Gobble, gobble, gobble

The ghost town of Kayakoy near Fethiye. Around 200 houses that were abandoned after WWI.

View of Kayakoy from the top of the hill.

Interior of one of the churches in Kayakoy. Dates from 1888.

View through the port hole in our cabin on the boat

A little sea sick? Possibly hungover?

One of the most amazing sunsets we witness on this trip.

Romantic sunset! Doesn't get much better than this.

One of the many amazing views we had during our cruise

This would be scary if they actually let Hazen drive.

One of the greatest benefits of the cruise was diving in the water whenever you felt like it.

Amazing clear, blue water. Aubree enjoying the sea and the sun.

Group photo! All 18 of us on the last night of the trip.Chimera flames near Olympos. There are gases located beneath the rocks that once they reach the air they ignite. There are several of these flames in a small area.

Merhaba again from Turkey,

Have had some unfrogettable experiences in the last week and can't wait to share them with you. When we left you last we were in the town of Fethiye until our Blue Cruise departed. From Fethiye we took a day trip to a ghost town called Kayakoy. It is a very old town that was deserted after WWI. After the war was over many Greeks were living in Turkey and vise versa. As part of the repatriation the two countries switched their populations and there were far more Greeks living in Turkey than Turks in Greece so a few cities were left uninhabited. We spent half a day walking around the eery town. Not quite like walking around the ghost towns of the old west in the US. The town is completely off limits and has been since it was deserted so everthing is eroding and falling down at its own pace.

The next morning we woke up and were so excited to be starting our 4-day gulet cruise. Had breakfast at the Hotel and a shuttle bus came to pick us up and take us to the harbor. We headed for the boat with our swimmers on and snorkeling gear at the ready. We were a little baffled when the shuttle bus went past the harbor and thought we might be picking up more people before heading out. Really confused when we arrived at the main bus station and told we had to get on a bus to Demre which was 3hrs down the coast. Hazen went a little psychotic trying to get some answers as to why we would have do take a bus. We had just talked to the owner of the boat some 10 mins ago and he said nothing about this. Really worried that we were getting ripped off. When we got on the bus some other people that were taking the cruise said they were told the boat could not start from Fethiye because of bad weather and we would be doing the cruise in reverse. It turns out that everyone on the boat was told about this except us and a group of 3 girls. A slight oversight on the part of the cruise owner. When we finally arrived at the new harbor we were shuttled to the boat by dingie. However, it was so windy that we were completely soaked including our backpacks. The boat headed for a protected cove a short distance away and that is where we spent the evening. The passengers on the boat included a group of 10 people living in London but mostly of South African decent, 3 belgiums, and 3 Australians. The first night was great as everyone was getting to know each other and having a few drinks in the process. The night swim was amazing as phosphorecent fish glowed all around. Things were finally looking up.

The next morning we woke up pretty early and headed on deck as the boat departed. The wind was in our hair and life was good. About 20 mins later we hit the open sea and the open WAVES. Hazen's hangover just multiplied exponentially. Hazen spent the next 6 hours below deck vomitting into a Nalgene bottle. The crew decided it was far to windy to continue and parked in the harbor of Kas. With the promise of solid ground Hazen emerged and comtemplated whether he could get himself back on the boat. Aubree has been quick to point out she had no problems with seasickness or hangovers. The whole group went to a disco in the harbor and had a great time. Hazen however was not drinking anything besides water at this point. He did not want a repeat of the hangover/sea sickness.

We left the harbor around 4am since that was when the waters were suppose to be more calm. Somehow we managed to still get a little sleep through it all. We ended up at Butterfly Valley. There is suppose to be a nice waterfall you can hike to and butterflies everywhere that can only be found in this area. We decided to stay on the boat and do some swimming while the others went in search of the butterflies. Turns out they only saw 3 so we really didn't miss out on much. We heard the waterfall was dried up as well. The water is an amazing shade of blue and so crystal clear that you can see the bottom in very deep water. After leaving there we headed to Oludeniz. The first thing the guys on the boat did when we got there was find the tallest rock to jump off. Only one belly flop in the group. Hazen did complain later that his shoulders and upper arms were pretty sore from the jump. 13 of the people on the boat left to do some paragliding. Hazen decided against it (pretty spendy) and Aubree wouldn't have dont it if her life depended on it. Most seemed to have a good time though and we saw some pretty cool photos from those who went. The last day on the boat we had to re-fuel and get the dingy fixed. After that was about 7 hours straight sailing back to Demre. Hazen finally got his sea legs about 1 hour before we got off the boat. We were then bussed to get some food and off to Olympos.

Olympos is a crazy place made up of bungalows and tree houses. There is only one road through town that leads to some ancient ruins. We walked through them a little and got lost so decided to stick to the main path. Headed for the beach which wasn't near as nice as any of the places we swam while on the boat but it cooled us off and that's what we were after. Mostly did a lot of relaxing, napping and trying to stop the feeling that we were still on the boat.

We sat on a bus for about 7 hours yesterday to get to Konya, the bible belt of Turkey, and it was the first day of Ramadan. We had shorts on when we arrived and got a lot of looks. We put our pant legs on immediately as we were quite uncomfortable. Trying to avoid eating and drinking in public since everyone is fasting for Ramadan. We haven't seen much and not sure that we will get to. Hazen has become pretty sick. Possibly severe dehydration. He has been trying to keep liquids down but he has been running to the bathroom every 20 minutes for about 8 hours straight. Finally got some meds from the pharmacy and he hasn't had anything come up for about 2 hours now. Hopefully that's a good sign becuase I didn't want to have to figure out the Turkish medical system. If he is feeling better by tomorrow we will be heading to the town of Nigde which is on the edge of a national forest. Plan to spend a couple days there before going north to see the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia.

We can't believe that we only have about 2 weeks left. It's really starting to hit us that we will be home soon and have to face the challenge of of normal every-day life like moving to a new city and finding new jobs. We are very ready to come home though and see everyone.