View from boat in Finike hMarina


Finike weekly market


Finike town


Turkish night out, Finike


Belly dancers at Turkish night, Finike


Enjoying a beer at Antalya Old Town with Kiwi friends Heather & Maurice


Hen night, Jude, Mary, Kate & Karen


Hen night on "Molly" (Many & Ians boat, lickily Ian was away in Uk!!!!)


Salliander comes out of the water


Time to leave Finike & start our journey home, Saliander will stay on the hard stand until we return

We meet up with our Turkish friend, Aydin from Marmaris, at Cappadocia

Whirling Dervishes at Cappadocia

Folk Dancers at Cappadocia

Early morning sight of hot air ballons over Goreme, Cappadocia

Cave houses in Ihlara Canyon, Cappadocia

Outside our romm at cave hotel, Cappadocia

Our room in cave hotel

View from balcony at cave hotel room, it just started snowing

Monastry at Goreme, Cappadocia

Fairy chimneys, Cappadocia

Having a clay pot casserole, you had to smash it open with a hammer, Cappadocia

Fairy chimneys in the snow

There are a few camels at Cappadocia

More fairy chimneys

View of Goreme Village, Cappadocia

Finike to Cappadocia

Marina Life at Finike

Well in the last 3 weeks since we arrived in Finike the weather has changed from summer to winter almost overnight. We’ve experienced a number of thunder storms with very heavy rain deluges, in between the rain however the sun comes out & we’re back into our shorts & T shirts. Saliander Jnr (our dinghy) struggles to stay afloat at times, we often wake up to find it half filled with water from the overnight storms. Last week we had a real doozy storm with winds up to 50knots in some parts of the marina, Pete was the hero of the day when he rescued a woman whose boat was getting pushed back onto the dock her husband was away at the time so she was very grateful. He also rescued someone’s bike the next day as it had been blown into the water during the storm. We can also see snow on the hills about 20 kms away behind Finike town, however the temperatures are now starting to drop below 20 deg at night, but on the sunny days we can still get 30+ deg.
Life in the marina is very busy with everyone preparing their boats for winter storage. Most of the cruisers will leave their boats here while they return home for a few days or a few months over Xmas. The majority of the cruisers are English, but there’s also a large contingent of German & a few French, American & Spanish cruisers. Aside from the work list there’s always plenty going on in the marina such as Turkish, French & Spanish lessons, art classes, games & movie nights, & of course exercise classes. I’ve introduced Pilates classes & have built up quite a following, unfortunately they’ll have to do them by video once we leave here which they’re not at all happy about.
Last week Pete & I hired a car & drove down to Antalya to get our anchor & chain galvanized. We didn’t get too much time to look around the town cause we were busy checking out the shops for bits & pieces for the boat. On Saturday the marina staff arranged a Turkish night at a local Turkish restaurant. There were about 60 cruisers there & the night was a huge success with lovely food & entertainment. The entertainment varied from Break dancing to Belly dancing & Turkish folk dancing. There was a lot of audience participation & I was among a group of ladies who ended up on the dance floor putting on my own show of belly dancing, but unlike the men who took their shirts off, we kept our clothes on!!!
This week the girls put on a surprise hen night for me (check out the photos). We had an absolute ball, with singing & dancing, not to mention the games, going on ‘til 4.30 in the morning. Needless to say there were a few sore heads the next morning & luckily my Pilates class had been arranged for late afternoon.
We had another day in Antalya this week with our Kiwi friends Heather & Maurice. It was a beautiful sunny day & after the guys had done their shopping for boat bits & pieces, we explored the old town & habour. It was very picturesque, a lot of the old buildings have been restored & there’s a great bazaar. The old town is surrounded by the old city walls & “Hadrian’s Gate” which is huge & impressive.
Friday was a “big day”, Saliander was lifted out of the water & placed on the hardstand. It felt rather weird living on a boat out of the water, but it was only for 2 days as we leave on Sunday for Cappadocia. This is an amazing place & a “must see” if you are visiting Turkey. We’ve been here for a couple of days now & done some tours around the area visiting an underground city, this was eight floors down & covers a 29km area. We’ve seen lots of fairy mushrooms, visited a monastery, carved in the mountains, plus a few other interesting sights. Last night we stayed in a 1000 year old cave hotel (you can check it out on their web site http://www.1001nightscavehotel.com/ ) Tonight we catch the bus to Istanbul, it’s a 12 hour drive but the busses are great, hopefully we won’t get held up by the snow along the way. We stay in Istanbul for 3 days, then stop off in Dubai for 4 days on the way home, we arrive in NZ on 6th December.

