The Resadiye Peninsula started a bit flat

We did manage to eat at the Chinese we were hoping to and it was very nice; trouble is I always eat too much at those help yourself things and it ruined the rest of the night. I remember once telling someone that I was going to an “eat as much as you can” restaurant and he reminded me that it was an “eat as much as you want”. “It’s supposed to be an offer and not a challenge.” I’m not doing that anymore, especially being diabetic, only small meals from now on.

We set off to the western peninsular after breakfast yesterday and made quite good time to Datca which is about 70km from Marmaris. It was already scorching but at least you have a breeze on the bike. I have noticed that you get different temperature wind when riding a bike, sometimes it’s quite cool and others it’s like driving through a blast furnace. I guess that there are natural sheltered areas where the breeze doesn’t get to because of the lie of the land and some will be shaded whilst others directly in the sun where the air gets heated up without being blown away. I should think that this is what drives the weather on a larger scale. Having had a little drive around Datca sea front by the fountains we thought better of going to the old town in favour of driving the rest of our first half of the journey to Knidos. As we had used half a tank of petrol already we topped up again whilst in Datca because that is the only fuel stop on the whole peninsular. Whilst filling, Claire noticed that the back tyre looked a bit flat so we asked the attendant to fill it up for us. He filled it several times but it still didn’t look right but I couldn’t hear the air going in the tyre when he filled it so had a go myself. It did fill up this time and we set off but no sooner were we around the corner and it was flat again; maybe the attendant knew what he was talking about. I pushed it back to the garage but hey don’t mend stuff these days, just like at home. He pointed me in the direction of Knidos saying that there was a repair place down that way. We filled up with air again and got as far as we could before pushing that damn thing for 30 minutes in the red hot sun. I was just turning the second corner when a bike stopped and the guy said that he worked at Motorserv and would go back and get a van which he did. They loaded the bike on and tied it up, Claire got in the cab and I sat on the back holding the bike. We drove about 30 yards and pulled into the repair shop for it to be fixed.

Two hours, a second hand tyre, a new tube, an oil change and a clean later it was ready. I was charged 70TL for the lot so not as bad as it could have been. Claire was even keener to get to Knidos now so I wasn’t allowed to stop and take photos until we arrived. I had read in the guide book earlier that Knidos was an old town dating from 400BC right at the end of the peninsula. As the winds changed around the peninsula boats were sometimes held up there for days until the weather changed so the crew were held up there quite often. What I hadn’t realized is that there are no longer any people living there, only a heap of old ruins. As we had intended to stay there the night, or at least grab some lunch and the roads were horrendous so it was a long journey, Claire was not amused that my research had failed once more. I barely had chance to snatch a couple of photos before turning round and heading back the way we had just come.

Some time later we eventually ended up in a little place on the south side of the peninsula called Palambutbuku which had a bay with a similar name. This was probably the nicest little town we had seen so far so we decided to stay there. We had a quick drink and began to look for accommodation but the first two places we tried were full up. Third time lucky and we checked into a little log cabin owned by Cuhadar; it was lovely, having a fridge, bathroom and aircon. Phew, Claire was happy again!

We dropped our bags, switched on the aircon and fridge and headed straight to the beach for a late lunch which was delicious but again too much. This town is full of Turkish tourists and no Brits or Germans to be found; we didn’t even see an English menu so it was all a bit hit and miss. Great, after lunch I found a market and bought a couple of bottles of wine and lots of water for me and stuck it in the large freezer to chill. We had a little walk around, a shower and change and sat outside while Claire read a book with a glass of wine and I read my OU books which I have been neglecting. We spent almost the whole evening chilling out like most people do for their whole holiday and very enjoyable it was too. That’s what I like best, independently travelling, stopping off wherever the mood takes you and moving on again. We were expecting to do a little more of that but as our room is newly decorated and furnished we stayed there more than expected. Plus we spent the best part of our first week with Danny and Sharon, having a great night and then feeling rough the next day and doing nothing until the evening when we started again. Very nice once in a while but too much for someone of our age; we are normally in bed by 10pm.

We had a little walk down to the posh hotel at the end where we had a glass of wine each and they talked us into having a small mezze which was quite unusual. Stuffed flower petals, olive tapinade and some sort of beans with fresh bread…. Mmm….. getting hungry again already. They had a band on playing very gentle pipe music; much better than the rubbish our hotel blurts out keeping us awake. A sort of modern Turkish rap that is so loud it was distorted. When we got back to our room it was probably too cold and we had to cuddle under the covers to keep warm.

Up bright and early for our free Turkish breakfast on the beach and we then we headed off stopping at Ovabuku, Hayitbuku and another buku that is not on the map. Next stop back at Datca to refuel again before our monotonous journey along the middle of the peninsula. The map shows the road going right down the middle of the peninsula and not going near the coast but it does; you go up windy hills then down the other side to the sea then you are up more windy hills and down to the other side again. We had intended to turn left and stop somewhere on the north coast of the peninsula but didn’t see any of the turnings. In this part of the country you are lucky to have any signs at all; at best there will be a hand written one half falling over. If we had known, we would have had a look around the old town Datca before heading back. This left us back to Marmaris much quicker than we had intended so we drove straight to the harbour part of Marmaris where all the big boats are for a drink. This is also where “Bar Street” is and you can pay over the top and drink and party into the small hours.

We then headed back to the “Rovers Return” which we walk past on the way to the beach but have never been in. Claire booked a Turkish bath for both of us tomorrow morning at 10am so I guess she will want to blog about that herself, especially as I have never had one before. On the top floor they have a pool where if you buy a drink you can spend the day so we had an hour there before returning back to our place to get the aircon on. A busy couple of days with a bad start but it all turned out well in the end. I wonder if our Ozzy friends had more luck finding the turnings than we did during their three days around the peninsulas.