October 20, 2008- We arrived at our first Turkish port this morning. Marmaris is really quite beautiful. There are lovely pine covered hills that surround the town and there are lots of boats and yachts to be found in the marina. Marmaris was a sleepy little fishing village 20 years ago (so say the travel pages on the internet) but is now a very busy tourist area. It usually has a population of 18,000 but the number swells to 200,000-300,000 people (depending on which source you want to believe) during the summer months.
We went into the shopping area and had a great time. The little girls had a lot of fun buying bracelets, flip flops and hair stuff. Kailey got a new outfit and matching shoes. Jake got a great knife (he’s started a knife collection and we’re thankful that 1- he doesn’t use them on anyone, 2- that he just thinks they are really cool, 3- his favorite thing to do with them is just have one in his pocket like Grandpa Nef, and 4- that we made it through the x-ray machines to get it onto the ship). My favorite part of our shopping trip was just enjoying the Turkish experience. I was in Turkey for a week in 1990. Shopping today brought back many memories. One thing about Turkey is that you need to haggle and barter. I love doing this! I jokingly haggled with one of the salesmen today and at first he looked a bit shocked, then he said, “Oh you are cheeky!” Jake was in a foul mood to be shopping and we tried to get him interested. Danny called him by name and all of a sudden there were 3 other men yelling, “Jakey! Jakey!” A couple of men asked if Dawn and I are twins. I explained that no, she is my husband’s twin sister. (I happily take it as a very nice compliment- but realize that they probably think all Americans look alike.) Most remarked about our kids and one told me that our family was like a Turkish family. Another told me that we needed to have one more because he was one of 7 children and he had only one brother. I politely told him thank you but we felt like 6 is a great number. The shopkeepers are all very nice, but I feel the same as I did 18 years ago- in that it is a bit spooky to see only 1 female shopkeeper and hardly any local women. This is a very different culture than what we usually experience.
We came back to the ship and had lunch and the kids swam and played on the water playground equipment. The older kids went to the kids club until dinner and the rest of us got ready for the same event. Most of our fellow travelers are much older than we are. There aren’t very many children on this cruise and we are hands down the largest family here. We have a few people who come by our table during or after dinner each night who comment on our family. (One man even took our picture last night.) They are always very kind and tell us that our children are well behaved. (I don’t think they watch our table very closely- or they wouldn’t say this.) Many are grandmas who miss their grandchildren and several just want to get close to Madison. There is just something about a baby. We are really enjoying having dinner in the Gold Pearl Restaurant. We have the same waitress every night, Nina who is from Hungary, and the kids have been really adventurous in the things they will try. We even went to the formal night last night and only Jake had issues with it.
Tomorrow we will be in Ephesus!
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