Donuz

Day 8: July 11, 2009 – Saturday

Like every other good vacation, so did this had to come to an end…

Friday evening, we packed our bags, and finished the rest of our packing on Saturday morning and took off.

We did not leave soon in the morning. Bought fresh, homemade bagels from the bagel house in the morning and had breakfast by the sea. After which we walked a bit around the streets of Bodrum and the Marina.

Saturday is also the day of the Turgutreis Bazaar. In fact there is a bazaar everyday in a different place when you are in Bodrum.

Tuesdays, there is the clothes bazaar in Bodrum town center set near the bus and minibus main station. Thursdays and Fridays, the fruit and vegetable bazaar is set out in the same place. Thursdays, there is also another bazaar in Akyarlar –much smaller and crowded.

As we had missed the Bodrum bazaars, we decided to go to the Turgutreis Bazaar before taking off. Newspaper authors note that there is no open market anywhere in the world that is as lively and as charismatic as the Turgutreis Bazaar. I may be able to say the same… But, in a different way. I have been to open bazaars mostly in different parts of Italy. While, so similar in their nature to the open bazaars in Turkey, I have never seen the liveliness of the Turkish bazaars anywhere else. The sellers shout, make jokes; the people bargain, try on clothes, eat food inside the bazaar. Going to the bazaar in Turkey is not a morning activity, it is a day long activity that requires full commitment.

The Turgutreis bazaar was interestingly filled with foreigners, but not tourists exactly. All from Holland, England or Poland who had moved to Bodrum to live there were there to shop. We did not spend the whole day unlike the trend. We had to move fast and get on the road at a decent hour. And, so we left the bazaar around noon time and finally took off for Istanbul.

Day 6: July 09, 2009 – Thursday

As part of my usual daily routine and now that I was back in good physical health, I went jogging in the morning and did a quick round of yoga early in the morning. Soon after breakfast and a bit after a handful debate on whether to go to Turkbuku and get a little social elitical or not, we landed for Akyarlar, Turgutreis –where my childhood had passed.

I must admit that I was a little aversive and apprehensive having heard very bad things about Akyarlar’s new face and the developments in the small bay. Not knowing what to expect we hit the road. About a 15 or 20 minutes drive later and long after passing the Bitez turn, we saw the signs for Bagla and Akyarlar –both of which used to be very very nice bays with few people. We took the turn and I docked my head up from the window to get a sight.

Almost everything had changed… Everywhere had gotten more crowded with people and white houses. The terrible part of these white houses is that they are not even the typical Bodrum houses. Made out of special stones (slate) and surrounded by ivy, Bodrum houses have a unique, bewildering look that none of these new building had.

One of the most lively beaches of all time had vanished –overtaken in other words by Magic Life Hotels or Resorts. Other nice beaches, where once nothing had existed had become sophisticated beach clubs with a certain entrance fee.

I am not particularly angry at any company or establishment that has taken over these beaches. I only felt misery, nostalgia or sadness that the experiences of my past were indeed buried in the past. Even if I would go to any of these beach clubs, it would never feel the same.

Despite my nostalgia, there was a goodness in the change as well. These new establishments are more likely to preserve these beaches as the beaches should be preserved. And, that is a good thing.

We did end up going to one of the beach clubs along the way, the Aspat Beach. With a go-cart area, a game room, a massage center, a vast area for sunbathing, hammocks and –what I guess- a stage for beach parties, Aspat was a fair beach club at a fair price.

After what was a fair day, we left the beach for dinner near Turgutreis. As things had changed, it was not so easy to find, the one place that should have been so easy to find –as it is located right on the side of the road- : Kadir Reis’in Yeri, a fisherman’s restaurant. As we were so bad at locating it –for anyone wanting to go, it is right next to this new place, the Golden Beach- we ended up going to Turgutreis first. Which in itself was not so bad afterall. It had also been a long while since I had last visited Turgutreis and it was one of my mom’s tiny requests that I should look for table clothes in Turgutreis. And, so I did…

After an hour of wondering around in Turgutreis, we went back on the road to find Kadir’s Restaurant. This time we did…

Located on the left side of the road, as you are driving from Turgutreis in the direction of Akyarlar, and next to the Golden Beach Club. In the past, they only had this tiny place on the left side, such that you would be overlooking the sea from the other side of the road. Along with the changes that have come and gone, they have extended their service area to the right side of road as well –laying one or two dozens of plastic tables and plastic chairs right next to the sea. Kadir’s Place offers relatively few cold appetizers when compared to the other fish restaurants, but he offers the best that I have eaten: Stuffed courgette / zucchini flowers, beetroot pickles, purslane served with garlic and yogurt, and fave. Normally, if I am seated at the table in a fish restaurant and there is only a handful of people, we skip the fish and settle down for cold and warm appetizers along with raki (Turkish Ouzo) or wine only. Yet, this time I wanted to eat fish as well, so we skipped the warm appetizers and ordered stewed bass –and it was stewed so well with garlic, tomato, pepper and various grasses and vegetables! I ended up drinking the sauce as if it were soup…

So we ended the day at that… Satisfied with the food, with the bill and happily full in the stomach.

P.S. My mom’s second request was that I eat ‘lokma’ –special desert that is most abundantly found in Bodrum, made from fried flour or consider them better as fried cakes served with syrup. Well, that I had to skip, as I was so very full…