It’s been about two weeks since we arrived in Kemer. So far, so good.
Some people think this is a vacation and that I’m out site seeing and having fun all the time. The reality is that the past week and a half, we have had fun, but we have also had to figure out where to buy groceries, how to do laundry, and how to get from one place to another; all while trying to learn a new language and coming home to a boat. It is a very different way of living and I don’t think anybody here would argue with that.
While it isn’t technically qualified as a vacation for us, how could it not feel like it sometimes with a view like this? This is just outside of the marina. You see the beach and clear water along with the backdrop of mountains that surround us. If we were here during the summer, the wood shown would be out on a dock as a swimming platform and there would be crowds of people laying by the water.
As we have talked to the people around us, we’ve learned that most of them have sold or rented out their homes and are live aboards. They will leave for a month or two in December and then in the high summer months, but the rest of the time is spent on the boat either moving from port to port or staying put here in Kemer. This is very different from most of the people we’ve met on our travels. In Greece especially about 90% of the boats we saw were charters and while the people were trained to sail them, they were there on a vacation rather than to live. It makes for a very different group of people and things that are talked about are polar opposites.
In Greece it was very much, “What sites have you seen?” and “Where are you from?”, superficial things like that. Here the conversations start with “How many winters have you spent in Kemer?” and “How many times have you crossed the ocean?”. The conversations then lead into what good restaurants are around here, that UK sails is a good company to wash and store your sails, and that there is a vegetable market near the grocery stores every Monday. Everyone still compares the trips that have been made, but like I said the ones I am hearing here are multiple ocean crossings and a sailing rally called the Emyr, which covers places like Syria and Israel (we have applied and are on a waiting list).
This is Zeus, one of the locals. He is about the size of my pug at home… and I don’t have a small pug. The cat just hangs out around the security gate and sleeps a lot.
Because there is such a tight community at the marina, we have been fortunate to be introduced to such things as where the grocery stores are and that for the same price as doing it, you can send out your laundry and have it returned the next day dry and folded. There are also all sorts of trips and activities planned.
On the first Friday we were here we signed up for the shopping trip in Antalya. Antalya is about a 45 minute drive away. We can see it from the marina, but there are mountains along the way and it’s a pretty big city. Someone organizes the trip, lets the office know to hire a bus which is basically a sprinter van, and we pay for the cost of the bus. We ended up going to a hardware store that resembled a Home Depot, orange boxes around the logo and all, and a place that is like a Costco or SAMs Club. It was a lot of fun. It gave Dad and I an idea of where the big town was, we could see some of the country and we were safe with the group of boaters.
This is the group on the bus on our way into town. That is Wolfgang at the end, he organized the whole trip. Him and his wife are here from Switzerland on their boat Ti Punch. He’s really nice.
Our first Turkish tea! This was outside of the hardware store, we had some time to spare before we left and decided to partake in a local tradition, a cup of tea. It was a little strong and I’m not a huge tea fan, but Dad really liked it.
What was really cool was that it was Ataturk Day, a national holiday. Ataturk was the founder of the Turkish Republic and the first president. At the end of WWI he established the republic with the goal of bringing Turkey into the 20th century. One of the main things he did was create a huge separation between religion and everything else. He also adopted the Latin alphabet and helped the Turkish come together as a strong country. He died on November 10th but they apparently honor him a couple of weeks before that. There were Turkish flags everywhere and pictures of Ataturk. Most of the businesses were open, to our surprise, and at night there was a big celebration we could see and hear from the boat. The firework display was really cool over the water, the music we couldn’t understand got to be a bit much, but was fun while it lasted. It was really cold that night and Dad and I were pretty beat after the long day we had had so we voted to celebrate from the comfort of the boat.
Even mermaids showed their Turkish pride. This is in the middle of the shopping street right by the marina. It’s a pedestrian and mermaid walkway with all kinds of shops and restaurants lining it.
I really liked this flag. There were a bunch of them with him in different stages of life I guess. I can’t imagine them putting any of our presidents on a flag.
Ataturk Road runs through town and this is at one of the traffic circles at the end of the shopping street. They were setting up a stage for the celebration at night and this hung on one side.
This flag hung on the other side. As you can see it’s huge. We saw bigger flags hanging in Antalya, it was pretty cool.
On Sunday there was a hike and Halloween Party that I will share in another post.
Every night is Happy Hour from 6:00pm-8:00pm and it’s a great chance for people to get together and just talk. There have been a couple of times where Dad and I sat at the German speaking table and just sat blankly until others joined us. I didn’t think I would be trying to follow conversations in German in Turkey, but it is what it is. Overall I’ve been really happy that we decided to stay here and am looking forward to getting a better idea of where things are and what people are saying. I need to at least master the art of grocery shopping and asking directions. After that it should all come easy.
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