Day 165: Day trip to Oludeniz

With some help from our friends back home, we got very early morning access to MLB.com and were able to tune in to the last third of the Jays game as they tried, and failed to get to Game 7 against the Royals in the ALCS. We've missed what sounded like a fun few weeks of Jays fever - hopefully it's here to stay!

With a mixed forecast for the day, I was keeping an eye on the sky for a good time to head over to Oludeniz. A picture of this beach resort from a guide book I was reading about ten years ago caught my eye, and I've always wanted to see it.

After breakfast, the sky cleared so we got in the car and headed South. The drive climbs over a pass, into the very touristy central town of Oludeniz that is a couple of kilometers above the beach area. When we rounded the corner of the town area and saw the sea below, we were stunned by the colour - a beautiful bright turquoise that is kind of shocking.

When we got to the main beach, I turned right and kept driving along the coast. The aerial picture I'd seen in the book captured the little isthmus that protrudes into the sea and makes a protected bay area behind. The bay was calm but you could see how crazy it might be in high season.

We drove back to the main beach area and parked. The beach was stunning....all we could do was stand there, repeating "oh, my god!".

We walked of the end of the little pedestrian road behind the beach where there were maybe ten people with parachutes for paragliding getting geared up. I'd never seen the narrow sails up close, but it looked like they had two layers of material with vents in between that made them catch air pretty easily. They were all setting up on the beach, and before we could find out where they took off from or how it worked, the rain started rolling in.

We spent some time shopping in order to try and wait out the rain (really... was that necessary??), but two hundred bucks and thirty minutes later, it hadn't stopped and only looked worse, so we decided to head back. Can I just quickly say how lucky we've been with the rain - I think this is the third time weather has impacted something we wanted to do - the storm at the Hanoi Sunday night market was one and the rainy last day in KK with the Versly was the other.... and now I know how expensive this trip would have been with all the supplementary shopping had the weather been worse!!

We picked up some meatball sandwiches back in Fethiye and ate at the hotel. Beth needed some zzzzzzzs "quiet time" so I was banished to the girls room, where we worked on their new creative effort that might make its way onto the blog in the next day or so.

In the late afternoon, the weather was clear and we needed to walk, so we decided to explore the harbour. First, we made our way thorough the little covered pedestrian mall area....

When we got to the harbour, we were glad we decided to stretch our legs. The whole place was stunning. With the number of very expensive yachts, pleasure cruisers and commercial boats, it put our next favourite port (Port Charlotte in Barbados) to shame! With the calm waters and stunning backdrop, Abby and I went a little nuts with the camera: as the Joker famously said "and here we.....go....."

The closer we got to the more commercial area and outside the actual harbour docks, the crazier the boats got - they had all kinds of tricks and tactics to draw customers in for a day, multi-day and week long cruises... How ridiculous.... Hardy har har....arrrr... For some reason I found myself drifting up the gangplank of this beauty....

But wait, I saw something even better next door, which included a very questionable, yet amazingly appealing superlative....

Nah, a boat cruise was not in the cards. We headed to the busiest restaurant we could find and chowed down, but not before the girls found a see-saw which reminded them of the old park days in Tokyo so they couldn't resist.

We leave the Mediterranean tomorrow, in search of the famous travertine spa area of Pamukkale. This coastal area of Turkey definitely needs further exploration in the future, and perhaps sans kids :-).