The Brucato's and Turkey II: Back to Turkey Once Again!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Hello from Bodrum, Turkey – which means we successfully made it back!

So…dinner last night first, as it was wonderful! In looking at the Tripadvisor recommendations, I noticed that Nisos, the restaurant directly next to our hotel, was very highly recommended – for Greek, Italian and Fish.

Sauteed mushrooms with garlic

Yummy aubergine salad with feta

So, as R is ever on the lookout for good seafood, we went there about 7:45 p.m. Were greeted like long lost family members, and quickly seated at a table for two on a corner. (Note: We asked for NO SMOKING, and were shown the table…we felt like we were back in Switzerland, when there would be one non-smoking table – usually in the middle of the room, completely surrounded by smokers wherever you looked. Be that as it may, there was a nice breeze, and we thought we could manage. And we did. As soon as we were seated, a waiter came by with a small tray with green olives on it on one side, and salt crystals on the other; SO nice to see such great and quick service! As our waiter came to take our order, we found that he had just returned in February from 2½ years in the U.S. – two months of which were spent at Lake Havasu City, AZ! Very small world indeed!

R's local fish with veggies

My spaghetti bolognaise

Wonderful cake and ice cream!

I ordered an aubergine salad to start, with spaghetti bolognaise to follow. Robert ordered mushrooms sautéed with garlic to start, and Tsipoura, a local bream, to follow. We split the two appetizers – they were both really excellent, and then R got this HUGE platter with his BIG (½ kilo)fish on it, along with roasted carrots, potatoes and broccoli. Have to admit that I wasn’t able to finish my large portion of spaghetti, but R did well with his fish; very impressive, considering that by the time he had boned it thoroughly, I was about finished with my pasta! Then, out of the blue, came a dessert plate with pieces of “momma’s cake” on it – delicious nut and coconut cake with scoops of really wonderful chocolate and vanilla ice creams, all drizzled with chocolate sauce. Then, they plopped a container with both a bottle of lemoncello and a bottle of a cappuccino liqueur. All on the house! I’m not sure I’ve ever had lemoncello before, but it was really good, and a great way to end a meal! And, while I know we were going to walk around the city, I was really ready for bed by 10 p.m.!

We were up around 5:30 a.m. this morning, as we wanted to make sure we were NOT the last ones on the ferry this time. Our wonderful hotel manager told us that they wouldn’t even be open yet, but that didn’t matter to either of us. So, down to check-out at 7 a.m. and he had a cab there immediately.

Saying Goodby to Rodos was hard!

Another picture from the ferry boat of Rodos harbor

Well, he was right … the actual check-in booth opens at 8 a.m. but that didn’t matter to us. We were first to get our boarding passes, first to open the passport control, and first to get on-board. This was a different ship that last Thursday, and the seats were in groupings of four or six with a table in between. We found seats near the exit area, and sat down to wait.

Ship was scheduled at sale at 9, but of course people were still being processed; I’d estimate we actually got off around 9:10 a.m. which isn’t too bad, all things considered! Also, we were NO WHERE near full, which was SO much nicer than our journey to Rodos. The sea was so calm that we decided to eschew the motion sickness pills, and that worked out fine. I think I fell asleep for a bit, because when I woke up, we were back in Turkish waters, and heading toward the cruise port in Marmaris. We breezed through passport control, and voila, back in Turkey once again! Retrieved our rental car from the secure parking area, and were off and heading toward Bodrum a little after 11 a.m.

Now…the road to Bodrum.

Driving from Marmaris to Bodrum

Spectacular scenery and beautiful beaches!

Not sure exactly how Emmy is set, but believe me, she took us on some very strange roads! Some of them were truly beautiful, following along the cliffs next to the sea. But there was one stretch of about 11 or 12 km where the entire road seemed to be washed out, in places almost entirely! It was AWFUL, and I had to take it at literally a snail’s pace. We were originally scheduled to arrive at 1:15 p.m. but actually didn’t make it until after 2 p.m.

Drove into Bodrum and found, of course, a tangle of little one-way streets, making it very difficult to find our hotel! Finally got close, and I pushed R out of the car and started to drive away. Then it occurred to me that I might never be able to find him again, so I made an illegal left turn, and parked illegally in front of someone’s gate. By the time I walked back to the hotel, R was coming my way with a nice man with a hand cart.

