The Bay of Teos (Terry)

We are sitting quietly in a bay to the south of Saperde in Turkey.  Last two nights we were in the Bay of Teos, quite exposed, but dug in nicely in the thick mud.

Common Sense all by herself in the middle of the bay

We anchored to the West of the bay of Teos, quite close to the ancient harbour wall (Antik Limani) then dinghied in to the closest resort café/restaurant and had a beer.  Then we went walking for miles to find the local Market but they had no nothing, no fresh vegetables, no fruit or anything.  Lots of Raki and lots of beer.  Trudged all the way back and dinghied over to the main beach side of this resort bay.  Trudged all the way up to their Market.  Same story, tomorrow, probably.

So we went down to the beach again to the Albatros restaurant.  Beer = ₺8 !!  Love Turkish, non-tourist prices.  Pizzas looked good.  Sorry, no pizzas.  Ok, fish and chips.  Patron wanders off and comes back with a pen and proceeds to cross out ¾ of the menu.  Sorry, none.  Tomorrow, maybe.  The tourist season is about to start, it hasn’t started yet so things aren’t up to full speed.  He recommended (because he had it) Chicken with Porcini mushrooms.  To smooth over what he thought might be a poor start, he provided a great mezze plate for free.  Nice bowl of crispy bread, too.  The chicken was wonderful, grilled on charcoal.  Chips were crunchy, salad and rice good, too.  Two Tuborgs, Carol’s red wine, two chicken dinners plus the mezze and bread came to ₺48, or $24.  We had to write him a page for his visitors’ book so Carol obliged.

Nice view from upstairs on the balcony overlooking the whole bay as the lights came on and the beach quietened down.

Next day we went back in to the ancient harbour and walked up to where it looked like you could get a Dolmus.  A Dolmus is a small Turkish local bus that does a pre-defined route, usually using a major town as a hub.  If you think it is sounding somewhat similar to the Greek Dolmades, you’d be correct.  Dolmades are vine leaves stuffed with rice and nuts.  Dolmus are white things stuffed with passengers – that’s where the slang comes from.

 One guy said “No English” but did agree that a Dolmus would come.  I thought he meant at 10:30 but I wasn’t sure.  Nothing happened for ½ hour so I went down to a small shop and the guy showed me on the clock 11:20.  Sure enough, along it came and off we went to Sigacik, where the Teos marina is (very expensive) and on to Seferihisar, quite a biggish town.  We wandered about a bit having a little look-see and seemed to be the only non-Turks there.  Found a busy Pide Restaurant and working on the principle that all those people can’t be collectively stupid, sat down also.  Well, what a find.  Quite simply, for $3.50 each we had the best Pides we have ever had.  Plus a drink each came to about $9 for lunch for the two of us

The young Pide chef guy (there was an older guy as well.)

Wandered through the supermarket to get some basics then hopped the bus back to Antik Teos, which was a short taxi-ride from Sigacik.

Ancient Teos had the largest temple to Dionysus in the old world.  Most of it, apart from two columns, is scattered all over the ground, thanks to the usual earthquakes. 

 Temple of Dionysus

The old Theatre is not much to look at, certainly not on the scale of Ephesus which is impossible to match, but the Bouleterion was remarkably well kept. 

 

Took the opportunity to grab a Geocache while we were there, then wandered back to the Ancient Harbour and then back to Common Sense.  Several families farm the area and their fields and orchards are interspersed with the ruins.  The road runs through their properties, too, so you look like you’re walking in their front or back yards but it’s just that they’ve built bits on each side of the road.  They are not fazed at all that you are wandering along and smile and wave. 

 

 

Olive Tree planted by Epicurus (ok, I made that bit up, but it's as old as him)

Not the world’s greatest set of ruins, but we know now where Epicurus was brought up and walked the streets he walked.  A quiet night on board with a Chicken Rogan Josh I whipped up and a pleasant night being rocked to sleep in a gentle swell awaiting forecast thunderstorms after midnight.  They never arrived.

We left the Bay at around 8:08 on a silky smooth sea and motored about 18 miles to Saperde, although we did manage to get all the sail out for the last hour.  Unfortunately, we arrived as the thunderstorms forecast for the previous night were finally heading to Teos but now were right where we were.  Several strikes on the hill above Saperde convinced me to do some laps way, way out in the bay over by the fish farms until the clouds moved on.  I don’t trust our lightning dissipater enough to give it a multi-million volt test.

Today we just couldn't get a hold anywhere, so in desperation I untied our ancient Danforth, put away the Manson Supreme and dropped the metal.  In she went.  We haven't moved since, so we'll get a good night's sleep.  The wind generator is doing what it should be doing, working ceaselessly for the first period in three years’ of ownership, thanks to Robert the Sparky in Piraeus’ efforts last year.  There are three of us in here and we are all quite settled in.  There must have been something of a settlement here because the Admiral swam ashore and has found piles of earthenware shards, handles and bits of amphorae, all over the beach and in the water.  Being a good citizen, she examined them and left them there.

Tomorrow we're going to put the motor on the dinghy and go in to the village here before heading out around 9pm for an overnighter up to a city about 60 miles away.  We've been doing small day sails for the last 6 weeks which is why we've only managed to get 422 miles from our start point in Finike.  We decided to harden up a bit and go overnight.