August 1 The Black Sea

“The men who go down to the sea in their ships,
Who sail on the water and pursue their trade,
The sound of the sea echoes back from their lips;
Their eyes see the wonders of what God has made.…...” James A Tweedie 

Well we went also down to the sea today - not in a ship but in a bus. The Black Sea! What does that conjure up in your mind, barring more recent ‘times’? I have had only vague notions of the Black Sea - secondary school history - soldiers, war, Sebastopol, Crimea, Florence Nightingale, Russia, and romantic notions of exotic remoteness. and its shape so like Australia! I have wanted to visit this vast inland sea for a long time and today I sat on its shores on the sand with my feet almost in the water watching happy families playing. It was an absolute delight. 

Wonderful cool beach ‘boxes'

We weren't sure if the roped area was a safe plae for kids or a women and children only area

Lindsay wandered the water's edge

Families at the beach like anywhere else in the world.

This teenager walked around for ages in her 'modesty suit' phone in hand 

Hookah pipes were available at the beach cafe

Here at the beach and many other places you could order a hookah pipe.  The flavours are various including lots of fruit flavours. I tried one last time we were in Istanbul - it was too long since I had smoked.

The whole day was an interesting experience. We were on a tour catering mainly to people from Arab states, the predominant tourist population here in Turkey at the moment.  Barring a couple of people, we were the only English-speakers on the bus. I got into conversation with a delightful man holidaying from Jordan who is an intensive care nurse. I also got chatting with a lovely young Egyptian man who was heading to UK to study robotics engineering and AI - we were both tracking the bus on our phones and puzzling about the route the bus was taking (two nerds separated by many decades ). I reckon I probably look like their grandmother and am safe to talk with.  We drove through forested country and visited rivers and a tranquil hidden lake. It was a bit touristy for our taste but a marvellous opportunity to see parts of Turkey we would not otherwise have seen. Plus the Black Sea!!  It was a long but interesting day.  Tomorrow we head for Gallipoli. This is an interesting land and we are slowly learning how to be here and are developing an appreciation of its people and culture.

Huge comms tower ahead recently completed with a restaurant on top

A new mosque being built in a city with over 3000 mosques!

We stopped at Sila on the coast - and other places

A cut-out cop car! I wonder if it works? 

En route we encountered lots of road building including tunnels

We took a delightful cruise along the Goksu River

People live and holiday along the river banks

On the way home we stopped at hidden artificial lake, Sakligol. The restaurant there is very popular

Then it was back into the hubbub of the city.