A taste of my Bodrum...

What can I say about Bodrum?  It is beautiful, has a way of capturing you slowly, the sea is deep navy blue some parts, green some others. The sun is powerful. People live in slow motion, that is, until they start driving.

Bodrum peninsula is bigger than many other major cities in Türkiye. It has busy traffic, huge shopping areas, big corporations,  large signs cover the highway that connects the little beach towns to each other. But highways have very poor signage. 

The way they drive makes one question their sanity, and at the end you find small beaches packed by people with a lot of children around.

Stuff I mention above really bothered me at first.  I was not sure what I expected to see in Bodrum either.

Rediscovering Bodrum would be the only way to enjoy my stay. After all, I was offered a luxurious villa in Ortakent, a car and the beautiful Aegean Sea before me. I know what you all are thinking "just shut up and go swimming." That is exactly what I am going to do.

Looking over my balcony, I could see the minaret looked as if it was raised from the sea.  If I drove keeping my eye on the minaret,  I knew I would be by the shore for sure.

Few minutes later, I was standing by the beach with white chaise lounges with turquoise colored pillows. A young lady appeared to inform me that it was 20 TL to lay on the beach, which is OK, I appreciate the fact that everything has a cost. I opted to walk little further. Looking for a shade, secretly hoping for an area with no children, as if there could be a spot in Türkiye without them. Finally , my eyes locked on a location about 100 yard away from the turquoise pillows. A concrete island, reaching out to the Aegean Sea. A large deck with well made steps to dive in and umbrellas scattered around. It has a sign that reads "Belediye Kahvehanesi" ((Municipal owned), there is no one around, except, a sleepy street dog and a nice coffee house with few people reading daily papers.  I have difficulty keeping my excitement down. I settle on one of the reclining chairs and wait someone to say "you can not sun bathe here"or something to that effect. Instead a young, handsome waiter who had no one else but me to serve, appears to take my orders. I ask about the place and he says the area owned by the Municipal government and operated by his family. Sun bathing and umbrellas are free of charge as long as I place drink orders.

I know why no one is patronizing his beach/coffee house, Turks have tendency to avoid government owned places, because it is open to everyone and it makes them uncomfortable to think they might just share space with some one not up to their own standards.

That Turk is not me.

Rest of the day was great, several ayrans, Turkish coffee and some grilled cheese sandwiches and hours of swimming, I was ready to call my friends around.  I pulled out my cell phone with a good size of contact numbers.  I have my high school and University friends vacationing here. I put aside the idea of calling them for now.

I made one phone call, however, to my cousin Ahmet!

Ahmet is from my maternal side who settled in Bodrum about 25 years ago. He is a veterinarian. He is known by everyone and literally liked by everyone. an eccentric guy, lives in a dirt house which has a large garden with tangerine trees. with his wife, son, two dogs, bunch of cats and many other creatures I do not care to know, plus he breeds rare chicken and roosters in the garden. They are fun.  He is happy to hear from me, immediately, invites me to spend the Sunday with them at a beach - bar area they frequent called DALGA which means wave, but here I am sure it is used for the other meaning. Let me try to explain: DALGA also means hours spent idle with friends. People who dalga sit around and chat nonsense, drink. If you "pass" dalga, you must take pride in doing it. 

I arrived in his house with some presents for his wife and son. They are happy to see me, I am introduced to bunch of animals around plus two kittens just born the other day. I had never seen one before so this was a treat for me as well. They get ready and we drive to Dalga. I forgot how to Dalga and I have a bit of an anxiety in me. I don't want to sound American or try too hard to Dalga. We arrive with our bags and gears and so on and welcomed by two guys sitting by the bar who have been friends forever. Introductions are taken care of by Ahmet's lovely wife Meral and immediately I am nick named Miss DC.

Okan whom Ahmet calls OKI opens up a nice area for us by the water and we start enjoying our day. My kuzen's son is a great little boy he is wearing the watch I brought him with Pirates of the Caribbean theme and all is good we swim, we eat, we talk. There is no real Dalga taken place here only the authentic way of spending the day by the beach with friends. 

Ahmet offers to take me and his son to a small island near on his boat. I am game, I say.

His little son and I helped him prepare his motor boat, he takes his fishing equipment, a large bag of lettuce leaves, engine turned on and we take off.  He tells me the story of the island that it offers nothing special. Just a piece of land, the other side is rocky and rough.. etc. Then he says in his profession he serves the bourgeois who inspire to own pets and eventually realize, it is not so easy. These unwanted animals end up in his clinic and it is how these rabbits we are about to see end up in the island. A client came with 5 rabbits in a cage one day and dropped off in his clinic. That evening Ahmet and his son loaded up his motor boat and dropped the rabbits on the island. He says winters are good for the rabbit, a lot to eat and drink, so they multiplied. Summer are tough he has to make sure they get water and some food. He collects stuff from the restaurants, salad, veggies, specially watermelon skins that rabbits like very much. By the end of the story, we drop anchor near the shore. He jumps into water gently pulls the boat by the shore. We help him to carry the rabbit food to a shady area. As we walk, I see dozens of rabbits running around. They look healthy and happy. We place their food and go swimming. Few minutes later rabbits come to feast. We keep swimming, we don't bother them, they don't bother us. Kaya calls me to swim with him to deeper part of the sea, I am energized and pulling the water harder with my hands and kicking back with my legs.. I want to please Kaya and hope that we will be friends forever...