2022 World Tour – Marmaris, Turkey
Hello from Marmaris, my 56th stop on the trip but not a new country as I’ve already been to Turkey in 2015.
Below is the standard summary:
– Cool Ranch Doritos: No, but they have other weird and not good Doritos flavours here
– Thai ATM Card Works: Yes
– Thai Debit Card Works: Yes
– Thai Internet Purchase Works: Yes
– USA Credit Card Works: Didn’t try
– Worldwide Telephone/Data/SMS eSIM Works: Yes
– Spanish SIM Card Works: Didn’t try
– Magic Jack Works: Didn’t try
– VPN Works: Yes
– COVID Compliance Chronicles: Nothing
– Internet Works: Yes
– Drone Flights: Apparently OK but didn’t try
– Cost of Living: $$
– Currency: Turkish Lira ⺠1.00 = USD $0.054
– Language Issues: None
Your Short History Lesson:
Turkey is unique in that it straddles the continental border between Europe and Asia, and being at a key crossroads of civilization it has a long and tortuous history. Prehistoric hunter-gatherers were the earliest inhabitants which gave way through millennia to the Greeks. The famous Trojan War may not be real, but is thought to have been fought in the 12th or 11th century BC. The Persians rolled in around 500 BC, as shown in the totally factual movie “300”, abs and all. Alexander The Great took over in 334 BC, then the Romans solidified their hold around year 0. Christianity spread through the region and the capital Byzantium was renamed New Rome then Constantinople after Roman Emperor Constantine. The Byzantine Empire was the successor of the Roman Empire in the eastern region and became one of the most powerful dynasties in Europe. In the 11th century Turks and Islam started penetrating the region, followed by the hugely powerful Ottoman Empire. After the Ottoman collapse at the end of World War I, the modern Republic of Turkey was declared, importantly under a secular constitution. This was controversial in a region with strong religious influences on government. Mustafa Kemal is considered the father of modern Turkey and was bestowed the surname Ataturk, which means Father Turk, and his image is everywhere you look in Turkey. Interestingly I saw his birthplace back in Greece so I wonder how he came to be so influential here. There have been military coups in 1960, 1980 and an unsuccessful one in 2016. Kurdish land rights and civil rights are actively in dispute. Turkey is in NATO but its accession into the European Union has been blocked citing violations of human rights and evidence of sliding away from secularism. Current President Recep ErdoÄan had been stripped of his position as Mayor of Istanbul for inciting religious hatred, and has been reported as backsliding on democracy and allowing corruption, censorship and purges of his opposition. An economic crisis in 2018 has caused the value of the Turkish Lira to slide from 3 for $1 in 2015 to 19 for $1 today.
Turkey is my final country before flying home to Thailand. I’ve been on the road for 7 months and it feels like it’s time to wrap up the trip, conveniently matching up well for my planned move to Barcelona in January. I’ll spend the last few days of October in Istanbul and fly out, but I’ve got a couple of places to visit along the way.
My present location in Rhodes is a short 1 hour ferry ride to the Turkish mainland and the city of Marmaris. After packing up and checking out I got a phone call from the hotel saying they messed up yet again and forgot to take the city tax from me. I walked back after my lunch and gave her â¬3.00 in coins for the â¬2.50 tax, then she said “Oh I don’t have any coins.” I looked at her with a last look of exasperation, said “Just keep it”, turned and walked out. Some family run hotels are good, others not so much.
I spent the afternoon walking the old town and harbour area and edited the latest train line drone video in a café. I rolled to the port, unsure where to pick up my required paper ticket to get on the ferry, as my web site payment confirmation said to pick it up “At the port”, gee thanks for being so specific. I finally found a kiosk for all of the ferry companies but mine wasn’t open, with no sign showing their opening times, and a bunch of us had to wait for an hour. This critical paper ticket was a small green tag given after we showed our passport. Hmm, could have just showed our passports as we boarded the ship, eh? After dealing with a grumpy Greek immigration guy I got on the ship and survived the choppy 1 hour crossing.
We all went through incoming Turkish customs and I didn’t have to show my mandatory visa receipt, it must have already been shown on the agent’s screen. It cost me â¬50 for the visa to enter the country, one of only a handful of nationalities required to pay for entrance. Thanks Turkey! I rolled a long, long way through town to my hotel, luckily the room is pretty good with a large living room with couch and TV, kitchen & table but no kitchenware at all, bathroom with good shower, large bedroom with queen size bed, strong aircon but very flaky Wifi. The kid at the desk says its up and down all the time, they can’t fix it. Hmmm.
The next day I walked down to the Grand Bazaar, actually a fairly small bazaar as these things go, but good enough. I had some Turkish Delight then walked to the nearby castle and paid ⺠50 to get in the castle / archeology museum. It’s an ancient fort overlooking the now-marina area, where I later strolled down, with restaurants on one side and over 100 boats on the other side. I went to a highly-rated hotel for a hamam and came away a little disappointed for the price but hey. I had a chicken kebab, salad, fries and can of Coke Light for âº80, a bargoon after the costs on the islands in Greece. At night I walked to the bar street and instantly hated it from the bad music and low-hanging fog of cigarette smoke. I had a great walk all the way back along the marina with the stars in the sky and the buildings and boats lit up. I stopped at an Irish bar but they don’t have Kilkenny and there was a 3 piece band playing “Volare”, so where’s the Irish aspect of this bar? That was a 23,000 step day, wow.
Over the next couple of days I went and laid out at the city beach, but it’s mostly dirt with some pebbles mixed in so not great, went through the bazaar again, got a bag of Turkish Delight, went into one of the thousands of barber shops for a âº160 haircut and shave and somehow ended up with the “Full Treatment” of a mud face scrub, black wax on nose/above eyebrows/ears then ripped off, eyebrow trim, flaming Q-Tip burning ear hair, rogue hair pluck and back massage for âº500. Then I had dinner in a kebab shop with strangely no prices and got stuck with a bill about double what it should have been. It seems everywhere I go in Turkey they’re trying to upsell me or just rip me off. “Caveat viator” I guess. I did find a shoe repair guy who put a strengthening patch inside the heels of my shoes and he wanted to charge me only âº35 so I gave him a âº50 note and said thanks for a good and fast job.
Is it worth a visit? Marmaris is a gateway into Turkey from the islands of the eastern Med, so if you’re in the region you’re likely going to pass through. The marina and castle are beautiful, just beware every seller and make sure you don’t get overcharged.
Next Stop: Izmir, Turkey
