Marmaris, Turkey

Our next stop was Marmaris, Turkey.  It is considered the exclusive vacation spot of Turkey.  The city has existed from the VI century BC and was once called Physcus.  It started out as a fishing town and then in the 80s there was a building boom and it turned into a tourist area which is they main economic resource.  We decided that this was going to be a place for the kids to enjoy a little bit more, no real history lessons or museums for them.  We wanted to do a little shopping and then let them hit the beach.  So we took a shuttle into town and did just that.

 

This was our view coming into port - such beauty all around us on the whole cruise.

 

So I am not sure if you can see it clearly or not, but name of this boat is Cashmere III - This is for all my hometown folks!!!  :-)

 

So there was one castle in Marmaris, and my boys do love castles, but when we made it there it was closed for renovation.  So no castle tour for us.

 

The boys were helping me with my editing today and they really, really wanted to put in a "colorful" picture, so here it is.  :-) 

So as we walked down from this point and old lady who was bowed and didn't have many teeth came up to us.  She was saying something in Turkish and then grabbed my hand and let me tell you she had a grip.  She pulled me over to her stand and kept asking me to buy something, all the while not letting go of my hand, she had it in a death grip.  She then pinned a pin on me, I finally found an anklet for 2 euro and bought it so I could leave.  I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to otherwise.

 

Then we hit the other stores there.  I do have to say it felt a lot like Mexico shopping, if I didn't know better I would have thought we were on a different side of the world.  So I bartered with the best of them and we bought some pretty neat souvenirs.

 

David wanted to buy a watch from this store, he said it was honest advertising!  LOL  ;-)

 

So the boys were hungry and what do they want?  Burger King.  I do have to say that AJ was really, really good about trying everything that David and I ate.  Michael, not so much.  But that is okay, it was food and he ate it.  He was finally feeling better today and got his appetite back which made me feel so much better.  I didn't mind buying him some nuggets.

 

The boardwalk on the way to the beach.

 

This was a huge statue that on it was written Peace at Home, Peace in the World"

 

One really nice surprise on the way to the beach we found two different parks for the boys to play in.  They loved it!!  Though the equipment was a little hot to the touch, so no slides.

 

I really liked this statue.  It looks like a grandpa showing his granddaughter his trade.

 

The sand was really, really hot and the boys had to run to get to us where we had set up in the shade.  We didn't go to the beach where all the tourists were, we just went to a local beach.  It was nice and not too far away.  Not nearly as many people or people selling things.

 

I went in with the boys and it was really, really cold.

 

David got in on the fun, but had to make a run for it also because of the hot sand!

 

AJ happy as a clam!!  They played in the water for hours and of course in the mud!  So it was kind of funny, we were in the only tree shade there was and a local family came and literally sat right next to me.  I mean the blanket they put down touched my leg.  So we were really cozy and then they started to eat nuts and David was done.  So off we went to find our ice cream for the day!

 

And we were very successful once again!!!  I think there are gelato shops every other block in these towns.  Kind of like Starbucks in Washington. 

 

I thought this was a really neat sculpture in the middle of Marmaris.

 

 

Michael watching us leave port while waiting for his milkshake to be made. 

 

We went down to the pub so David could get his beer as we were heading to our next stop, Cyprus.

 

And of course, we were playing our daily game of trash!!!

 

The boys on the back of the boat after another wonderful day!!!  This was right before Michael crashed.  We were eating dinner and he fell asleep on my lap.  David tickled him, moved him and he didn't wake up for anything, that kid was OUT!  He was so tired from his day at the beach.  So while he was sleeping AJ ordered a pop and when the waiter brought it AJ looked at me and asked me what language do I say thank you in?  It was hilarious.  A little background, the boys have to learn how to say thank you in whatever language the country we are in speaks.  Well on the boat it was a little harder because some were Italian, Spanish, English and then of course when we were in Turkey, Turkish and we were just beginning our trip.  So he was a little confused and rightly so.  I am so glad my boys are so willing to learn and use the different languages, they never argue with us, just learn and use it!  I am very proud of them and all that they have learned so far.