In Marmaris = catching the ferry to Rhodes tomorrow

Yesterday was an interesting day. We decided to leave Turkey (hoping to go to Spain to walk part of the Camino) and so we spent the morning investigating travel options. We found all sorts of very cheap flights online, but on further investigations none of them had any seats available. So we decided to go to Greece instead. Yup, its both stressful and invigorating travelling this way!!! I wish I had had more time to research, say, all of Europe before we left on this trip or baring that, had the LP Europe with us.

So yesterday late afternoon we caught yet another bus - from Selcuk to Marmaris. Again, we felt well taken care of (though a bit confused as to what is happening sometimes) as we took a dolmus (small bus) to Aydin and then were escorted to a big coach by the driver. If anyone wanted to rip us off it would have been terribly easy to do.. Aydin looked like a rather nice town = at least the bus station was fantastic looking with tons of cheap food available/ We've learned that bus stations are great places to grab cheap food.

Since it is obviously prior to peak tourist season and everything seems quiet, we thought that either someone would great us at the bus station to try to get us to go to their pension or (big step for me) we would wander around and find our own accommodation. No touts were there when we arrived so around 9:30pm (unfortunately it was late when the bus got in) we started wandering the streets. 2 people tried to help us/steer us not so great places (dirty) then we mistakenly asked a Turk if he found a good place to stay (we thought he was a tourist because of his backpack) and he directed us to the best place we've stayed in Turkey!! 35 TRY for a small& simple (but very clean) apartment with a balcony, ensuite and bit of a view of the harbour (Efe Apart). I was so very happy I wanted to spend the rest of our vacation here (we had also found a large supermarket during our wanderings and this also makes me very happy)!

Today we booked our ferry tickets to Rhodes (Greece) and wandered around the docks. Tim now has a new hobby of pretending he has a sailboat and asking at the marina office what their rates are. We also try to talk to at least one expat to see how they like the marina. Today we talked to a Brit who told us quite a bit about how she liked staying in Marmaris but more importantly to me, she told us how to find a bookshop with english books (I was in heaven as we found a LP for Greece!!! (even though I don't trust LP completely any more its good to have a travel book when you're going to another country, eh?)

We have found that most of the time when we ask where say, a bookshop or internet cafe, or anything else is, that most turks can't tell us. Perhaps its because the streets go in all directions (where I become immediately lost) and the street names are long and usually unmarked so it is difficult for them to describe where a place is. I think there is a potential GPS business opportunity here for confused NA tourists trying to get around Europe and Asia!!

Marmaris has lots of shops and the harbour is beautiful, but there isn't much to do here (historical sites). So despite my extreme happiness last night it makes sense to catch the ferry tomorrow.

As Tim observed, if you needed a cheap, beautiful place to hang out (say to do a remote contract or finish a thesis) I think that staying at the Efe Apart in Marmaris in April would be an excellent place do be.

From what we've heard/read we have come at the ideal time. The climate is pleasant (low to mid 20's) we've had hardly any rain, lots of wildflowers in some areas, and everyone is gearing up for the tourist season (so lots of places are open but uncrowded). Sometimes though we feel like we're in tourist ghost towns which is a little odd.