Remembering an Eco Warrior

As we go into February it looks like good news might be on the horizon for the endangered coastline of Turkey.  Rather than presumptuously celebrate the possibility that someone in government has actually realised that they can't endlessly sell off what's left of this country's natural beauty, I am remembering a local heroine who put her heart, soul and health into fighting to keep our corner of Turkey clean and natural. When Saynur Gelendost moved to Bodrum in the late 1970s, she probably thought she'd live on a boat in the harbour and carry on her artistic pursuits, but she was not the sort to sit on the sidelines and watch her beloved Gulf of Gokova ruined.  She is famous for her protests against power stations and drew our attention by asking if the generation of electricity should be more important than the welfare of the environment and the public's health.  She asked why 3 power stations should be built in our corner of Muğla on active seismic areas, by a foreign consortium that not only took insufficient notice of the inferiority of the coal available here but also failed to provide adequate filters and, having made this mistake once, carried on making the same mistake again and again. When passive protests proved ineffective she was the first to lie down in front of bulldozers and she embarked on a hunger strike in the 1990s which probably hastened her demise in 2003. Her legacy is that proper filters were eventually fitted.

The power station chimney at Ören. Positioned next to the sea to provide cooling water , a process which is detrimental to marine life. 

If you are sailing in the Gulf of Gokova, you will notice bin bags being collected from deserted bays by a rubbish boat - an idea instigated and brought to fruition by Saynur Hanim after she was shocked at the amount of trash left behind by charter boats. When our village was fighting a cement company that was set on turning our hillsides into an open cast mine, Saynur was there with support and practical advice that helped us rout the developers.

I was reminded of her a second time the past couple of days as tempers flared again between Turkey and Greece over Kardak Island, a tiny cluster of rock between Gümüşlük and Kalymnos.  "Seals belong on Kardak" she stated, "not guns."

Finding Keramos

I had no difficulty finding Keramos when I first visited in 1982.  We sailed into the wide bay at Ören, moored at the only jetty, made our way along the only road through the empty fields, came to a small village and ambled over walls and gardens visiting what I remember as quite abundant ruins.  My abiding memory is buying a warm Fanta and packet of biscuits  from a gas-lamp lit grocer shop and eating the paraffin flavoured biscuits as we walked back to the sea.

Ören has grown. The seaside is lined with cafes and and the pebble beach is full of sun beds. The fields  have filled with holiday houses and driving in, the road takes you straight to the sea.  Having not made an early start we arrived at lunch time and after a very hot wander along the front we stopped for a toast and beer on the front. I haven't recommended any restaurants in this blog yet but the Bi Lokma cafe deserves a mention. I love real chips and hate the frozen french fries so when I find a patron who answers the question "Do you have real chips?" with "I have plenty of potatoes so of course I'll make you some" I'm sold.

After lunch, we had to find our way back to the village. Easier said than done.  We now know that on the approach to Ören, after crossing the bridge, we should have taken the left road signposted paraşut yeri, then turned right at the sign to Keremos. Parked at the top of the village and with temperatures touching 36 degrees C we climbed up to find the city walls that clearly mark Keramos out as a Carian town. It is on record that it paid one and a half talents to the Delian League in the fifth century BC and by Roman times it was minting its own coinage and was a titular see of Asia Minor with three bishops mentioned in despatches.

We could see several promising bits of wall from up here and set off downhill to find them. Several times we came to dead ends or closed gates but eventually found ourselves by this wall of unusual polygonal shaped stones.

There are tempting glimpses of what may be underground

One day the archaeologists' trenches will tell us what is here. 

The modern cemetery provided an interesting contrast between the ancient sarcophagi and modern graves. It may have been in constant use for over 2500 years.

Not all recent additions are as sympathetically positioned

Either my memory is faulty or a lot of the site has been built on or moved elsewhere. There are better preserved ruins of a temple of Zeus in the hills above but they will have to be saved for a cooler day. 

One photo I can't resist putting in is the interior of Municipality Building. 

The contrast between the shiny white marble and green astroturf was quite mind altering, especially as the building was completely empty. (I made the mistake of visiting during the lunch hour).
Despite the heat, we had fun finding what is left above ground at Keramos but the remains don't merit a trip specially to see them. 

Last year I wrote about a visit to the Ören beach