AKA August 10: Last day in Turkey..
Someone asked me what a typical day is like on a extended solo holiday so here is what I did today.
I woke up at the Ecofarm, in the middle of nowhere, ate breakfast with the other guests and volunteers, and then said sincere goodbyes - when you're traveling alone, as all of us were, spending four whole days with the same people seems like a long time, and, relatively, of course, you really feel you've gotten to know them.
I hiked 3 km into the nearest village, Turgutreis, and then caught a minibus to the town of Bodrum.There I checked into the Backpacker's Hostel (yup, literally named that) for one night, dropped off my pack, and went out to explore.
First on my list was St Peter's Castle - exactly my favourite kind of castle; it's huge, you are allowed to wander and clamber anywhere, and it's filled with interesting displays, in this case bits and pieces of glass, jewelry, pottery, etc collected from underwater shipwrecks.
Next I went to the Mausoleum, tomb of Mausolos, king of Caria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and my reason for stopping in Bodrum. It was, as expected, merely ruins.
Then, with time to kill, I checked my tourist map and noted the prominently advertised Oasis, combined mall and cultural center, and hoofed it out there stopping to get some stuffed grape leaves for lunch along the way at a grocery store I happened to pass. The movie Martian was playing in 3D in English in a couple of hours so I managed to mill about the mall long enough to wait for that.
Back at my hostel I had a long aimable chat with my roommate, an Australian named Emily who had been travelling by herself for 3 months and had just arrived in Turkey. It was her birthday and the hostel desk clerk was taking her out for drinks when he got off shift at midnight. I gave her both my Lonely Planet Turkey and my copy of Birds without Wings as 'birthday presents' and she was polite enough to pretend to be thrilled.
I declined to join in for drinks but stayed in and interneted (is that a recognized verb yet?) instead, chatting with one of my kids, leaving wee notes for the other two, checking facebook, and replying to a couple of emails. (I was very conscious that it was Thanksgiving and I was, yet again, failing my family merely by being away.) I checked CBC news - 95 killed in a pair of bombings at Ankara train station, a place I could easily have been given that several people have told me that the cheapest way to leave Turkey is to catch a train to Ankara, the capital, and fly from there.
Omens seemed clear: time to move on. I booked the next two nights accommodation in Kos, on Kos, the nearest Greek island and will catch a ferry over in the morning, and, hopefully, carry on to other Greek Islands from there.
So, my last day in Turkey, though I didn't know that when I woke up, and, overall, pretty typical - an interesting, relaxed (and only slightly lonely) day.
