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Above, you can see the cobalt blue "evil eye" and they are found all over Turkey and Greece. The superstition says that this piece of glass actually protects one from the evil eye of others, should they cast it. Many still believe things like this exist. They make a lot of money off these tiny bits of glass!
After Israel, we sailed into Finike, Turkey where we spent a few weeks catching up on boat repairs. There is so much to rave about when talking about Turkey. They have a wonderful work ethic and are some of the finest folks on earth. While so many people in the Med are shirking work and looking for excuses on why they should "not be responsible", these folks are working very hard all day long. They did fine work on CYAN!
We visited the ruins at Myra with Ron and Joanne from "Miss Jody". This is the village Santa Clause came from or rather "the legend of St Nicolas" also known as the Bishop of Myra in about 350AD. Note the photo of the early burial caves in the rocks at Myra below.
While CYAN was in Finike we decided to fly to Istanbul and see all the sights there rather than sail the whole long way.
You can see some of our photos from Istanbul on the Blog at: CYAN: Westbound, Around
 Where we are in Turkey |
 Tombs in Rock Cliffs, Myra |
 St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra |
 Anchored under Castle |
 Cruising Turkey |
 Clearwater anchorage |
 Typical sailing "Gulet" |
 Hungry captain |
St Paul traveled all along this southern coast of Turkey in the first century starting many of the first churches there but of course they are not Christian anymore. We set off sailing north. We did visit several islands in Turkey and anchored many places. We had heard about how wonderful it was sailing there but we only thought it was pretty good at best. There were black biting flies in the south that made anchoring miserable and jellyfish made swimming uncomfortable. Most anchorages were terribly crowded and although the water is really sparkling blue, the land is quite barren and rocky, but exotic in it's own way. I am quite sure we missed some ofthe best locations in our haste.
We especially were interested in the unrestored archeological island of Knidos covered here on: CYAN: Westbound, Around
We were scooting through Turkey fairly quickly to head to Greece but we made special time to see Kusadasi in the more northern coast, because that is where the ancient city of Ephesus is located and it is not to be missed. We had heard that it was remarkable and we really enjoyed our visit there. The remains of that huge ancient city are outstanding and one of the Med's highlights for us. Ephesus was the second largest city in the world during it's prime and was as impressive as learning about ancient Greece.
Northern areas and Ephesus
 View of Bodrum |
 Anchored in Bodrum |
 Meat seller |
 Ephesus at where the river used to be |
 Ancient Library |
 Traveling cruisers |
 Mosaic detail |
 Ancient main street |
