Aaaah. Lots of sleep. Breakfast on the landing riverside and with the help of a German guest, we arrange for a boat for a few hours. A bit of relaxation and then we are off with Ali, cruising up along the river until he pulls in and ties up along the banks. He has brought us to a small, private spot for a mud bath; not too far from the crush of large tour boats further up the river. Good man!
We follow him along a path and watch as he walks to a small pool nearby and returns with a handful of pale gray mud about the size of a large grapefruit. Matt, Michael, Taylor, Jake and Stephen will remember this routine! We then step into the natural (sulphuric) hot springs to wet our bodies, then step back out and proceed to take the mud and cover our bodies. As instructed, we next bask in the sun
like local turtles until the mud has dried and tightened on our bodies, before lowering ourselves into the warm, clear natural springs. So nice.
I float, close my eyes and meditate (pool is only about a foot or so deep). Some Brits come up and share the site with us (they’re all over the coast. Fethiye is 20% fulltime British citizenry and over 600,000 visit the town each year).
Back in the boat,
we continue upriver until we’re out in the open lake (African Queen style) and we motor a bit, then anchor for a swim. The 360 view is beautiful….surrounded by distant mountains all around. The water is delightfully cool and I do a couple laps around the pool. We then head slowly back, passing frogs and a turtle as we return to the reedy channel and eventually our hotel.
A shower and leisurely time later, we walk into town for a bit of lunch and another look around. Far nicer now, since fairly deserted during the heat of the day. We have probably our least good meal of the trip, snap some pictures (water taxis lined up in town):
and make our way back, me immediately and himself a bit later. I promptly ensconce myself on the cushy setee located on the side of the garden and write, write write. Perhaps I closed my eyes to think a bit as well. Ha!
Twilight comes and goes and around 8 we walk into town…for another disappointing meal, it turns out. The guide book is unfortunately correct that the food here is mediocre. Tomorrow night we are going to bite the bullet and pay way too much to eat on the terrace at our pansiyon and hope for better. Seems like the prettiest setting for our last vacation meal, anyway. My app only allowed me to load photos all together, though you can probably figure out what’s what. The last photo shows our place from the water, so you can see where we’ll be dining. I will place all within the body of the text after I return. Home in 42 hours!!