A Very Merry-ish Christmas: The Middle

Part two of our ‘adventure’ was to occur in Marmaris.  We left Izmir without incedent to the otogar (the handy shuttle bus offered by the company was a wonderful bonus), and despite the persistent feeling of the start of a winter cold, the journey passed pleasantly enough.  We arrived to rainy Marmaris by about 3pm, caught our second handy shuttle bus down to the hotel (he was kind enough to take us all the way there) checked in- pleasantly surprised by the size after the shoebox in Izmir- and then went in search of food.  We found delicious burgers and beer (other than breakfast, we did not eat Turkish food once- it is nice to have a break) after a lovely seaside jaunt.  Marmaris is very much a tourist town as you can tell by three main factors 1. The amount of restaurants serving alcohol, 2. The location of the many many tattoo shops within stumbling distance of said restaurants and 3. The availability of diet coke.

Marmaris Castle

Since Marmaris is a tourist town, most of the hotels and shops and tours were closed for the winter months, which wasn’t a huge concern.  After a four hour bus ride with a cold, my muscles were pretty stiff and I had a wicked headache (stupid cold) so we headed back to the hotel decently early, although we were sidetracked by a lone Turk sitting in a bar.  It turned out to be his bar, and he had the cheapest beer we were to find all trip, so naturally we stopped.  He was a really interesting guy- in Marmaris they don’t consider English  a ‘foreign language’ because everyone speaks it for the tourists, and he had worked as a translator for the UN in Belgium for a year.  He also had one can of IrnBru left from tourist season (much to Joe’s delight.) For you Canadian folk, IrnBru is a sickeningly sweet orange soft drink that is near and dear to many a Scot, although I have yet to find a non-Scottish person who enjoys it.   Although this lengthened our evening, it was an enjoyable side trip.  

Views from the castle

This hotel also didn’t have central heating, so we alternated between hot and cold with the AC alternating between off, and cranked up to 30 to warm us up.  That was really the only downfall of this hotel though- we even had a balcony.  Needless to say, neither of us slept well, and we were down for breakfast shortly after it opened at 8am, and out and about the city by 930.  We headed down by the sea- beautiful promenade- and into the old town.  We went up to Marmaris castle-  which was really good- and despite the nagging rain (on/off, on/off) it was really enjoyable. We wandered slowly back through the bazaar (or what was open of it) and attempted to find a pharmacy, as my muscle aches were worsening.  We found about twenty- but not one was open.  We ended up stopping for a hot chocolate on the way back to the hotel, and then had a wee afternoon siesta as the rain continued.  We left again for dinner, debating between a few options, although eventually choosing one that was close to our hotel.  Joe had Indian and I had Chinese, so it was a lovely change of flavour for the palate. 

Deep-Fried Ice Cream

Joe ordered dessert- deep fried ice cream- and the waiter brought us free coffee while we waited.  It was perhaps the longest we have ever waited for food, but as we were in no rush, it was a very relaxed evening out.

Sunday morning we awoke to sunny skies (a pleasant change) and after breakfast, headed once more into town.  We spent the morning wandering, browsing through shops and winding streets, heading to the marina, eventually stopping for a meal, afternoon beers, and people watching on the promenade.  We got back to the hotel for a rest and then went out for another walk before calling it a day and repacking the suitcase.  We were leaving again on the ‘morrow.