And it just kept getting better!

We off-loaded the luggage, and then R pushed the handcart to the hotel, and the nice man put the car somewhere close…hopefully…Got to Su Hotel, and it is really quite lovely! We are in room 13 on the ground floor, with a lovely patio and pool outside. No TV, but as we haven’t been able to get anything worth watching for some time now, that is absolutely not a problem!

As tomorrow is Monday, we needed to see the Bodrum Underwater Museum today – of course. The Mausoleum (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world) is just down the street – also closed on Monday, but we figure we can do that on Tuesday morning before we leave. So, into town we walked. It’s not really far – maybe 10 minutes? But it is warm out, and I was hungry.

As we were driving over the awful road, and I was trying my best to avoid holes big enough to bury a Volkswagen, I made up my mind that I was not yet ready to return to Turkish food – and if there was a McDonald’s in town, that was going to be my reward…and there was, and we did… Then, around the corner and up to the Bodrum castle (Built originally by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, same group that built the big castle in Rodos.), which also houses the Museum of Underwater Archeology.

Bodrum Castle walls looking out over sea

Egyptian amphorae brought up from wreck

Toured the castle/museum from top almost to bottom – neither of us were at all interested in seeing the dungeons, actually. The views were spectacular, as were the breezes. Very enjoyable, but I would rate the museum a B; R would grade it just a tad higher. At any rate, it turns out that both the University of Pennsylvania and Texas A & M have departments of underwater archeology – who knew?! And the museum holds the artifacts and remains of several ships located locally – one of which was from the 13^th century BC! Just fascinating seeing the inventory of what it contained, as well as the actual physical remains that were discovered.Having never thought of underwater archeology as a life’s pursuit, it opens up entire new vistas into career choices! (Except not for me, as my ears won’t clear under 30 feet, and these wrecks were generally discovered somewhere in the 100 m depth.)

Sphinx

Love that O.J.!

Stunning mosaic floor

Well-built Knights castle!

Having covered the museum fairly well, we retired to the museum courtyard where we enjoyed two glasses of – guess what? – fresh-squeezed orange juice! Lovely! Then headed back to the hotel and the pool. It was lovely and cold – but very, very refreshing! Then sat by the pool with glasses of white wine – truly, this is the life! As R was saying, he has reached the trip “turn around” point – the point when you know the journey is shortly going to be over, and you now start thinking about home. I’m not there yet, although there are very few Hittite remains in this area; possibly the Izmir museum. At any rate, we’re in Bodrum tonight and tomorrow night, before moving on to Selcuk, near Ephesus. Dinner here tonight at the hotel. Not sure what we’ll do tomorrow – we were thinking about possibly going out on a boat, but we’ll have to see!!

Stunning COLD pool!

More later!

Su Hotel!

Comfortable and colorful!

Just finished a lovely dinner here at the hotel. We ordered some mezze to start – a cold potato salad with carrots and peas, and a very spicy tomato/pepper combination on bread; both excellent.

Hotel restaurant

Excellent appetizers

Then, we both ordered their steaks – and they were FABULOUS! We ordered them “rare” and there was actually some pink inside! They were great! I had mine with Danish blue cheese sauce, and R had an interesting mushroom sauce on his. Then, we received a free dessert (this is becoming quite fun!) – Baklava with mint ice cream…didn’t remember about photos until it was way too late! At any rate, dinner here was great!

xxx

Addendum from Robert:

Well, with one week left on our trip, I’d like to add my observations of the expedition.

First and foremost, let me say just how wonderfully everything has gone. This, of course, is the direct result of Margaret’s research and planning, something she has been working on for about two years! Reading about the archaeology of Turkey, locating sites to visit, studying hotel ratings, car reservations, ferry reservations, air reservations, etc. etc. She can absorb so much information without having been to a place, something I can’t do; I need to see things first-hand to get a feel for the situation.

Yes, planning pays but, still, the plan was not rigid; she left plenty of room for improvising as we go, so we never felt locked into things. We could (and did) make adjustments as circumstances offered.

It should be known, too, the Margaret has done essentially all of the driving on this trip. All I have to do is navigate, enjoy the scenery and try (alas, not always successfully) to keep us on the right road.

In sum, I have the best travel agent/guide ever!