It's a really nice little town, but it does have its tourist traps.
We resist the temptation to part with our diminishing stockpile of Turkish Lire and settle for a photo rather than a ride.
On the bus mid-morning on Sunday and we're heading for the Mediterranean. The road down the hill to the coast is memorable not just for the views, but also the corners, including a number of spectacular switchbacks. My thoughts turn to motorcycles, and how great it would be to do a bike tour of Turkey. You'd need an adventure bike though - the roads are in generally poor condition with potholes, undulations, gravel and reconstructions frequent. No place for a GSXR.
I wonder how the team are going with the April track days back home, and take this opportunity to remind them I can actually receive emails!
Interesting being pulled over to a security checkpoint before we hit Marmaris. Police, toting machine guns, collect ID cards from every Turkish passenger and check them for five minutes before we're allowed to proceed. We wouldn't tolerate this level of police intrusion in NZ, but clearly the security situation is different in Turkey. With Syrians to the south, Kurds to the south east bordering Iraq and Iran, Armenia and Georgia to the north east, and the Balkans to the north west, Turkey does have some hotspots in its vicinity. We're lucky in New Zealand that we're surrounded by water, and pleasantly far away from the world's trouble spots.
Marmaris is a nice little spot, with a marina full of flash looking yachts. It's a large, enclosed harbour too - you could assemble a lot of ships in here and they'd be completely invisible from sea. In fact that's just what Lord Nelson did before having a go at the French in 1798.
We have a wander around the waterfront, reconfirm our ferry tickets for tomorrow, and stop for a coffee.
Our Otel Nadir is pretty average, even more so when we find there's no hot water in the morning. We gulp down breakfast and hike the 25 minutes to the ferry terminal past some nice little cafes - this place will be heaving in summer.
A bit of to-ing and fro-ing between ticket booths but we're sorted and saying goodbye to Turkey. I check my email and find Graham has just bought a CBR1000RR - he must have heard my plea for news telepathically before I've even committed this post to the ether.
Next stop is Rhodes!
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