Fethiye and the luxurious Yacht Classic Marina

Thursday the 16th and it was time to get ourselves to Fethiye. Lily Dambelli was to meet us there on the 17th and although the outside of the boat had been beautifully cleaned by the previous night's storm, the internals needed a freshen up and it was time for a big washing day. We try get the sheets and towels done in a commercial laundry in the bigger centers rather than use the small machine on the boat.

A 13 mile pootle across the bay and surprised on arrival as to the size of the place. The town spreads right around the bay you see at the end of the journey, but once again it is beautiful.

We had several recommendations to moor at the Yacht Classic Marina and so we took that advice. The marina itself is intimate, just one short, jutting, very well built jetty with new power and water stations per mooring.

We were met by the port captain in a rib who led us to our assigned spot, they hopped on board as we closed with the quay and helped with the slime lines and mooring lines and in not time we were set.

A short walk up the quay and you're in 5 star luxury. Immaculate waterside restaurant, secluded adults only swimming pool, much larger swimming pool with swim up bar, a spa pool and very comfortable daybeds to lounge around the pool on. A little further is the boutique hotel itself with Hamam (Turkish bath) and day spa.

The deal? You pay 80TL ($40) if you eat at the restaurant or 217TL (catamaran price) if you don't. The food is sensational. So in effect either the mooring or the meal is free.

The only downside it that it does rather restrict you to that one restaurants when in town there are some really interesting looking eateries.


We were joined by Lily who had been swanning about in Europe. Great to have her aboard firstly because now we didn't look so much like a gay couple and she is a natural when it comes to helping with the kids and the boat. Although everybody now thinks the kids are hers!

So what to do in Fethiye other than swim, spa, drink and eat...

I have shown you a few tombs which till now have been well out of the way. Here, the Amynthas tombs are in the cliffs right behind the city.

To get around, we hired scooters, Al took Lily and I took the two little ones who whooped and hollered the whole way...

Since Mum's departure they have both been to the top of the mast and had their first joy ride on the front of a scooter... just watch this space for the next blog!

Not far from Fethiye is the abandoned town of Kayakoy.

This is a large town with nobody living in it. Most of the houses roofs are gone, so we just assumed it was hit by an earthquake and was abandoned rather than restored.... but no. It turns out that when Turkey was forced to leave Greece after the 1st World War and after 400 years of brutal occupation, there were Greeks living in Turkey and visa versa. In 1923 it was agreed that 800,000 Greeks could be repatriated to Greece and 1.2 million Turks from Greece to Turkey.

Those 2000 Greeks that inhabited Kayakoy were 'arts and craft' types and the town was ideal for that, however the returning Turks were all farmers and so the town was of no use to them.

The houses all had dirt roofs which needed to be rolled every year to remain water proof and intact. The Turks, believing the Greeks would be back, maintained these roofs for a few years until it became clear that the Greeks were not for returning. Maintenance ended and the town fell into disrepair. It is now a fascinating, very spooky ghost town.

Gullets, those beautifully built, exceedingly comfortable looking, all timber Turkish boats are everywhere here and I had wondered where and how they were built. On our way home from a scoot, we came across just such a place. The workshop was a primitive place with very robust, Eastern European looking equipment and tons of high quality hard woods from Africa in milled chunks so much bigger than I've ever seen before. It was a Sunday so we thought... nobody around, lets have a sticky beak....

We were not there long when a very knowledgeable man with no English indicated that he'd be pleased to show us around this enormous Gullet that was some way from completion, but far enough a long to get a really good idea of just how well these boats are built.

This boat had 18 large cabins with balconies and bathrooms and there was another floor to go on yet.




The interior walls were all bulkheads, meaning they are part of the structural integrity of the boat stopping it from buckling in rolling seas. Imagine how well built and out of what hard timbers they are formed. It was clear that this is how the Turks have been doing it for centuries.

We had planned to meet Sal in Fethiye on her return from Aus so we decided to head off after a couple of days, do some more exploring in the boat and then head back. Al and Lily would take care of the kids, I would fly to London for a reunion of all the staff who had worked at Astor Hostels in London and Portugal over the past 40 years and Sal would return whilst I was still in London.

The kids just rode with the punches missing neither Sally or myself in any apparent way.