Beach and Boat Ride

Today was a real vacation day!  Slept late, enjoyed leisurely Turkish breakfast down by the pool in the courtyard of our hotel and then wandered down to the harbor to find a boat cruise.  We went out for two hours on the boat, which was truly lovely.  The coast here is volcanic cliffs and the mountains on the other side of the harbor are shrouded in mist, but their shadows rise up magnificently on the horizon, looking like something out of The Mists of Avalon!   The water is crystal clear and deep, deep blue.  After we got off the boat, I had my daily dose of Turkish ice cream and we walked the couple of miles to the closest beach, which took us about 40 minutes or so.  There we were able to rent three beach chairs and two umbrellas for very little and spent several hours lying by the Mediterranean Sea, cooling off in the water when necessary and enjoying people watching and relaxing.  There is a bar right on the beach so Bonnie and Sky enjoyed late afternoon cocktails (I waited until I got back to the hotel where the owner has better quality gin!) It is amazing how very few English speakers there are here.  This is apparently not a vacation spot much visited by Americans/English/Canadian/Australian because we never once heard English.  Mostly Turkish, Russian and German.   We stayed on the beach until 6 PM and then walked back into town and got cleaned up and went to dinner at a place our driver had recommended.  It is popular with the locals and we could see why.  Excellent Turkish grill and the prices were cheap!  So by 10:40 we were back at the hotel and I'm ready to read for a bit and go to sleep!  Pics are me and Bonnie on the boat, and scenes from the boat cruise and a view out over the beach as we were leaving this evening.