Walking with friends.

I don't usually do group walks as I prefer to wander around at  my own pace, but when H3A announced that they were walking to the ancient Lelegian town of Termera, accompanied by two archaeologists who had been involved in a recent rescue excavation on the site, I was keen to join in.  It's always a joy to visit a site with an up-to-date source of information, rather than second-hand knowledge trawled from the internet. It would also be a novelty to walk cross-country to a Lelegian or Carian site without getting lost en-route. 

The walk, initially planned for the end of January, was postponed twice because of heavy rain so it was the end of February by the time we all convened in the village of Akçaalan above Turgutreis to start  the ascent.  The head count was an impressive 50, which is an amazing number for a Sunday in February, unfortunately this figure did not include the two archaeologists, who couldn't attend so we were without our experts. 

After a brief pep-talk by team leader Ali Bey, with a reminder to not disturb any relics, we were off at a brisk pace.  I'd arrived with a friend I've known for 30 plus years, and we happily strode forth, chatting all the way. With several other old friends and a sprinkling of new ones in the group, I realised that walking en masse is actually a very enjoyable activity. Especially in beautiful spring sunshine, surrounded by blossom and wild flowers. I was without my walking boots as I'd left them in the village so was attempting the walk in wellies,  but had good reason to appreciate my forgetfulness when the path turned into a stream. 

After about 40 minutes, our merry group came to a halt as our path petered out. We'd obviously missed a turning.  I'm so glad that it's not only me that gets lost on the way to these sites.  An adventurous group of four, plus Jake the dog, set off cross-country uphill, while the rest of us turned around, retraced our steps, stopped for a group photo, picked some wild thyme, took pictures of the anemones, discussed the current political state of Turkey, found the correct path and eventually met the intrepid foursome plus dog on their way down. 

The dog lead was handed over and Jake made his second climb of the day.  If any animal deserves an honorary doctorate in archaeological studies, this dog does. 

View from Temera. 

Next time I'll post a few details of the site, (after a bit of internet trawling) . 

H3A's Facebook Page with more photos of the walk.

Bodrum Fridays

Looking back over the last few months' posts, a stranger to Bodrum would assume that apart from walking, there wasn't much to do in South West Turkey in the winter. Here is a quick round up in an attempt to correct  this misleading impression.

Four Fridays ago, I was at the Ramada Resort Hotel in Gümbet for the annual Ladies' Lunch. Initiated  in the year 2000 by Jane Baxter Gerçeksöz and Priscilla Windsor-Brown, this event gives women on the peninsula a chance to get together at the end of the season and either see old friends or meet new ones. (A double barrelled surname is not a prerequisite). Their aim is for everyone to go away having made one new acquaintance. It started the year I left Bodrum so as this was my first time, I made sure I met several new faces to make up for the years I couldn't attend. 

Three Fridays ago, I was at Muğla University's new Fine Arts Faculty on the Bodrum Peninsula, attending an archaeological lecture  by Mr Aykut Özet entitled "The Seven Gods of Bodrum". The first of a series of talks organised by H3A, the Bodrum equivalent of the University of the Third Age. Click on the link to get an idea of the range of activities available through this group.

Two Fridays ago, I was back at the Ramada Resort Spa. The entrance ticket to the Ladies lunch included a free day's use of the hotel spa. We had the pool, steam room, Turkish bath and sauna to ourselves. There is also a very up-market gym, which I didn't try out as I was too busy flopping about in the warm pool.

Last Friday, I started the day having my back massaged by Tülay at Zen Natural Therapies, thanks to winning a free treatment in the ticket tombola  at the Ladies' Lunch ( that really was 50TL well spent) and the afternoon to the university again for a talk on the development of the Ottoman empire. I could have gone to the monthly Internations drinks party in the evening, but this county mouse had had enough activity by then.


(Tulay doesn't have a web page but is an expert in Reiki Healing, Reflexology and aromatherapy massage. Her number is 0533 713 44 73)