Gökkaya

I have tramped along the Lycian Way from the ever lovely Gökkaya Bay to the village of Simena, situated beneath a castle opposite the ancient sunken city of Kekova. I was getting cabin fever, being reliant on boats to get anywhere aside from here. There's always the lilo, but options are limited.

This picture was taken just before we realised how lost we were, when Beth and I first attempted the walk to Simena. Look at those shoes! Fantastic huh.

My days go like this.. I am woken either by the sun, the unnecessary heat of my blanket, or the dog barking. I try to sleep some more, as we have late nights and otherwise I'll need a nap later on! Failing that I shift position into the shade of the platform and get stuck into my book, 'The Pillars of the Earth'. I'm almost finished, which I'm sad about, although I swapped 'Anna Karenina' for some nondescript thriller on V-Go's book exchange yesterday. Eventually someone wakes up and gets me coffee and breakfast, which could be the traditional 'Turkish breakfast' of cucumber, tomato, olives, white and yellow cheese, and bread, or some marvellous concoction of eggs. It may seem odd that I can't just fix it myself, but it's not the done thing. Afterwards I read some, or go for a swim off the jetty.

The days continue as they begin, chiefly focussed on lying about reading my book. Sometimes I have company, sometimes everyone is away. They go diving for fish a lot, with a speargun thing; we ate fish for my first five or so meals! No complaints from me. Around 8 I have a shower, before it is dark, and sometimes people come on boats to eat at the restaurant. Around half nine, the generator is started, the lights come on and we get the bar ready for an evening's business. I put on my smiley retail face and remember the days at Fuel, Refuel, and Zebo's.

The music is fairly middle of the road, stuff that everyone likes. Lonely Planet described Smuggler's Inn as "cheesy but fun", and I struggled to explain to the owner, Veli, what is meant by "cheesy". To give some indication, recent earworms include the Spice Girls' 'Wannabe', Sophie Ellis Bextor's 'Murder on the Dancefloor', and most recently Joni Mitchell's 'Big Yellow Taxi'. Long time listeners will recall the peculiar poignancy of that track for me.

Now I need to go seek out a jetski or something to take me home.