9/26/07
Istanbul, Turkey

Back to the boat: The places the boat took us were cool, but I was in a hater mood with all the tourists, so I didn’t really appreciate it that much. The highlight for me was this place called Butterfly Valley, where the boat stopped for an hour. We hiked up to see these beautiful waterfalls, and it was beautiful. Steep canyons and the lushest forests of the trip. It was tropical and awe inspiring. Lunch on the boat surprisingly included the best fish I’ve had all trip. Then, we swam at a few different stops near islands and ruins, and went down the boat’s water slide. However, after 6 hours on the boat, we were more than ready to get off and go to our hotel room ( which was a new room because our room at Lycian Dreams was booked). After a sub- par dinner of British food, we fell asleep with the feeling we were still in the waves.

Next day, Sunday the 23rd, we awoke early to get to the bus station to get to Sinan’s place in Candarli. I went running first thing in the morning, and it was neat to see the town before it really woke up. We all went swimming in the hotel pool, then had a good breakfast of eggs on toast, which Sinan was insistent about since we were all so sick of cheese, tomatoes and olives every meal. Our spirits were high on the food front because we were looking forward to having a kitchen available in Candarli. The travel time by bus to Candarli took basically all day, and I don’t remember much of it because I took a motion sickness pill that knocked me out completely. But the bits of countryside I saw were beautiful and I wasn’t sick! We arrived in Candarli at around sunset and walked to Sinan’s parent’s place through town. I liked the town a lot- it felt slow and cute and it’s off season, so it was pretty empty, which was nice for after the tourist craze of Olu Deniz. We were fed a good dinner by Sinan’s mom of Dolmas, chicken and soup, and we stuffed ourselves before an evening walk through town. We explored a castle, and played with the town puppies.

Next day, Monday, I went on a walk with Emmett through town to get these fantastic cookies at a bakery, had breakfast, and went on another walk through town, and played Backgammon and ate and read all day. It was nice to just relax and play games and walk all day- truly a vacation. I read a book, and did tons of crossword puzzles.

Next day, Tuesday the 24th, we did a lot of the same- eating cookies, playing games, reading, etc. We also went to a dock to swim, but it was so cold, I just dunked in and got out, while the rest of the gang swam to a floating dock and did some diving. It was nice to watch my 3 traveling companions swim from the warmth of the dock. We left Candarli at 6 pm, after another good meal and a backgammon tournament, and drove Sinan’s dads car to Izmir to catch our plane back to Istanbul, and our trip was over.