Days 48-52: Bodrum

Like Kusadasi, Bodrum is another Turkish beach resort on the Mediterranean. Fortunately, it manages to avoid a fate as a cookie-cutter resort with charming architecture that conjures up images of Greece - white sugarcube houses dot the hillside along with windmills and castles. Unfortunately, I arrived at the very end of the tourist season. The nearby town of Gumbet where I stayed was a deserted ghost town when I checked in to my hotel. If you listened closely, you could hear the tumbleweed floating down the street. Restaurants were all empty and stores had no customers. The solitude was so absolute and depressing, my homesickness finally caught up with me and, for a while, I thought of changing my travel arrangements to go home one week early.

Luckily, I decided to give the place one more chance and the next day, I made the short trip to the main town of Bodrum. While Gumbet was completely deserted, Bodrum still had a little life in it. Granted, the majority of people were locals going about their daily lives, but that suited me just fine. At least the streets weren't empty. I spent the afternoon exploring the Castle of St. Peter, an old Byzantine fortress built by the Crusaders and then enjoyed the sunset at a beach cafe. As I sipped my $2 pint of Efes Pilsen next to the lapping waves while the sun set over the silhouette of the castle, I was relieved that I had decided to stay. Go home early? Hell no! I was going to squeeze every minute out of this vacation.

In the 1950's, a Turkish political writer named Cevat Sakir Kabaagacli was exiled to Bodrum and wrote an account of idyllic sea travels up and down the Carian and Lycian coasts called the "Blue Voyage". He thought he was writing about a life of paradise in Turkey, but what he actually did was give birth to hundreds of tour operators who now flood the waters off Bodrum with tourist-packed bay cruises all called "Blue Voyages". But being a tourist myself, and at a price of just $12, I couldn't resist the temptation so I signed up.

I arrived the next morning with a bag full of towels, swimsuit, etc. and was crestfallen when the tour company told me that they wouldn't be running the tour that day - they simply didn't have enough customers to do it. At their suggestion, I went down to the marina which was packed with boats advertising day cruises and asked around, but none of them had enough customers to head out. Yup, it was definitely the low season. I had almost given up when I passed by a smaller boat whose captain was calling out "private tour, boat tour" to customers who weren't there. Except that I was. After a little haggling, I got him to agree to a 3-hour trip for $60. It was more expensive than the full-day boat trip for $12, but I would get the entire boat to myself. It was also a lot shorter, but there was a certain poetic justice to taking "a three hour toooouuuur... a three hour toooouuuur...".

Little did I know, I wouldn't just get the boat to myself, I got almost the entire Aegean Sea! "The Skipper" took me to a bay they call "The Aquarium", known for its crystal clear waters and abundant fish. The waters were indeed clear and there were some fish, but nothing to impress a scuba diver. But the bay itself was gorgeous and best of all, we were the only boat there! I thought of the height of the tourist season, when there would normally be a dozen ships anchored all carrying a dozen or more tourists. But today, it was my own private paradise. The Skipper and I spent a lazy afternoon at the Aquarium, not letting our inability to communicate get in the way of a little sailor bonding. I snorkeled and did cannonballs off the top of the boat while the Skipper fished and cleaned barnacles off the bottom of the boat with a big shiny knife.

Letting the spirit of Bodrum take over, I spent two more lazy days in Bodrum, doing not much of anything other than nursing a buzz at seaside cafes, reading books and enjoying the perfect weather and sunshine. Taking in every last drop of it because I knew it would almost be my last.