La Mischief delighted Kim by zooming the 20nm across to Kusadasi, occasionally cracking 8kts. We got to Senur Marina (110 Euro a night – Turkish Marinas are becoming very expensive) about 11am and managed to get a mooring rope around our prop just as we docked.
The marina acted as our agent for 73 Euro a night and I found a lovely Turkish guy to fix our pump. He ended up fixing our old pump in no time at all and then proceeded to find our mystery water leak that we could diagnose all last year. It turned out to be a very expensive leak (900 Euro for a new hot water heater – ouch!!!). The workmanship and technical capability of these Turks are excellent – once again despite the cost of the parts I am impressed with the work I get done in Turkey. Especially when compared with Leros.
Boat problems under control, it was time to hop in our hire cars and head off on our Turkish road trip. First stop was Ephesus – a short 20km out of Kusadasi. This was my second trip here – the first for everyone else. This time I made sure I saw the Terrace Houses, which are a must. The Amphitheatre and library were still awesome as were the marble roads. One of the great Roman ruins of the world.
After some obligatory shopping from the girls, it was off to Pamukalle, 3 hours away. We got there rather late, and searched around with a hotel with hot springs. Went a bit more up market from last time – 5 stars for less than 100 euro a night at the Hotel Pam. Sounds impressive until I realized that this is quite probably the worst 5 star hotel I’ve been at. Still the hot mud springs, directly underneath the fake plastic Elk at 11pm were quite good.
Next morning, after a very average breakfast, it was off to see the sights. We climbed up to the top of the hot springs, where I noticed there was a lot less water than last time, and paid our 32TL each to get into the Cleopatra hot springs. Very touristy and getting increasingly crowded as the day went on, but the water was nice. After our dip, it was time to head up to the Roman ruins behind the springs. Having missed these last time, I’ve got to say these were very impressive. In particular the amphitheater was one of the best we’ve seen.
Then it was back to Kusadasi in time to get the new hot water heater fitted. We finished off the evening at a great rooftop restaurant watching the sun go down over the Aegean.
For photos of Ephesus please click on https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201812697592045.1073741916.1620379103&type=1&l=dbdf637932
For photos of Kusadasi see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10203935472780098.1073741966.1620379103&type=1&l=e086454852
For photos of Pamukkale see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201812798114558.1073741917.1620379103&type=1&l=9937202ba9
A Little Bit of Mischief 