Fethiye

I set out on the bus to Fethiye on Wednesday night, arriving on Thursday morning. I walked around town checking out the Amphitheatre , the Lycian rock tombs, and the museum before looking for accommodation.

I ended up at the Karagoz Pansiyon where I bargained for two nights including breakfast for YTL35. The room was truly single with a single bed and a wardrobe. It had its own bathroom, but not ensuite. The water was actually hot, but very low pressure. There was no top sheet on the bed, so a sleeping bag liner would be good. The breakfasts were skimpy and not worth anything.

On the Friday, I took the compulsory twelve island boat cruise, as directed by the Lonely Planet guide. (I was using the 9^th, April 2005, edition. I believe a new edition appeared last month, April 2007.) This time of year, the boats are on a roster. They all charge the same YTL25, including lunch. Vegies are accommodated by leaving out the main dish of fish or chicken. I was expecting a rousing cruise with lots of people getting pissed together. I chose the little boat that was supposed to proceed part of the way under sail. Perhaps a mistake. They hoisted the sails for about half an hour before deciding they weren’t making enough progress and starting the engines up again. Maybe I should have gone for the big boat with the waterslide? Anyway, I had prepared myself with a 350ml bottle of rakı and ended up having to drink it all myself. I seem to have managed to alienate the two Aussie girls and about everyone else on the cruise and spent most of the time alone. With the benefit of hindsight, it might have been fun to do as part of a group, but it just ended up depressing me. There are some nice views you wouldn’t get from shore and you can visit some secluded spots, although I doubt there’d be much in the way of seclusion with forty boats, each with up to 170 passengers, plying the same route later in the season.