Kas to Finike

Kas harbour


Kas bazaar


Looking down over Kas, Greek island of Meis is on the horizon (left)


Dinner on board Markus & Sibylle's boat (Swiss) with their friends Chantelle & Bruno (left)


Kas - sarcophagi are a common sight in these parts


Blue caves on Meis


We had a vertical climb to check out the view of Meis harbour with Heather & Maurice (Kiwis)


Pete found a remnant from the war!!!


One of the few mosques remaining in Greece, this one has been restored & is now used for a museum on Meis


This hill was once covered in houses, they were destroyed by earthquake & war (Meis)


Kale Koy, Kekova Roads


Dr Dolittle meets some of the locals on Kekova Roads


Part of the sunken city, Kekova Roads


Pete's Barracuda - very tasty!!!!


Halloween at Finike


After leaving Kas (Turkey) we had a night at Meis (a Greek island) with our Kiwi friends Heather & Maurice & then carried on down to Kekova Roads where we caught up with Ian & Mandy, an English couple who we had just met in Kas. We spent a couple of days exploring the villages & the sunken city (although you can’t see too much of it). We celebrated my Birthday at a local restaurant with our friends & the next day headed around to a lovely secluded bay on the western side of Kekova Island where we spent the night. We managed to catch some small barracuda & on the way down to Finike the next day we caught a couple of small tuna. Pete cooked up the fish which we shared with Mandy & Ian, they were very tasty. When we arrived in Finike on 31st October there was a Halloween party at the marina, which gave us the chance to meet some of the other cruisers. Mandy & Ian are also in Finike and we are all leaving our boats here for the winter (no one sails through the winter for some reason!!!) There are plenty of social activities being organized by the other cruisers, some of whom have been coming back to “winter over” in Finike for a number of years. Saturday we went on a bus trip to Antalya to go to a concert being put on by the Antalya Symphony Orchestra. It was to celebrate the 84th anniversary of the Turkish Republic & although we didn’t understand a lot of what was being said it was very interesting & the music was very enjoyable. It was actually a bit like being at a political rally with lots of red Turkish flags being waved around with great enthusiasm & the nation anthem was played several times throughout the concert – very stirring!!!
Finike town is very nice & not too touristy. It’s renowned for growing citrus fruit & they use an orange for their town symbol (a bit like Te Puke with their kiwi fruit). The area is also a big horticultural centre with lots of greenhouses, they can’t grow much outdoors because of the heat in the summer. They have a great market here on Saturdays, one of the biggest we’ve seen with lots of fresh produce & the prices are quite reasonable. The veges & fruit are all seasonal (unlike NZ where you can buy just about anything all year round), this means the produce is a lot more flavoursome because it’s ripped naturally & not kept in cool storage.
We’ve had some great weather since arriving here with temperatures up in the mid 30s, however we’ve also had a couple of days with rain & thunderstorms, when the temperature dropped to 20deg. There’s now a light dusting of snow on the hills behind the town, about an hours drive from here there is a ski field which opens during the winter months, so I imagine it will be a lot colder before too long!!!.
We’ve started Turkish lessons to improve our basic skills (not an easy language to learn), I’m taking Pilates classes & like everyone else we’re busy preparing the boat for winter storage. The time is going very fast now, but hopefully we’ll have time to get out & see some of the countryside over the next couple of weeks before we leave here to come home.