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The World Brightens to Blue along the Turquoise Coast
Photo Essay written 4 August 2008
The Turquoise Coast of Mediterranean Turkey provides a scenic backdrop to the exploration of ancient history, the excitement of a modern country with a rich heritage, along with the enjoyment of cruising in a small boat.
The Sadri Usta in a Protected Cove
Our home for a week was the Gulet, or traditional coast-hugging boat, the Sadri Usta with a home port of Marmaris. Numerous boats are available for tours along the Mediterranean coast, with all sizes and priced for all budgets. Our boat could house 14 people comfortably, with air conditioning and glassed in showers. Some boats can house 30-40 people. The boat was always a welcome sight after a hike up and down the mountainous trails that surround the bays and inlets. Ruins of Roman towns, Lycian cities and Greek villages dot the landscape and harbor few visitors, since most can only be reached by a long hike from the water's edge.
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Turkish Shepherd's Story
Suleyman Sonmez, a 64 year-old Turkish shepherd loves his life, spending winters along the Mediterranean Coast and summers high in the cool valleys in the Taurus Mountains. He used to make more money in his sideline as a beekeeper, but he lost most of his bees a few years ago. The Ministry of Forestry told him that Turkey lost more than 50% of its bees due to climate change.
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Schoolgirls in Kale, Turkey
Ataturk instituted universal education in Turkey after he came to power and created a modern secular country where women have equal rights under the law. These girls enjoy a bright spring day full of sunshine after the rainy, cooler season along the Mediterranean Coast of Turkey known as the Turquoise Coast. It is so named due to its brilliant blue waters as well as the blue stones mined in the mountains nearby named for their origin in the land of the Turks.
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Hilltop Lycian Necropolis
The Lycian people created many styles of tombs, one of which is shown here at Simena in Turkey along the Turquoise Coast. These chest-like tombs are common along this part of the Mediterranean and were probably used starting in the 4th century BCE. The Lycian League came together in the third century, BCE, and existed as an independent governing authority until it was annexed into the Roman Empire over three hundred years later where it remained largely autonomous due to its fierce sense of independence and geographic isolation. The framers of the United States Constitution noted that the Lycian federation was a model for the new form of government they created. Until the United States, the Lycian League had been the only government that had developed a system of popularly elected representatives in a two-chamber governing body with an elected, not hereditary, head of government. They developed a system of proportional representation to distribute power among its 23 differently-sized city-states
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Pirates Cove at Simena
Ancient Simena was a city in the Lycian League, one of 23 city-states represented in the federalist-style government. It was located on an important shipping channel along Turkey's Turquoise Coast used by sea-farers as a protected route from strong storms. Its use, however, extracted a toll by pirates who used this harbor to collect heavy taxes from those who wandered too close. Now the city of Kale, it is a restful place for yachting, snorkeling, or hiking to see ruins of ancient Roman cities and castles and even older Lycian tombs. This view of the breathtakingly-beautiful blue harbor is from a small Roman castle built in the second century AD.
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Lycian Temple Tombs at Caunos, Turkey
The Lycian people were some of the most independent peoples in Asia and were the last to be incorporated into the Roman conquest of Asia Minor. They fought fiercely to defend their territory, and they created magnificent tombs for their miitary leaders and Kings. They built several styles of tombs. These temple tombs were built to resemble temples and contained a room-like crypt behind the facade, carved out of the soft volcanic rock. Once a seaport, the Dalyan River silted the harbor and these ruins are several miles inland from the Mediterranean along the Turquoise Coast of Turkey.
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A Turqoise Place to Anchor
The Turquoise Coast of Mediterranean Turkey is a place where mountains meet the sea in dramatic landscapes. The water is very salty, but so clear the bottom can be seen 30 to 40 feet below along the shoreline. Shallow-draft boats can anchor tied to the shore because of the steep dropoffs in most places. Because of these dropoffs there are only a few sandy beaches, but swimming from the boat is popular and refreshing, especially in the hot summer sunshine.
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Grilled Vegetables for Dinner
Fresh vegetables are a staple in Turkish cuisine, roasted grilled, baked or stirred into complex stews. These just-picked items are ready for a top-deck grilling on the Gulet, or traditional sailing vessel, and will be served with fresh fish, lamb, and other various items in a multi-dish, family-style dinner.
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Turkish Boat Vendor Serves Crepes
The Turks are entrepreneurial people and strive to meet the needs of visitors and locals, alike. This family motors out to yachts and offers a crepe-like desert of thinly-rolled dough of just water and flour, with a center made-to-order. My crepe was being filled before grilling with bananas and chocolate, but I could have had fresh berries, vegetables, tomatoes, among other things or just a light coating of honey. Other boats offer ice-cream, fish, meat stews or fresh produce.
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Roger Ward has been a member since 21 January 2008 and goes by tacomasunset.
Currently in Tacoma, enjoying the mild summer breezes off Puget Sound..
I am a traveler who likes scenic spots, eco-tourism, adventure travel and voluntourism living in Tacoma, Washington, where Mount Rainier is a misty memory and occasional visitor in the winter or an everpresent luminescent beacon in the summer.
