What a strange day! Having decided that we have "fiddled along" for long enough and that today we should make a concerted effort to put some miles under our belt, we end the day having done a lot of driving but having got nowhere!
Our aim was to reach Marmaris, check out the possibilities for ferries to Rhodes, then explore the Datca peninsula. According to the map, there were two routes, one a major road the other a minor road. The nearest to the lake was the minor one, so that was the one we took. It certainly was a quiet road and in a poor state of repair. This should have been a warning, we should have recalled the road to the closed border crossing in Georgia but no, unperturbed we carried on. To our delight we saw a wild tortoise. After driving this road for a couple of hours, we are halted by a road block in the shape of an army camp! A somewhat bemused young guardsman tells us that the map may show the road going on to Marmaris but our only option is to go back the way we came and get to Marmaris via the major road route! About turn.
Some hours later we are near Marmaris and give in once again to our urge to explore. We have come to bee hive alley. Hundreds of bee hives line every road and fill every layby. Unlike our familiar traditional shaped hives, these are like coloured filing cabinet drawers. This time the ease with which we get side tracked turns out to be a good move. A small road leads to where a ferry does trips to Cleopatra Island, we nose about then continue on to Marmaris itself.
If we thought that in a large resort there would be chance of finding a campsite open we were wrong. A very grumpy man in the tourist information office, tells us the season is over, they are all closed! We find the ferry office and get a price for the Rhodes crossing. It isn't cheap, so this idea is curtailed. We still want to visit Pamukkale and Ephesus so we would need a return crossing; as with Crete the fast ferry is unlikely, making a day trip unviable. We will investigate ferry route options once we have internet again. It may be that it is Greece that gets put on the back burner??
Trying to find a suitable spot for the night is always difficult in built up areas, unless you opt for side street parking, supermarket car parks or petrol station forecourts. Marmaris proved no different, with every road to the beach being barricaded. In the end we decided to return to the little harbour with the Cleopatra bound boats. Our earlier "fiddling" served us well.
Thur 13th Nov
We leave our calm harbour with its gentle lapping waves and head out to explore the Datca peninsula. At the end is Knidos, a very large archeological site. It is 3pm by the time we get there and the weather is wet and windy, not good for for looking about. The man in the ticket box says we can park inside and have a proper look around tomorrow. Great, that saves driving all the way back to cleopatra's. Unfortunately, the night security guard does not share such generous ideas. We move to the outside carpark. Time will tell if we do manage to stay the night here or whether we get moved on by the Jandame (military police) who patrol this area. If we are still here in the morning, I wonder if we will have to pay another entrance fee?
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