :)

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  15. Where but here could we have learned about that very special spot on earth and even seen a photograph of it? Nowhere else, I'm sure. I just love seeing the world through your eyes.

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  16. That's what we need today--an oracle.

    Good story.

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