Ben and I figured that since we're so close to Europe we should check out another country. After much research and much debate (and finding a few good deals) we decided to head to Maramaris, Turkey!
The flight took about 4 hours and we finally arrived at our hotel about 3am. We discovered there were roosters not too far away from where we were staying because they liked to crow at that time. Being so tired though we fell asleep right away.
Our first day out we decided we would walk around the area and find the beach. Come to find out, Maramaris is quite touristy. I guess you could compare it to Cancun or Atlantic City but the thing Ben and I realized quickly was that you couldn't walk more than 15 feet without someone hassling you to come into their shop, restaurant, whatever. Their techniques to get you to notice them were interesting. A lot of times they would ask, "Where are you from?" and then they would go into their spiel about what they had to offer. They would also say, "Yes please" and hold something out to you like a business card for you to take. They even did this at the hotel pool area. It's a lot different from what we're used to.
Once we got used to the hassling things were fine. We explored the area and walked the beach and found some places to eat. Right down the road from us was an a tour place where they had a bunch of different excursions you could choose to do. Some of them were actually quite cheap. Ben and I decided to do 3: Ephesus, Lazy Day Out, and Jeep Safari.
Ephesus is one of the ancient wonders of the world. It's a huge city that is still in the process of excavation. It was amazing to see it! There were huge amphitheaters, a library, they even showed where the public toilets were. There wasn't much privacy in those times because they had them all lined up. It felt surreal being there and seeing such an interesting part of history.
The lazy day consisted of us taking a boat around the Marmaris area and other surrounding towns. You basically lay in the sun all day and visit some new places. We went to a few different beaches, swam, and then went to a market and did some window shopping. Quite relaxing and interesting to see other towns besides Maramaris.
The Jeep Safari was a lot of fun. You drive off road and through water and mud and get completely soaked. There's a group of jeeps that go together and we would have water fights. We also went to some really cool areas. One of the places we saw was called Jesus Beach. There is a sand bar that goes from one end of the shore to almost the other end and you can walk into the middle of the lake. We also went to this waterfall that you could swim in. It was gorgeous.
On the days that we weren't doing an excursion we generally walked to the beach or layed by the pool. The weather was perfect pretty much every day, sunny and 90 degrees. Turkey was definitely an interesting experience. Our last day there we went to the local market and learned how to bargain and haggle with the stand owners. Ben was actually pretty good at it so I left it up to him most of the time.
I would love to see more countries in Europe but our time here is almost up!
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